Jain Moral Doctrine

Author(s): Harisatya Bhattacharya
Publisher: Jain Sahitya Vikas Mandal

Page 16

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF RELIGION AND MORALITY
apprehension, infinite knowledge and infinite joy. This fundamental God-idea when rationalised is found to be attributable --not to any external transcendent being,—but to the essential nature of every living being. The central feature in a conceivable universal religion is thus the recognition of the fundamental nature of all conscious beings, high or low, as divine.
Like the religious sense, referred to above, a sort of a moral sense also may be said to be connected with the very nature of man. Not only do we do act but have always an idea of acts which we ought to do. These latter are looked upon as 'right' or 'moral' acts and every one has an apprehension of their goodness. “That we have this moral approving and disapproving faculty," says Butler, "is certain from our experiencing it in ourselves and recognising it in each other." The reality of this moral faculty is undeniable, as he says, “whether called conscience, moral reason, moral sense or divine reason, whether considered as a sentiment of the understanding or as a perception of the heart or, which seems the truth, as including both.” Now, the existence of this faculty for moral evaluation being presupposed, an enquiry into its workings, deliveries and implications becomes of scientific interest..
The enquiry into the fundamental basis of the first principles of morality becomes of still further interest, when we find that besides the innate subjective faculty of judgement regarding 'what we ought to do', there is a general consensus among the advanced moralists of all times about some acts being held to be of particular merit. Thus, the ten Anga's or parts of the Dharma, as laid down in the Padmapurāna of the Vedic school are: Brahmaçarya (control of the sexual passions), Satya (truthfulness), Tapas (practice of penance), Dāna (charity), Niyama (self-control), Kşamā (forgiveness), Sauça (cleanliness), Ahimsā (non-violence), Suśānti (peaceful temper) and Asteya (non-stealing). It will be seen that these ten modes of Dharma are in substantial agreement with the ten Pārami's or excellent perfections of the Buddhist, which are Dāna (charity), śila (power of enduring), Naiskramya (renunciation), Prajñā (wisdom), Virya (equanimity of temper), Kşanti (forgiveness), Satya (truthfulness), Adhisthāna (strength of resolve), Maitrī (loving all) and Upekṣa (indifference to all things worldly). According to the author of Jaina Tattvārthadhigama Sūtra also, the ten virtues to be practised are—Kşamā (forgiveness), Mārdava (humility), Arjava (straightforwardness), Satya (truthfulness). Śauça (cleanliness), Samyama (restraint), Tapas (penance), Tyāga (renunciation), Akiñçanya (indifference) and Brahmaçarya (con