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JAINISM
(18) He has no hatred of persons or things.
It is said that the last Master, Mahavira, whom history describes, possessed these eighteen qualifications.
When the right attitude of thought is attained, any being or person that is held up as a deity in whom any one of the above eighteen faults is discovered, will not be regarded as a deity. And the deity should be critically examined to see if all these failings are absent.
The deity is not one who issues laws that must be obeyed; nor is he a creator of the universe,
THE SPIRITUAL TEACHER
What sort of a person is able to teach us spiritual truth in the absence of an omniscient Master? When we have attained the right attitude we shall feel convinced that the only kind of person who can teach us the truth about spiritual matters in the absence of the omniscient Master is one who has the five characteristics mentioned below.* Such a teacher may be a man or a woman.
(1) He does not destroy any form of life, animal, vegetable, or mineral (water for instance), through carelessness of body, speech, or mind. It is, therefore, impossible for him to be a layman.
(2) His speech is actually truth in fact, and is spoken in a pleasant way, and is spoken only when the teacher thinks that it is beneficial to the person to whom it is spoken.
* There are the 'great vows' (mahavrata) binding on monks and nuns, in contra-distinction to the 'small vows' (anuvrata) binding on laymen.
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