________________
25
The Ethical Code
W E have already made a reference to the five ethical principles
prescribed by Mahāvīra to his followers : ahiṁsā (non-violence), satya (truth), asteya (non-stealing), brahmacarya (celibacy) and aparigraha (non-possession). Alle
Of these five principles the first one is considered to be the most important. The most predominant characteristic of Jainism is its insistence on the strict observance of the principle of nonviolence. The use of the negative prefix has been misunderstood and the result is that the positive philosophy of love contained in the ethics of non-violence is not appreciated fully. S. C. Thakur explains : “Even if 'complete absence of ill-will' does not literally mean a positive attitude of good will and love it comes very close to the latter. This. .. brings the essential presupposition of ahiṁsā, in spite of the use of a grammatically negative term, very much closer to a positive philosophy of love." The deeper significance of the term can be appreciated from the fact that Jainism believing as it does in continuity of consciousness' (as explained previously in this work), considers that man has no right to interfere with the progress (spiritual) of any being-even of the onesensed. Injury involved positive interference and so there was to be exhortation to practise non-interference.
The term is sometimes interpreted as strict non-killing. Though
1 Christian and Hindu Ethics (London : George Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1969), p. 202
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
