Jain Journal 2000 04

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

Page 14

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JAIN JOURNAL : Vol-XXXIV, No. 4 April 2000 Bodhisattva of the past practised in that way45 any heroic deed (duhkara), for instance, in the ancient Buddhist canon Cariyapitaka, Jataka
Religious suicide is approved in India. But it is significant to note that it has been in the case of men who have lived a full life and acquired a high measure of power. Suicide in other cases has never been authorized; rather it has been strongly condemned. In Buddhism as well as in every Indian system (except Cārvāka) it is held that suicide results in another life still burdened with the consequences of the individual's previous karma
4.2. Duty and promotion of social good
Apart from religious suicide and self-mortification that are justified on religious grounds, both Buddhism and Jainism seek justification for violence in certain other cases. Although Jainism is absolute about non-injury to life and living beings, it prescribes a practical way of life to the laity who engage daily in unavoidable injuries to living beings because of duty and responsibility.
To ascertain the truth that absolute non-injury is the only requirement for Mokşa, Jaina tradition believes that as long as one engages oneself in worldly life one cannot attain salvation. Hence one has to become a monk for sometime in life or aspire to religious life in order to practise Ahimsā in a more perfect manner. History reveals that there had been Jaina kings, generals and soldiers who, by duty, had to engage themselves in political wars. But the Jaina Ācāryas do not call them heretics (mithyādssti) because of blood they shed during
wars. 46
Such illustrations as these show that unavoidable circumstances and duty consciousness make allowance for violence. While the Jains profess that there is no himsā, which has purely pleasant and agreeable consequences47 they also concede to certain activities of the laity performed by way of duty (for instance, punishment), etc. Buddhism considers danda or punishment as unattached violence. The crime includes both punishment of criminals and waging a righteous war.
45. Story of the future Säkyamuni giving his body to feed a starving tigress,
Jātakamālā, 1, Sacred Books of the Buddhists, Vol. 1. 46. Example of Chandragupta Maurya (4 cent. B. C.); Kumārapāla, King of
Gujarat (12 cent. A.D.), Jaina Gazette, Vol. 12, p. 266. 47. Ācārāngasūtra, ibid., 1.4.2.6.