Harmless Soul

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

Page 24

10 Harmless Souls uncompromising reading of sam-anu-vjñā may have been that of some early Jaina ascetics. For unless the Brahmanical rite was responsible for an influx of karma into the Jaina beholder of the ritual simply through the fact of his witnessing it, why should he be so vehement in his protest? If it were merely the Brahmans' act of violence, causing influx of karmic matter (āsrava) into them (the Brahmans), the Jaina could have let it pass. But it is clear that there is some sense in which the Jaina considers himself personally responsible for it. Belief that an evil act can be committed through the activity of mind explains this. (It may also be the case that the ascetic's attitude is based on compassion for the suffering jiva which is the sacrificial material, although such a reason is not prominently advanced in the texts.)
The passage from Dasaveyāliya 4 continues:
While I live I (shall) not act (violently) in any of three ways, i.e. with mind, speech, and body, nor shall I authorise such action, nor allow another person to act so.21
In contrast to the suggested original meaning of the formula - that acts of body, speech, and mind all referred ultimately to particular physical actions -, this passage introduces a properly mental element. However, this is still a long way from the idea that it is mental attitude alone which is really instrumental in bondage. It is not necessary for all three components, the physical, the vocal, and the mental, to be present for an evil act to be committed; any one of these alone constitutes such an act. Violence is still evil and thus binding, whatever the mental attitude or intention of the actor. Nevertheless, if, as seems likely, the uncompromising reading of sam-anu-vjñā as 'allowance' was eventually relinquished entirely in favour of 'approval',
21 jāvajjīvāe tiviham tivihenam manenam vāyāe käenam na karemi na kāravemi karentam pi annam na samanujānāmi - Leumann's ed. pp. 7-8.