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CHAPTER XII
JAINA ETHICS AND WAY OF LIFE OR BEING
All great religions of the world have laid great stress on morality as a vital factor regulating the conduct of an individual for his own good as also for the well-being of the society of which he is a member. The goal of a society is maintenance of moral values of brotherhood, justice and peace. Devotion to ethical ideals is the hall-mark of all modern civilizations, Ancient thinkers considered ethics as part of metaphysical and theological speculations and therefore made moral principles as part of their
gion. In doing so, they have tried to indicate the relationship between man and the universe, and his goal in life. Though man's conduct in society is the normal field of ethics, the Jaina thinkers have linked ethics with metaphysical ideas and ideals.
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Jaina ethics is the most glorious part of Jainism and it is simplicity itself. That is how some authors have described Jainism as Ethical Realism. There is no conflict between man's duty to himself and to society. The highest good of society is the highest good of the individual. The soul has to be evolved to the best of its present capacity, and one means to this evolution is the duty of helping that of others by example, advice, encouragement and help.1
The first precept to a follower of Jainism is that he should possess and cultivate an intelligent and reasoned faith in that
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