Introducing Jainism

Author(s): Satyaranjan Banerjee
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 66

INTRODUCING JAINISM
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is the aparigraha (non-possession of things). It is seen in the society that possession makes a man greedy and any kind of possession (money, property etc.) is detrimental to the personality of a man. People become not only greedy by hoarding up lots of things under their possessions, they become intolerant also for amassing more and more property for their own aggrandisement. So Mahāvīra advises people not to hoard up lots of property, and thereby people will attain a habit of tolerance.
Through these pañcamahāvrata as enunciated above, Mahāvīra actually wanted to restrain men from doing many things in their life and if a man is not tolerant enough, he will lose the mainstay amidst other things. So the background behind all these pañcamahāuratas is actually the quality of tolerance in man and animal.
ii) Tolerance through Trigupti :
The triguptis in Jainism are: a) Vag-gupti (b) Kāya-gupti and (c) manogupti
The Vag-gupti (restraining in speech) is essential in human beings. Words once spoken or thrown can never be taken back. So before speaking or talking to anybody we must observe restrain in our conversation, and this will also form the habit of tolerance. The Kāya-gupti (body tolerance) is another essential point for human beings. Different bodily actions are to be restrained thereby forming a habit of tolerance. The manogupti (mental restrain) is the tolerance of mind itself.
Mahāvīra wants to emphasize that trigupti will be one of the few vows which will restrain a man from doing wrong things in speech, body and mind, and thereby he will attain a sense of tolerance to all living beings. The meaning of tolerance is the quality of tolerating opinions, beliefs, customs, behaviours, etc. different from one's own. So if a person is averse to all these things he will definitely be a man of tolerance, that is, he will be a man of perfect quality.