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KARMA PHILOSOPRY
143
again the protection to life is reduced to 1. There fore the protection which a layman can undertake to afford to life is, in comparison with that afforded by the monk, as 1 is to 16.
: The layman, then, can undertake to refrain from killing innocent moving living beings intentionally when he has no proper necessary cause. So the
FIRST VOW OF THE LAYMAN
is: "I shall not kill a moving living being with determined intention when it is innocent, without . proper necessary cause or purpose.”
Virtues and vices are states of the individual and
can never be transmitted or transferred Incidental.
from one person, to another. Each person develops his own state of virtue, just as he does his own knowledge. You cannot impart virtue to another person, you cannot inherit virtue (in the sense of receiving it). You cannot inherit knowledge or impart knowledge. You can supply a person with the means (such as books or lectures) whereby he can develop his own knowledge.
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