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COMPENDIUM OF JAINISM
them. The rules of conduct or of ethics are therefore based on the fundamentals.
Srāvaka-dharma
It may be unnecessary to repeat that the foundation of Jaina ethics is emancipation. The hallmark of Right Conduct is right conviction in thought and action, freedom from infatuation or delusion and passions like anger, hatred etc. Samantabhadra defines conduct as the abstinence of a man (with right knowledge) from himsā (injury) ansta (falsehood), caurya (stealing), maithuna (sexual intercourse) and parigraha (attachment).4 From the popular point of view, cāritra (conduct) consists in the pursuit of what is good and beneficial and the avoidance of what is harmful to oneself as well as to others.
These are the five vows which are prescribed both for the house-holders as also for the ascetics. Observance of the vows in a limited way is aņuvrata (small vow) while complete observance is mahāvrata (great vow). The practice of these vows with vigilance dispels sufferings, just as an excellent specific medicine removes a disease. The great vows are for ascetics.
Since all writers have formulated these vows in a negative phraseology, critics have characterised the philosophy underlying them as of negative creeds. This is not correct since each vow has its negative aspect in the form of moral prohibitions and positive aspect in the form of a moral duty. Negative terms are effective injunctions. In the last resort every moral code rests, like the Christian decalogue (or the ten commandments) on prohibitions; but even in Jainism each aņuvrata has its positive as well as its negative aspect. Ahiṁsā can be formulated as dayā, active compassion for all living beings. If Jainism has never challenged the constituted order of society, it has essayed to permeate it with the spirit of compassion but because human beings are actuated by self-interest it has pointed out to them the lower motives for doing good. 5
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