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of being a defilement is not-open to cancellation. On the contrary, the subtle mental feeling of the form of an act of negligence itself being of the form of defilement its character of being a defilement is dependent on itself that is to say, this its character is not dependent on a gross deprivation of life or on any other external happening. Thus even if deprivation of life did not take place and even if pain was caused to no being-nay, even if, while seeking to deprive a being of its life or to cause pain to it one actually lengthened the life-duration of this being or caused pleasure to it but if the mental feeling obtaining on the occasion was evil then it is to be treated as an absolute case of defilement. Hence it is that in the technical terminology such a mental feeling is called bhāva himsā—that is, material violence-or niscaya himsā-that is violence definitively speaking. Bhāva himsā or niścaya himsā only means violence whose character of being a defilement, being dependent on itself, is not-open to cancellation during all the three phases of time. Thus when once it is understood that a mere act of negligence and a mere deprivation of life-though each of them is called a case of violence their character of being a greater or lesser defilement is as just stated then an answer is automatically given to the question whether these two are cases of violence born of an act of negligence or of violence of some other sort. And the answer is to the effect that even if not visible to gross eyes it is a mere act of negligence that is a case of violence born of an act of negligence while a mere deprivation of life is not a case of violence of this sort.
TATTVARTHA SUTRA
Question: If as stated just above the root-cause of violence being a case of defilement is merely an act of negligence, then by way of defining violence one must simply say that it is of the form of an act of negligence. And if this reasoning be valid then the question naturally arises as to why the definition of violence contains a mention of deprivation of life.
Answer Certainly, it is an act of negligence that is in truth a case of violence, but its renunciation on the part of people at large is not possible suddenly and for the most part. On the contrary, a mere deprivation of life-even if it is a gross act its
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