________________
JAINA DOCTRINE OF AHIMSA
and bitter persecution. The Buddhists, too, lay considerable stress on ahimsa, and are easily more numerous than any other community. The secret is that ahimsa wins the love and the respect of all for its devotee, for AHIMSA is UNIVERSAL LOVE.
Jain Education International
99
AHIMSA really covers all other virtues, and the vow of ahimsa all other vows. All vows in reality only represent a partial aspect, a fragment or a mere element, of ahimsa. Truthfulness, honesty, even chastity, are covered by ahimsa. He who practises ahimsa will not hurt another's feelings or cause him bodily or mental harm by untruthfulness, nor cheat or deceive him in any other way, or think of running away with his wife or daughter or sister. He would not rob the king of his due, nor use false weights and measures in trade, to earn an easy extra penny. In strife he would seek to establish peace and do his utmost to avoid war. The moderns have yet to learn how to secure Peace, but the Jains were taught the art long long ago. It is not the sword nor the lying diplomatic tongue that will ever establish lasting Peace in the world, but the turning of an enemy into a friend, the transforming of hatred into lasting friendship. Ahimsa, as Universal Love, alone has the capacity to achieve this end, and ahimsa alone is, therefore, the means of establishing Peace among men !
If you
He who practises ahimsa must never think evil of any one; he should be a well-wisher of all, of himself and all others. He must love the animal no less than man. have no respect for life in the animal, how can you have any thing like real respect for man, who also is endowed with life resembling that of an animal, in all respects, except the intellectual function? We saw this illustrated in the great European War where men fought with fiendish ingenuity and rage, though outwardly professing to be loving their brethren. It is not that their religion taught them to show no respect to life. The Bible certainly says THOU SHALT
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
