Sambodhi

SR No.: 014027
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Dalsukh Malvania, H C Bhayani, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 1980
Total Pages: 304
Language: English, Hindi, Gujarati
Classification: Seminar & Articles
File Size: 18 MB

Page 47

Buddhist and Jaina Concepts of Man...
fruits of this life and the next that he may hope to enjoy as a engaging in warfare.
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The Jainas may be said to have been a little more conscious of their duties to their lay people. Unlike the Buddhists, who produced only a single work addressed solely to the layman, an eleventh century Pali work, entitled Upāsakajanālankära,11 written by a Sinhalese monk in India, the Jain mendicant authors produced no fewer than fifty śravakācāras, or law books for laymen.12 But even these cannot really be compared with the law books of Manu or Yajnavalkya. The burden of the śravakacāras is to explain in full detail the various Vows and restraints a layman may progressively assume, and it provides a list of infractions demanding expiation; by means of these the lay person can prepare himself, in a graduated manner, to become a full-fledged monk or nun, who has completely renounced all property and civil obligations. In the case of the Digambara monk, this includes even his begging bowl and loincloth.
result o
Sustaining the monastic order was considered by both Buddhists and Jains as being the most important duty of the layman, and the Jainas have drawn up long lists of unacceptable professions in order to encourage lay support of the monks. Fifteen unacceptable professions include: obtaining a livelihood from charcoal, obtaining a livelihood by destroying plants, obtaining a livelihood from carts, obtaining a livelihood by demanding transport fees, obtaining a livelihood by hewing and digging, trade in animal products such as leather and ivory, trade in lac, etc., trade in alcohol and forbidden foods, trade in men and animals, trade in destructive items such as poison and gunpowder, etc., work involving milling, work involving mutilation, work involving the use of fire, work involving draining lakes, and work involving breeding and rearing animals, 13
It is obvious that these professions, forbidden to a Jaina on the grounds of being harmful to the subtle beings which the Jainas call "onesensed" (ekendriya) and of causing cruelty to men and animals, involve actions whose avoidance would be a worthy goal of any religion. But the question remains and must be asked of the Jaina as to whether some of these activities, such as destroying plants, driving carts, hewing and digging, using fire, etc., are not at times essential to the very survival of civilization. And if the Jaina does not undertake these professions, should we understand that those who do will incur the unwholesome karmic results of their actions, while the Jaina profits from their activities and is able to continue his employment in "acceptable" professions, such as commerce in grains, textiles, jewelry, and stock, in which there is no direct contact with raw material? A conscientious Jaina would probably answer that he