Jain Spirit 2003 12 No 17

Author(s): Jain Spirit UK
Publisher: UK Young Jains

Page 57

discipline of the Jains is more rigorous than that of other faiths in India and elsewhere.
The art of living as incorporated in the lay ethical ideal has 12 vows: three social vows that govern the householder's external conduct in the world; four spiritual vows that touch on internal purity, expressed through a life of compassion (dana); and five minor vows (anuvratas).
The first minor vow is ahimsa. Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere for Mahavir, it is ahimsa, a value that is directed against all actions that produce pain or incite passions. Actions that incur himsa are of two types: forbidden (samkalpaja-himsa), covering all premeditated acts, such as intentional murder; and tolerated (arambhaja-himsa), covering defensive, vocational and common violence. The householder is permitted to incur himsa defensively and is allowed to resist injustice and aggression in a purely defensive war. Similarly, violence incurred in the pursuit of one's livelihood is permitted, as in farming, although Jains should avoid occupations that involve intentional killing, such as hunting and fishing. Most prized among the careers is that of a merchant.
The second minor vow is truth (satya). It renounces falsehood because it incites injurious passion and is destructive. Duplicity, not for one's own sake but in the service of another, is permitted for the householder, as when an assailant is given misinformation in the pursuit of his victim. Also, Jain medical ethics would allow a doctor to withhold information from a patient if full disclosure would likely result in physical and/or mental injury.
The third minor vow is non-stealing (asteya). Stealing is wrong because it involves himsa in the form of greed (lobha). It includes pocketing money or some article that is lost, mislaid or forgotten. In business it refers to false advertising, the use of bogus weights and
DIGITAL IMAGE: JAMES MATURIN-BAIRD
measures,
palming off
some 'lemon',
Layman's Ethics
money-laundering and the use of a third party to do your dirty job.
The fourth minor vow is celibacy (brahmacharya). The sexual code of the Jain householder is summed up as 'marriage and moderation'. This entails being in a monogamous relationship with a lifetime partner, enjoying sexual indulgence without allowing it to become deviant or excessive in ways that produce hurt to either spouse. Hinduism also enjoins sexual restraint for moral reasons, but Jainism introduces an added consideration based on non-injury, that the act of sexual intercourse destroys singlecell life forms located in the female genital tract and male ejaculate.
The fifth minor vow is non-attachment (aparigraha). Lord Mahavir counselled against the false security of filling one's life with such material things as land, houses, silver and gold. For a householder, aparigraha means setting limits to one's possessions, and then resolving to live within those limits without circumventing them.
The restraints embodied in the anuvratas are elevated to art form, because of their ability to make it possible for Jains to live in the world without becoming of the world. This is due to the primacy they accord to human welfare. It must be remembered that the Tirthankaras whom the Jains look upon as their ideals led full social lives prior to liberation. Paradoxically, the restraints themselves have provided both the discipline and blueprint for making the most of one's brief time in this world.
Moral values that belong to the above orientation include the Jain emphasis on strong families; a culture of learning and intellect; health concerns in terms of food, drink and lifestyle; the practice of altruism and uprightness in business. All of these values are exemplified through a pantheon of role models in samanas, arhats, Tirthankaras, nigganthas and jinas.
Here is a snapshot of the 'art of living' that has been passed on to us from Lord Mahavir. As artist, Mahavir is a perceptual 'mirror' through which we can reflect on life and find in it a thing of original beauty. Every child is an artist; the real problem is how to remain an artist once one grows up. The Jain message is that "delusion is a sort of demonic force. People's original mind is pure but it becomes perverted due to delusion and other karmas." (Kundakunda). Yet, there is an ancient liberating art that shows how you can separate the soul from its union with karma through discovering the Divine within.
Professor Cromwell Crawford, University of Hawaii, is author of several textbooks and articles on Indian medical ethics. His latest book 'Hindu Bio-Ethics for the 21st Century' has been published by SUNY Press, 2003.
December 2003 February 2004 Jain Spirit 55 www.jainelibrary.org