________________
B. C. LAW
99
asscntial fcatures with the Buddhist rules, were broadbased upon careful considerations and keen observations 25
Jainism is not atheistic Its so-called atheism is neither apologetic nor polemical but is accepted as a natural religious attitude 28 The path to the realm of highest bliss lies through abstinence from killing, theft, adultery, lying and such austere penances as nudity, confession. etc 17 These five modes of self-restraint correspond to the five great vows of Mahāvira ( pancamahavaya ) as rightly pointed out by Dr Barua. Jainism has many distinctive characteristics of its own and historically it occupies a place midway between Brahmanism and Buddhism. It cherishes a theory of soul as an actre principle in contradistinction to the Vedanta or Samkhya doctrine of soul as a passive principle The Jain notion of karna is physical while the Buddhist idea of the same is psycho-ethical. In Jainism rebirth takes place by way of transmigration of soul. Buddhism rejects the theory of transmigration In Jainism soul is vitally interested in our action. As a substance it docs not undergo any change Yoga practice is equally important. In Jainism as in Buddhism the bodily functions cease in the process of Yoga after the vocal and the mental after the physical. Like the Sámktya doctrine Jainism stands for a dualistic conception of soul and matter and it differs from Vedānta in this respect 'The Jain dualism may be explained as a pluralistic doctrine like the realism of the Vaiścsika system Jainism maintains a hylozoistic notion of nature in which all compound things are different forms of life in varying stages of evolution. The Jain motto of life is ascetic or stoic. The path to happiness and progress lies through selfdenial, scl abnegation and self-mortification.
25 Vide B C Law, Buddhist rules of decorum published s the R. K. Mukherjee Volume, 1, pp 381 ff
26. Eliot, Hondursun and Buddhism, p. 107 27 C. Sayuta Yahāya, I, 66 28 Pre-Buddhistic Indian philosophy, p 379
