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Jiāna Darsana & Caritra in Jainism religious vision intention or wisdom than knowledge in a metaphysioal sense.
A man of knowledge is a man of faith and a man of faith is a man of action. Virtue consists in right conduct. There is no right conduct without right belief and no right belief without the right perception of truth. The Sūtrakritānga (1, 1, 2. 27 points out that the threefold restraint namely, the restraint as regards body, speech, and mind, can enable a person to achieve the purity of morals, which is the quite essence of right conduct. The first step to virtue lies in the avoidance of sins. There are three ways of committing sins : (1) by one's own activity; (2) by commission; and (3) by approval of the deed. The cardinal principles of charitra as taught by Mahavira may be thus summed up: not to kill anything, to live according to the rules of conduct and without greed, to take care of the highest good, to control oneself always in walking, sitting and lying down, and in the matter of food and drink, to get rid of pride, wrath, deceit and greed, to possess the samitis, 3 to be protected by the five samvaras, and to reach perfection by remaining unfettered among the fettered.:
Right knowledge, faith and conduct, which are the three essential
1. Uttaradhyayanasūtra, XXVIII, 28. 29. 2. Sutrakritānga, I, I. 2. 26.
3. The five Samitis and three guptis constitute eight articles of the Jain Creed. They are the means of self-control (Of. Uttaradhayayanasūtra, XXIV, 1). The five samitis are the following: (1) & man who would be holy must take the greatest care whenever he walks anywhere, not to injure any living thing (Iryāsamiti; ); (2) one must gusrd the words of one's mouth (bhasasamiti); (3) circumspection must be exercised about all matters connected with eating (ēshan samiti); (4) a holy man (sūdhu ) must be careful to possess only five cloths (adananiksepan samiti); (5) a careful disposal of rubbish and refuse is one of the ways of preventing karma being acquired (Utsargasamiti or parishthāpanikāsamiti-S. Stevenson, Heart of Jainism, pp. 145 ff.).
4. Samvara means the prevention of sins by watchfulness. It is the principle of self-control by which the influx of sins is checked. The category of samvara comprehends the whole sphere of right conduct. It is an aspect of tapas. Some hold that it is the gradual cessation of the influx into the soul along with the development of knowledge.
8. Sutrakritānga, 1, 1. 4. 10-13.
