Basic Principles Of Jainism

Author(s): Narayan Lal Kachhara
Publisher: Narayan Lal Kachhara

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DASA- DHARMA OR THE TEN SUPREME VIRTUES
There is no dearth of religions and philosophical doctrines in the world. What the world needs today is the sincere practice of those doctrines in daily life. In the hands of the priesthood, every religion becomes a ritual; with the ignorant, it becomes a mass of superstitious beliefs; it thus loses its scientific foundation.
The Jaina thinkers have taken care to see that religion becomes as way of life with a clear stream of reason to sustain it. In order that one should not lose sight of the ten supreme virtues in daily life, tradition has prescribed a festival called "Dasalaksanaparva" to be observed for ten days devoting a day for the contemplation of one virtue. The Digambaras observe the festival from the fifth day of the second half of the month of Bhadrapada. The Svetambaras observe it as Paryusana-parva from the 12 day of the first half of the month of Bhadrapada. The days are spent in fasting, contemplation and study of the scriptures. The object is to purify the mind and exert for the subsidence of the Karmas.
A brief reference has already been made to these virtues while discussing the topic of stoppage and shedding of karmas. These ten virtues have been enumerated in sutra 6 of chapter IX of the Tattvartha Sutra as follows:
"Uttama ksama mardav arjav asetya sauca samyamataPastyag akincanya brahmacaryani dharmah."
Supreme forbearance, humility, straightforwardness, truthfulness, purity, self-control, austerity, renunciation, non-attachment and celibacy constitute the religion or duty. These ten virtues are intended to regulate the activities of mind, thought and action. Their practice or observance gives direction to the life of a votary by eliminating all his evil thoughts and preventing him from harmful actions. The word uttama or supreme ought to be read along with each of the virtues implying thereby that the practice should be of the highest order or in full measure. There should be no expectation of any earthly rewards except that of attaining purity and spiritual advancement. It is appropriate to discuss them in the order in which they are enumerated above.
1) Uttama Ksama or Supreme Forbearance
Supreme forbearance or forgiveness is a divine virtue. There are numerous occasions in life when the peace of mind is disturbed by anger due to the conduct of other people or by force of circumstance resulting in ill-treatment or insults. Each individual has his own weakness: at times, one is provoked to injure the feelings of others or be injured by others. Wisdom consists in maintaining peace of mind without getting mentally disturbed: this is called forbearance.
Bhagavan Mahavira was once questioned by his disciple: "Sire, what does the soul get by practice of forgiveness?" He replied: "By forgiveness, the mind gets peace and kindness of disposition; kind disposition creates affection towards all living creatures; by affectionate disposition the mind becomes pure; by purity, it becomes fearless.
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