Lessons of Ahimsa and Anekanta for Contemporary Life

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

Page 22

Kristi Wiley, “Ahimsā, Compassion and Samyaktva”
under control.":12 In the Digambara Ātmānuśāsana, unlimited compassion (karunāpara) is listed among the fruits of practicing severe austerities.13 Here, one is urged to follow the path of compassion, self-control, renunciation, and equanimity.!4 “When the shore of the ocean of the cycle of existence is close by, the fortunate man has aversion to sense-gratifications, has renounced all possessions, subjugates the passions, has tranquility, Vows, self-control, practice of self-contemplation, pursuit of austerities, duly ordained mental activity, devotion to the Jinas, and compassion (dayaluta).”!And in discussing religious virtues in the Praśamaratiprakarana, Umāsvāti states, “Compassion is the root of sacred doctrine (dharma). A person who is devoid of patience (aksamavan) does not show compassion. Therefore, one who is devoted to patience attains the highest dharma.”:16
In some of the Śrāvakācāra texts, which detail appropriate conduct for laity, compassion is listed as one of the qualities of an observant layperson (śrävaka-guna), specifically in the context of samyaktva and in observing various lay vows. For example, Samantabhadra defines abstention from eating after dark (rātribhojana) as abandoning food by night out of compassion for
1- Herman Jacobi (trans.), Jaina Sūtras, part 2: Translation of the Uttaradhyana-sūtra and Sūtrakrtănga Sutra (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1895; reprint Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1989), p. 109. 13 Jacobi (trans.), Ācāranga-sūtra, op.cit., p. 68.
14 Jacobi (trans.), Ācārănga-sūtra, op. cit., p. 107.
15 Jacobi (trans.), Ācārānga-sūtra, op. cit., p. 224.
10 Yajneshwar S. Shastri (trans.), Umāsvāti's Praśamaratiprakarana, L.D. Series, 107 (Ahmedabad: L. D. Institute of Indology, 1969), p. 168.
1 "This guna ... is of the very essence of Jainism and needs no comment." See R. Williams, Jaina Yoga: A Survey of Mediaeval Sråvakācāras (London: Oxford University Press, 1963), p. 269.
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