ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 01

Author(s): International School for Jain Studies
Publisher: International School for Jain Studies

Page 31

1.5 Religion of Live and Let Live "Tattvārtha-sutra" by Umāsvāti written between 1st and 3rd centuries AD, deals at great length, interalia, with the characteristics of different life forms and their interdependence as well as interconnection. The soul passes through several incarnations in the ongoing cycle of life and death. Depending on its Karmic attributes - good or bad, life form is changed in each incarnation. The central theme of Tattvārtha-sūtra is summed up in the phrase, “Parasparopagraho Jīvānām, meaning that all forms of life are mutually supportive. The Jain Tirthamkaras have all along invoked and inspired an intense and constant awareness of communion and interdependence of human beings both with all living beings as well as elements of nature. Yogaśāstra written by Hemacandrasūri in the 15th century AD elucidates this by saying "Atmavat sarvabhūteşu"-treat all souls like you would treat your soul.
In Jainology to be human being is a gift in the evolution of life as it enables him to bring out his humanity towards other fellow living beings and nature – thereby achieve oneness with all life. It is human beings alone who are endowed with all the six senses of touching, seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and thinking. They can with their power of reasoning; judgment and discriminating faculty develop the culture of coexistence by being compassionate, loving, friendly, forgiving, tolerant and broad-minded to the universe around them.
Far from being dogmatic, Jain religion has a well-defined and clearly articulated scientific base, which elucidates inter-related properties and qualities of animate and inanimate substances in terms of evolution and growth of atoms in time and space.
The one-sensed life entities have the sense of touch but are immobile. They include Earth bodies, Air bodies, Water bodies, Fire bodies and Vegetation. The mobile two sensed (sense of touch and taste), three-sensed (sense of touch, test and smell), four sensed (sense of touch, taste, smell and seeing), five sensed (sense of touch, taste, smell, seeing and hearing) but without mind, and five sensed with mind (sense of touch, taste, smell, seeing and hearing). The concept of live and let live applies not merely to the inter-human relationships, but also to all these life bodies with varying degrees of sensitivity, awareness and feeling. In Jain philosophy, this is an integral part of the feeling of compassion for all life forms. Michael Tobias analyses it in the following words: “Jainism - India's and possibly the world's oldest religion is a quiet, overwhelmingly serious way of life, a cultural insistence on
2 Tattvārtha-sútra, Umāsvāmi V222
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STUDY NOTES version 5.0