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JAIN JOURNAL VOL-XLII, NO.1 JULY. 2007
Bodhisattva does not hesitate to choose even self-sacrifece for the help of others.
Though Jainism did not develop the ideas on Bodhisattva, the natural and absolute Law of 'ahiinsa' has been giving great influence on the spiritual life of the Jainas under the self-control of mind, sppech and body (Mano Gupti, Vac Gupti and Kaya Gupti), daily reciting; "Man! whom thou intendest to kill is none other than thyself1o (Ay. 1.5.5.4.) and "Hurt not any creature in this world! This is the law of non-violence, eternal, perennial unchanging” (Āy. I.4.1.) from the texts of the Arhat Vandana, for example.
b) The second factor comes from the belief in one's immortal and pure Soul (jiva) proper to Jainism. Everyone is an embodied spirit, a Soul covered with the karmic matters causing the saṁsāra, an endless painful transmigration. Karmas ensalve a man to prevent him from attaining the sphere of his pure Soul, but it is not impossible for him to remove every vestige of the past and present karmas if only he could complete the practice of pañca-mahāvrata; satya, asteya, brahmacarya, aparigraha and ahimsa, enforced strictly for the monks and the nuns and with less rigor for the laity. Above all, the acts of ahimsa are regarded as the most effective for the self-purification (Atma-suddhi), which was often referred to by those who, with a smile, had just taken dikṣā from an Acārya Śrī. It was impressive for the author to have seen their faces become radiant when saying: "I will certainly perfrom a vow to purify my Soul !"
One's tapas for the absolute ahimsa should never be meaningless only if it is truly helpful to find his own Soul potentially perfect, pure,
9.
Cf. Muni Jineshkumar, A Primer of Jain Philosophy, Ladnun, 1990, p. 16. 10. "purisă! tumaṁsi nāma saccheva jam 'hantavvam ti mannasil" (SBE. Vol.22, p.50) This verse is selected as the seventh verse of Acarya Tulsi's Arhat Vandana -- Homage to the Arhat --, Rājāsthān, 1991, p. 10.
11. "savve pāṇā ṇa hantavvā -- esa dhamme dhuve, niie, sasaell" (SBE. Vol. 22, p.36), ditto, p. 11.
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