History of Canonical Literature of Jainas

Author(s): Hiralal R Kapadia, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad

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THE CANONICAL LITERATURE OF THE JAINAS 3 # 3TOURI; o 3UUURT À 30CE." (s. 102) "जे पज्जवज्जायसत्थस्स खेयण्णे से असत्थस्स खेयण्णे; # BHARURI deout # Tool GRIPURA equot.” (s. 110) "जं जाणिज्जा उच्चालइयं तं जाणिज्जा दूरालइयं; जं जाणिजा दूरालइयं तं जाणिज्जा उच्चालइयं."
(s. 119) " TUTS À yod 13; Hoc FM i Fug.” (s. 123) "33714an a oferal, o final a 377441." (s. 131)
"It Sportar a 37thall, wt 39 yana 34011441." (s. 131) Prasnottara paddhati—We are even now in the dark about many things and phenomena. One of the ways to remove this darkness and to acquire the right sort of knowledge is to make an inquiry. This means putting questions either to oneself or to some one else who can enlighten us on the point concerned. Usually the latter course is easy to be followed. This leads to a formation of praśnottara paddhati — a method adopted and approved of by even the present educational system. In this method, it is necessary to select pregnant questions. It is perhaps a peculiar feature of the Jaina canon that herein we come across entire works embodying such questions. They are Viāhapannatti, Pannavaņā, Nandi and Anuogaddara. Out of them the first comprises thirty-six thousand (36,000) questions.
Ethics — The Jaina ethics2 is not without its specialities. The doctrine of ahiṁsā forms the corner-stone of Jaina ethics, and its treatment and scope hold practically a unique place even when other systems of Indian thought which appreciate the virtue of ahiṁsā, are taken into account. The doctrine of ahimsā is not so simple as it appears. It is a subtle
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Indrabhūti and others did so. It appears that this subject has not attracted as much attention of the scholars as it should, though there are materials whereby a comprehensive treatise can be written in this connection. I know of only three attempts made in this direction. One of them was made by Dr. Charlotte Krause as can be seen from her article An interpretation of Jaina Ethics. I think she has written another article in this connection, and it has been published in some standard journal of India. I remember to have read one article in German where the Jaina view about ethics was compared with the Zoroastrian one; but I am not in a position at present to specify the source.