Jain Declaration Of Nature

Author(s): L M Singhvi
Publisher: L M Singhvi

Page 7

human beings also possess rationality and intuition (manas). As a highly evolved form of life, human beings have a great moral responsibility in their mutual dealings and in their relationship with the rest of the universe.
It is this conception of life and its eternal coherence, in which human beings have an inescapable ethical responsibility that made the Jain tradition a cradle for the creed of environmental protection and harmony.
III. The Jain Code of Conduct
1. The five vratas (vows)
The five vratas (vows) in the Jain code of conduct are:
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Non violence in thought, word and deed To seek and speak the truth To behave honestly and never to take anything by force or theft To practice restraint and chastity in thought, word and deed To practice non acquisitiveness
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The vow of ahimsa is the first and pivotal vow. The other vows may be viewed as aspects of ahimsa which together form an integrated code of conduct in the individual's quest for equanimity and the three jewels (ratna traya) of right faith, right knowledge and right conduct.
The vows are undertaken at an austere and exacting level by the monks and nuns and are then called maha vratas (great vows). They are undertaken at a more moderate and flexible level by householders and called the anu vratas ( atomic' or basic vows).
Underlying the Jain code of conduct is the emphatic assertion of individual responsibility towards one and all. Indeed, the entire universe is the forum of one's own conscience. The code is profoundly ecological in its secular thrust and its practical consequences.
2. Kindness to animals
The transgressions against the vow of non violence include all forms of cruelty to animals and human beings. Many centuries ago, Jains condemned as evil the common practice of animal sacrifice to the gods. It is generally forbidden to keep animals in captivity, to whip, mutilate or overload them or to deprive them of adequate food and drink. The injunction is modified in respect of domestic animals to the extent that they may be roped or even whipped occasionally but always mercifully with due consideration and without anger.