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STORIES AND ANECDOTES
FROM JAIN LITERATURE COMPILED BY SATYA RANJAN BANERJEE
MAHĀVĪRA’S SERMONS ON NON-KILLING In the Ācārānga-sūtra Mahavira's sermans consist mainly of exhortations and warnings, e.g., the warning against any kind
of killing or injury of living creatures, for instance.
"I speak thus. All Saints (Arhats) and Lords (Bhagavats) in the past, in the present and in the future, they all say thus, speak thus, announce thus and declare thus : One may not kill, nor ill-use, nor insult, nor torment, nor persecute any kind of living being, any kind of creature, any kind of thing having a soul, any kind of beings. That is the pure, eternal, enduring commandment of religion, which has been proclaimed by the sages who comprehend the world."
"You yourself are the (being) which you intend to kill; you yourself are the (being) which you intend to ill-use; you yourself are the (being) which you intend to insult; you yourself are the (being) which you intend to torment; you yourself are the (being) which you intend to persecute.' Therefore the righteous one, who has awakened to this knowledge, and lives according to it, will neither kill nor cause to kill."2
The intended meaning is : The consequences of the action
return to yourself. 2. I, 4, 11: 5, 5, 4. This kind of repetition and accumulation of
synonymous or almost synonymous expressions is just as popular in the Jinistic sermons as in the Buddhist ones.
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