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The Concept of Pancasila in Indian Thought
As has already been pointed out, this ethical principle of non-stealing is actually based on the first and foremost principle of non-violence. In Jainism the principle of nonstealing is a moral principle only because it vindicates the principle of non-violence. Acarya Amritacandra puts this idea in a logical form and explains it by saying that stealing is also violence, because it hurts both apparent (dravya) and real (bhava) vitalities of the person whose wealth is stolen, which maintains the mental as well as physical equipoise of him.1 He further elaborates by saying wherever there is stealing there is violence.* Though it cannot be said that the opposite of it is also true, violence and stealing are correlative or coexistent, but this correlation is only one-sided, i. e. where there is stealing there is violence, but not that wherever there is violence there is stealing also. Amritacandra further explains that violence and stealing are not mutually exclusive,3 because by taking anything ungiven others are hurt, and negligence in taking anything ungiven would lead to violence, Thus the Jaina scriptures establish that the vow of non-stealing is not independent, but is dependent on non-violence. Or, it is a corollary of the principle of non-violence.
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Kinds of Stealing
'Himsa' has been divided into one hundred and eight kinds, likewise stealing that a monk is supposed to abstain from is classified into fifty four types. 4 The objects to be
J.
2.
3.
अवितीर्णस्य ग्रहणं परिग्रहस्य प्रमत्तयोगाद्यत्, तत्प्रत्येयं स्तेयं सैव च हिंसा वधस्य हेतुत्वात् ।
यत्र यत्र स्तेयं तत्र तत्र हिंसा ।
Ibid.
हिंसायाः स्तेयस्य च नाव्याप्तिः सुघट एव सा यस्मात्, ग्रहणे प्रमत्त योगो, द्रव्यस्य स्वीकृतस्यान्यै ।
-P. S. U. 102.
-P. S. U. 104.
4. Śramaṇa Sūtra-Upadhyaya Amarmuni, p. 65.
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