Harmless Soul

Author(s): W J Johnson, Dayanand Bhargav
Publisher: Motilal Banarasidas

Page 20

6 Harmless Souls the two most fundamental sins; the former is the proximate cause of sinful activity and the latter the immediate cause. 8
The objects of parigraha may be either animate or inanimate - 'material goods and social relatives'.9 To satisfy the demands of this attachment to worldly things, ārambha is undertaken. The objects of ārambha are the six types of living beings (i.e. the totality of transmigrating jīvas): 1) trasa - 'mobile' jīvas with more then two senses (including humans, animals, birds, insects, etc.), and 2-6) sthāvara - 'static' jīvas with only one sense (i.e. those in earth, water, fire, air, and plants).10
As Dixit remarks, this understanding must have accentuated the strong ascetic tendency of Jaina speculation. 11 That is to say, one cannot undertake activity which manipulates earth, etc., indeed, given the ubiquity of jīvas, almost any activity is liable to be harmful in some way or other. The later idea formulated to accommodate the laity - that violence done to the sthāvara beings is less sinful than that done to trasa beings - is not found in these texts. 12
In the earliest Jaina textual treatment of 'ethical' problems, it is said of the evil-doer that, typically, he either commits a particular evil act, or has it committed by someone else, or approves of it when it is committed by someone else. Thus at Sūyagadamga 1.1.1.3. we read: 'If a man kills living creatures himself, or causes them to be killed by others, or authorises / allows / approves their killing, animosity will increase for himself 13
8 Ibid. A vrabh has the basic meaning of 'to undertake', but in Middle Indo-Aryan dialects it falls together with ā slabh, 'to kill'. So there is an ambiguity in Prākrit and a tendency for ārambha to mean 'killing'. For a further discussion, see pp. 38-39, below.
9 Dixit 1978, pp. 6, 18-19. 10 See Āy. 1.1.2-7. 11 Dixit 1978, p. 6.
12 Ibid.
13 sayam tivāyae pāņe aduvā annehim ghāyae |