Jainism the Creed for All Times

Author(s): D S Baya
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

Page 91

as fine violence (Sūkşma Himsā) while the intentional violence against the mobile bi-sensory (two sensed) beings and other higher forms of life is considered to be gross violence and is to be totally avoided.
Non-violence
Having dealt with the concept and form of violence in sufficient detail, we can now deal with the concept and form of non-violence.
As we had done with the term violence, to define it at the thought and action levels, so we can do with non-violence as well. As violence is taken as violation of one or more of the vitalities (prāṇātipāta) of the living beings, so the term nonviolence must mean lack of violation of any of their ten types of vitality (prāṇātipāta viramana). This lack of violation can be at the thought level as well as at the action level. Actually, for the rational beings the thoughts precede any deliberate and intentional action and, hence, volitional non-violence is more important than the physical non-violence.
All life forms love life and fear death, they like pleasure and avoid pain. They are equal in this consciousness. The concept of non--violence, therefore, must spring from the thought of considering and treating all life forms as equal to oneself. To be non-violent is to honour the rights to life and pleasure of the other living beings just as we would like our rights to life and pleasure to be honoured by the others. According to Jaina point of view all forms of living beings have equal right to lead peaceful lives. Just as we think that the others have no right to kill or hurt us so we, too, have no right to kill or hurt the others. The principles (mooted by some selfish thinkers) like 'Tīvo jīvasya bhojanam (one creature is the other's food) and “living by killing' are selfcontradictory as they violate the very basic principle of equality of lives.
AHIŃSĀ (NON-VIOLENCE): 63