ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 04

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

Page 41

Right conduct/samyak c ritra: Not to commit violence, not to speak the untruth, not to take other's things without their permission, to observe celibacy and non possessiveness partially is the right conduct for householders. For the nirgra tha ascetics and monks these are to be observed completely and all the times.
Doctrine of Ahi s *Live and let live' is the sum and substance of the doctrine of Ahi s as propagated by Mah v ra. Any supreme soul or supreme B hma who wishes to enjoy the state of bliss must worship and practice the doctrine of Ahi s. He should look and consider everybody else like himself and practice Ahi s. One cannot invoke the spiritual values and qualities until he lives the life of an Ahi saka (practitioner of the doctrine of nonviolence i.e. be a non-violent person) as he continues to experience pain and discomfort till then. Every living being becomes the friend of an Ahi saka. By giving up the animosity, even the mutually opposing by nature animals learn to live peaceful with an Ahi saka person. Anger, aversion, greed, pride etc are all modes of his. These cannot come anywhere closer to an Ahi saka. Ahi saka is never scared or afraid of any eventuality and he faces fearlessly all events and their consequences. He never practices cowardice. Ahis is the virtue of and practiced by the braves and not by the cowards. Bravery implies spiritual strength and not just physical strength. Thus the degree of strength and being non-violent is directly proportional to the spiritual strength of an individual.
Ahis of the householders /common man: A householder abstains from one type of his (violence) i.e. intentional his out of the four types namely his committed as intentional (sa kalp ), ordinary life style ( rambh ), normal performance of professional activities (udhyog and during self defense (virodhi). He thus does not give up the three types of his completely. This does not imply that he is not careful even while committing these three types of violence. He tries to minimize these types of violence also and just commits barely essential violence for being existent. His conduct will always be moral and just. This is in fact the right conduct for the householders as all other activities of his are its derivatives only.
ii. Ahi s of the monks / ascetics: Ahi s of the monks emerges from abstinence of all types of his . There
are no options or short cuts in the practice of Ahi s for him. To make his life pure like gold, he endures peacefully all types of afflictions and conflicts. He neither gets angry from those who insult him nor becomes happy from those who praise him. He maintains equanimity towards all. He keeps himself fully alert and conscious. He protects himself from sinful and pleasurable tendencies / attitudes. He is careful while walking and keeps his sight on the ground and direction of walking thereby protecting all types of living beings. He will always speak the truth but sweetly so as not to hurt others. He will not speak unnecessarily. In brief all his activities shall be performed maintaining an attitude of carefulness and based on practicing Ahi s so that he can realize the supreme soul status i.e. to realize Ahi s bh tn jagati vidita B hamparama ' as depicted by crya Samantabhadra. Thus a monk by observing and practicing Ahis completely and unconditionally: imparting peace to all living beings, breaking his association with the k rmika and other material impurities becomes submerged in Ahi s and realizes his supreme soul status (paramb hma) i.e. the state of eternal bliss.
Doctrine of equanimity lequality; S myav da. Mah v ra preached the doctrine of equanimity i.e. all living beings are equal and we should treat everybody else on this basis of equality /equanimity. To abstain from developing unfair attachment and aversion towards others; to abstain from cruelty towards others; to earn one's livelihood by fair and just means, not to usurp the rights of others; not to cause loss of employment of others and finally to consider that everybody, like me wants to lead an independent and happy life thereby practicing 'vasudhaiva ku umbakam' i.e. to extend brotherly feelings to all, to help others in times of difficulties and calamities, to keep just quantities of essential material possessions for oneself and let others also do the same and to abstain from the lust to hoard or to exploit others are the ultimate aims and teachings of the doctrine of equanimity. If everybody in this world practices this doctrine of equanimity of Mah v ra, then this world can become a place of peace, tranquility and happiness.
Conditional dialectic and multiplicity of viewpoints i.e. Sy dv da and Anek ntav da. We can establish the validity of all entities and events using the doctrines of Sy dv da and Anek ntav da. Since each entity is itself with many facets, its validity as existent can only be established using these doctrines. Sy dv da enables us to visualize (and not overlook) each and every aspect of the existent thereby making our cognition right and just. This leads us to eliminate all biases and uni-polar views of realities /existents and establish the valid and mutual tolerance and respect (samanvaya) towards other's viewpoints. Purpose of Sy dv da is to generate the valid cognition of the existents and to organize the same properly in
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STUDY NOTES version 4.0