Lessons of Ahimsa and Anekanta for Contemporary Life

Author(s): Tara Sethia
Publisher: California State Polytechnic University Pomona

Page 19

Lessons of Ahimsă and Anekānta for Contemporary Life
A similar view of ahimsă and compassion is found on a web page of Jain pilgrimages: “Jainism has become synonymous with ahimsă. Ahimsā (non-violence) occupies the supreme place in Jainism. . . . Compassion (dayā) is the guiding force of nonviolence. It is the positive way of life. It has been assigned an equally high place in Jainism- 'Dayā dharma kā mūla' (Compassion is the basis of religion)."
These writings are reflective of different views regarding compassion in Jainism. In writing about Jain views of ecology in the West, Anne Vallely has observed that “in the diaspora community . . . asceticism is being de-emphasized so that teachings of compassion and non-violence are no longer anchored to a renunciatory worldview. Jain teachings are being redefined according to a different ethical charter altogether-one in which active engagement in the world is encouraged.”6 Is this diversity of opinion indicative of a shift in thought regarding compassion itself? In this regard, it would be instructive to examine views regarding compassion that are found in some classical Jain texts that emphasize renunciation and asceticism.
First, let us examine statements in the Tattvārthasūtra (TS), a text accepted by both Svetāmbaras and Digambaras. In TS 6.12, compassion (anukampa) is listed as one of the causes of the influx of sātā-vedanīya karma (the karma that causes pleasant bodily feelings), along with giving (dāna), asceticism with attachment (sarāga-samyama), concentration (yoga), equanimity (kṣānti), and purity or freedom from greed (śauca). Here, and in other
http://www.jainpilgrimages.com/general/mahavir.htm (December 15, 2001).
Anne Vallely, “From Liberation to Ecology: Ethical Discourses among Orthodox and Diaspora Jains," in Christopher Key Chapple (ed.), Jainism and Ecology (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2002), pp. 193-216.
Muni Shri Mishrimal Maharaj (trans.), Karmagrantha of Devendrasūrī, 6 vols. (Beawar, Rajasthan: Shri Marudharakesari Sahitya Prakashana Samiti, 1974-1976): 1.55. Here compassion is associated with the binding of sātā-vedaniya karma.
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