Book Title: ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 03
Author(s): International School for Jain Studies
Publisher: International School for Jain Studies

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Page 123
________________ devised solutions incorporating these in their planning. We see today the same country becoming one of the most prosperous and desired places to live. Similarly we see the countries who promoted terrorism and violence have become victims of the same themselves. In our own lives, we see children who are raised in a family environment of anger, intolerance or neglect grow as violent and intolerant adults while children brought with love, care and understanding make the same children as tolerant and happy citizens. C. Ethics postulates of Jains In Jain literature, we find a number of terms, like vinaya (modesty), saṁyama (self restraint), tapa (austerities, penance), samatā (equanimity) etc. used to represent the practice of the principle of Ahimsā. Jain ethical postulates, defined clearly for householders and monks are meant as the norms or commandments to progress towards achieving excellence, be it for spiritual or worldly beneficence. The rules start from basic virtues (mūlaguņas), giving up evil habits/addictions (seven vyasanas), observing six essential duties (āvaśyakas) to start with. An important aspect of āvaśyakas is to practice pratiksamaņa, alocană and prāyaścitta, which require the practitioner to review his/her daily activities performed, seek forgiveness for the wrongs and promise not to repeat them again so that the self imposed discipline improves on a daily basis. At the stage when a Jain develops firm belief in Jain metaphysics, then he/she accepts vows (major for ascetics) and minor for householders) and performs twelve fold austerities (tapa). All these practices help develop equanimity and tolerance towards one and all while making ourselves stronger. Concept of winning over 22 afflictions (parīşahas) by monks offers an excellent example of emphasizing tolerance in the Jain code of conduct for spiritual purification. Page 110 of 273 STUDY NOTES version 5.0

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