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Chapter VII
APPLIED JAINISM
THE CONCEPT OF NON-VIOLENCE IN JAINISM
The concept of non-violence has been preached by almost all the religions of the world. All the thinkers of humanity and the founders of religious orders universally accepted it as a core principle of human conduct and cardinal religious virtues. In Indian religions in general and Jainism in particular nonviolence is considered as a supreme moral virtue. In Ācārānga, a canonical Jaina Text of 4th century B.C., Bhagwan Mahāvīra declares that “All the worthy men of the past, the present and the future say thus, speak thus, declare thus, explain thus, that all the breathing, existing, living and sentient creatures should not be slain, nor treated with violence, nor abused, nor tormented. This is the pure, eternal and unchangeable law or the tenet of religion."
‘Bhaktaparijna’ also mentions the superiority of non-violence over all other virtues. It says “just as in the world there is nothing higher than mountain Meru and nothing extended than the sky, so also (in the world) there is nothing excellent and universal than the virtue of non-violence. In Prasna Vyakaranasūtra, non-violence is considered as a shelter to all the living beings. In it Ahimsa is equated with sixty virtuous qualities such as peace, harmony, welfare, trust, fearlessness etc. For Jainas non-violence is a wider term comprehending all the virtues. It is not a single virtue but a group of virtues. Ācārya Amrtacandra in his famous work Purusarthasidhyupaya maintains that “all moral practices such as truthfulness etc. are included in Ahimsa (non-violence), similarly all the vices are comprehended in Himsa (violence) because virtues do
237 Jainism and its History
