ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 03

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

Page 186

carefulness in walking to avoid such killing incidences. Thus according to Jain ethics, acts are logically prior to rules and the rightness of the action is situational.
Now the question that confronts us is: what is intrinsically desirable, good or worthwhile in life according to Jain ethics? What intrinsic values are to be pursued according to it? The answer that may be given is this: What is intrinsically good and valuable or what ought to be chosen for its own sake is the achievement of 'Ahimsā' of all living beings', the attainment of knowledge etc. The Jain recognizes that Ahimsā can be both good as a means and good as an end. This means that both means and ends are to be tested by the criterion of Ahimsā. Sūtrakstānga has pronounced that Ahimsă is the highest good. In a similar vein, Samantabhadra has also said that Ahimsă of all living beings is equivalent to the realization of the highest good. Whenever we judge that a thing is good as a means', we judge both that it will have a particular kind of effect, and that effect will be good by itself. It may be noted that ethical judgments regarding 'good as a means', may not be universally true; and many, though generally true at one period, will be generally false at another, whereas ethical judgments regarding 'good in itself are universally true. Thus the rightness or goodness of an act is situational. A few examples from Jain literature may not be out of place here:
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Transfer of embryo of Mahāvīra from to Trisalā's womb. (point rejected by one of the two sects of Jains)17 Monk Samantabhadra when faced with deadly disease of never ending hunger goes to his preceptor seeking Sallekhanā. The preceptor knows that Samantabhadra is young, intelligent and has immense potential to propagate Jain doctrine. He therefore asks Samantabhadra to give up monkhood, get his disease medically treated and then return to the monkhood. Monk Sthūlabhadra's first rainy season halt at the house of a prostitute with whom he had lived earlier after permission of his preceptor. Many more such incidences are narrated to show the exceptions made with an explanation.
Concerning knowledge, we find the Jains doctrines of Anekānta (multiplicity of viewpoints) and viewpoints (nayavāda), to arrive that the whole truth based of the definition of real as with persistence and change simultaneously. This is of great importance in Bioethics as
17 Jain Dharma ka Maulik Itihas by AC Hasti Malji
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