Jain Journal 1982 07

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

Page 24

JULY, 1982
(v) Consequences of committing himsä (vi) Mathematical calculation of the 108 types of himsā (vii) Importance of keeping away the passions (viii) Role of guptis and samitis in the successful practice of ahimsa
Hence repetition and enumeration of these here would be neither necessary nor practicable. So I would pick up only the significant facets of ahimsă for our discussion here :
After duly defining himsā”, the Acarya lays down the basic concept of ahimsā in Jainism :
jaha te na piyam dukkham taheva tesim pi jāna jīvānam evam naccā appovamio jlvesu hohi sadās
Just as you do not like pain, so also other beings dislike it. Knowing this, treat them ever as your own self (and abstain from causing any injury to them).
This gāhā reminds us the famous passage in the Ayārānga Sutta ::
savve pāņā piyāuya suha saya dukkha padiküla appiya vahā piya jivimo jiviu kāmā savvesim jīviyam piyam.
All beings are fond of life, like pleasure, hate pain, shun destruction, like life, long to live. To all life is dear.10
Then we also remember a similar gāhā in the Dasaveyāliya Sutta :11
savve jivā vi icchanti jivium na marijjium tamhā pāni-vaham ghoram nigganthā vajjayanti nam
All beings desire to live and not to be slain. Therefore, the Jaina monks avoid the horrible act of killing living beings.
In gaha No. 776. 8 No.777. . Ayaro II-3, 63-64 : Ed. Muni Sri Nathmalji, Jaina Svet. Terapanthi Mahasabha,
Calcutta, 1967, p. 29. 10 Hermann Jacobi's translation : Jaina Sutras (Part I), Sacred Books of the East,
Vol. XXII, Delhi, 1964, p. 19. 11 Dasaveyaliya Suttam, Ch. VI, gaha 11 : Ed. Prof. N. V. Vaidya, Pune, 1937.