Lessons of Ahimsa and Anekanta for Contemporary Life

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

Page 21

Lessons of Ahimsa and Anekānta for Contemporary Life
Here, in the Sarvārthasiddhi (SS) the Digambara commentator Pajyapāda defines kārunya as "a disposition (bhāva) to render assistance (anugraha) to the afflicted or those who suffer pain or anguish due to the rise of asātā-vedanīya karma. He concludes that “He who conducts himself in this manner is able to practice non-violence and other vows to perfection."
Thus, according to the commentators on the Tattvärthasūtra, compassion may be expressed either passively or actively: by viewing the suffering of others as if it were one's own or by rendering assistance to those who are afflicted. The definitions for compassion in these commentaries are similar to those in the Oxford English Dictionary: (1) Compassion is suffering together with another, participation in suffering, fellowfeeling, sympathy. It is (2) the feeling or emotion, when a person is moved by the suffering or distress of another and by the desire to relieve it; pity that inclines to spare or to succour.'
Compassion is discussed in a variety of texts in the context of appropriate mendicant and lay conduct. Regarding mendicant conduct, Acārānga-sūtra 11.6.5.2 states “A saint, with right intuition (samyak-darśana) who cherishes compassion for the world, in the east, west, south, and north, should preach, spread, and praise (the faith), knowing the sacred lore." Uttarādhyayana-sūtra 21.13 says that “A monk should have compassion (dayānukampa) on all beings, should be of a forbearing character, should be restrained and chaste, and abstaining from everything sinful; he should live with his senses
9 See S. A. Jain (trans.), Pujyapada's Sarvārthasiddhi (Madras: Jwalamalini Trust, 1960, Reprint 1992), p. 195.
10 Oxford English Dictionary, (Clarendon Press, second edition, 1989).
11 Herman Jacobi (trans.). Jaina Sūtras, part 1: Translation of the Ācārānga-sūtra and Kalpa Sutra (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1884; reprint Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1989), p. 60.
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