Jaina Philosophy and Religion

Author(s): Nyayavijay
Publisher: B L Institute of Indology

Page 74

Jaina Philosophy and Religion
ings: (1) mental state of attachment and aversion and (2) negligence. So, to destroy life of a living being through passions of attachment and aversion is violence; and to destroy life of a living being through negligence is also violence. The mental state of attachment and aversion as also of negligence is internal violence (bhava-himsa). And the actual overt act of destroying life of a living being is external violence (dravya-hiṁsā). Internal violence is by itself violence of evil nature, whereas external violence is not by itself violence of evil nature but it becomes so only when it is associated with internal violence.
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For a householder total and absolute abstinence from violence is impossible. So, abstinence from violence for him is shown as limited and partial in the Jaina works on ethics. The types of limitations allowed are evident in the following statement of the vow: 'I shall not kill with determined intention' the gross (i.e., mobile) living beings when they are innocent'. Now let us understand the statement and thereby the limitactions. The one-sensed living beings, viz, earth, water, fire, air and plants are immobile; they are the things a householder uses once or repeatedly and in his daily life their constant use is inevitable. So, in his vow of nonviolence, he is not required to refrain from killing them. This is the reason why the statement of his vow contains the words 'I shall not kill the gross (i.e., mobile, i.e., two-sensed, etc.) living beings'. This is how his vow of non-violence is made narrow and limited by leaving out the onesensed living beings from its purview. But there is a possibility of killing even the gross (mobile, i.e., two-sensed, etc.) living beings like ants, etc. while constructing a house, performing agricultural activities, digging wells, step-wells and ponds, etc. So, it will not do to put the mere words 'I shall not kill the gross living beings' in the statement of his vow. Therefore, the words 'with determined intention' are inserted in the statement of his vow. Thus, now the statement is: 'I shall not kill with determined intention the gross living beings'. The killing of the gross living beings that takes place in constructing a house, performing agricultural activities, digging wells, etc. and performing acceptable and allowed occupations is not done with determined intention. Hence it does not go against the householder's vow of non-violence. Again, there arose a problem. In a difficult situation, he has to kill with determined inten
1. pangukustikunitvādi dṛṣṭvā himsāphalaṁ sudhiḥ / nirāgastrasajantunāṁ hiṁsāṁ sankalpatas tyajet //
Yogaśāstra, Acarya Hemacandra, II. 19