Introduction to Jainism

Author(s): Rudi Jansma, Sneh Rani Jain
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

Page 69

AHIMSA
environmental protection programs based on such allenveloping definitions of weapon and violence.
Assigning the category jīva (living organism) to the life sustaining components of nature - earth, water, fire and air - is suggestive of the important responsibility of man towards nature. Violence does not simply mean harm to the visible life forms, but the Āchārānga definition of violence includes destruction of even the remote possibility of evolution of life. If we are earnest about the protection of the environment we will have to popularize such comprehensive and all-enveloping concepts. Āchārānga has discussed this concept in both spiritual and mundane contexts.
Transgression has been discussed in great detail and - given a very wide definition in the ahimsā way of life proposed in Āchārānga. At micro level it covers minute matter particles. In the biological field it covers all things and activities of the world of the living, micro and macro. At the gross level it covers every thing and process existing in this universe. It is a fundamental principle and can be applied with the necessary variations to every field and at every level within a specific field.
This detailed discussion was later summed up as abstention from prānātipāta (harming life) (Uttarādhyayana Sūtra). When we study the detailed explanation of the term prānātipāta, it is further confirmed that Jain ahimsā is not just about avoiding harm to living beings. It goes beyond and includes avoiding harm to the environment and ecology conducive to generation, evolution and sustenance of life.
Jainism defines prāna as force that makes one live (life-force). It is of two kinds – dravya prāna (physical lifeforce) and bhava prāna (mental or spiritual life force).
Dravya prāna (physical life-force) - force which provides signs of life and absence of which means death; also, force that sustains the union of soul and body. It manifests ten ways – five sense organs, three powers, manas, vach, kāya, mind, speech and body, respiration and life-span. All beings are endowed with one or more of these life-forces. The