Sramana 2008 01

SR No.: 525063
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Shreeprakash Pandey, Vijay Kumar
Publisher: Parshvanath Vidhyashram Varanasi
Publication Year: 2008
Total Pages: 138
Language: Hindi
Classification: Magazine, India_Sramana, & India
File Size: 6 MB

Page 100

Concept of śīla in Jainism
:
95
To destroy or injure, through negligence or ill will, one or more life forces of one's own or others is violence- pramattayogātprāņavyaparopaņaṁ hiṁsāo i.e. destruction of life due to an act involving negligence is violence. Here the word pramāda yields the meaning(i) mental state of attachment and aversion and (ii) negligence. Therefore, destruction of living beings through passions (kāmadesire), krodha-anger, lobha-greed and moha-delusion) or negligence is also violence. Violence is committed in three ways- by doing the act oneself, by forcing others to do it or by approving it done by others. Hiṁsā refers to any action of giving pain to any living being. The nature of layman's ahiṁsā-vrata depends on the distinction between sūkşma-himsā, the taking of life in any form, abstention from which is obligatory for the ascetics, and sthūla-himsā, the destruction of the higher forms of life from dvīndriya (two-sensed) upwards, which is forbidden to all Jains. The layman is also enjoined to avoid as far as possible killing of all the ekendriyas (one-sensed) and the useless destruction of immobile ones. Recognizing that total abstinence form hiṁsā would be impossible for a householder, Jaina teachers have drawn a distinction between injurious activities, which are totally forbidden, and those, which may be tolerated within strict guidelines. The lay-followers are instructed by Agamas for not to kill the gross jivas i.e. mobile one. The type of limitations allowed are evident in the following statement of the vow “'I shall not kill intentionally the gross (i.e. mobile) living beings when they are innocent. The violence of immobile (one-sensed) jivas viz. earth, air, water, fire and plant bodied is inevitable because the householder uses them once or repeatedly in his daily life. This is how his vow of non-violence is made narrow and limited by leaving out the one sensed living being from its purview. Thus the householder has not to be indulged in the gross violence. Gross violence is of four types(i) Intentional violence (sarikalpa-jā-hiṁsā)- killing of the
innocent living-beings actuated by an intention to injure. (ii) Violence involved in daily acts of a house-holder
(Arambha-jā-himsā)-killing of the mobile living-beings that takes place in spite of utmost care and vigilance.