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INTRODUCTION TO JAINISM
And elsewhere: “Be ready to help and provide refuge to the destitute and helpless.”
- Sthānānga Sūtra, Ch. VIII
And perhaps the clearest statement supporting active compassion is found in a dialogue between Mahāvīra himself and his main disciple, Gandhara Gautama, in the Avaśyaka Sutra:
Bhagavan! Who is to be commended, the one who serves you or the one who serves the ailing and distressed? Gautama! He who serves the ailing and distressed is to be commended. Bhagavan! Why is this so? Gautama! He who serves the ailing and the distressed, serves me. He who serves me serves the ailing and the distressed. This is the pith and substance of the doctrine of the arhats. Therefore, O Gautama! I say: He who serves the ailing and the distressed, serves and worships me. ... Therefore, one who serves is to be commended.
- Avaśyaka Sūtra, leaves 661-662
A book, available in Hindi only written by K.L. Lodha, called Sakaratmak Ahimsā; Shastriya aur Charitrik Aadhar", is entirely dedicated to this topic of the meaning of practical compassion in authoritative Jain literature, both Śvetambara and Digambara. The following quotes are taken from this book:
A person when moved by seeing a thirsty, hungry or distressed being acts with sympathy towards him; this is his compassion.
- Panchāstikāya by Kundakundāchārya (137)
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