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MAHĀVĪRA : HIS LIFE AND TEACHINGS
The main formula of the kriyāvāda of Mahavira reads.
Sayamkadañ ca dukkham, nānnakadam. * The painful condition of the self is brought about by one's own action, it is not brought about by any other cause (fate, creator, chance, or the like).'1 The same is stated thus in the Pāli Nikāyas
Sukha-dukkham sayamkatam in contradistinction to
Sukha-dukkham parainkatam
Pleasure and pain are brought about by one's own action']
'Individually a man is born, individually he dies, individually he falls (from this state of existence), individually he rises (to another). His passions, consciousness, intellect, perceptions, and impressions belong to the individual exclusively. Here, indeed, the bonds of relationship are not able to help nor save one's
* All living beings owe their present form of existence to their own karman; timid, wicked, suffering latent misery, they err about in the
1 Sūtrakstānga, I 12. II
2 Anguttara-Nikaya, III, p. 440 , Samyutta-Nikaya, II, p. 22
3 Sūtrakstānga, II, 1 41; Jaina-Sūtras, II, P 349.
