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The Jain concept of the spiritual seer, the Tirthankara, propagating the message of universal compassion, tolerance, forgiveness and understanding is an appropriate symbol to steer humanity on the path of interreligious dialogue and discourses. The Jain tradition is replete with accounts of people of different persuasions attending the audience hall of the Tirthankara or of taking part in the discourses of Jain sages. The outcome was totally wholesome, bringing people of diverse faiths together in their efforts to alleviate the various afflictions that contemporary society had to contend with.
We may at this stage also examine the other cardinal tenets of the Jain doctrines which would help in gaining an insight to its synoptic characteristics. Non-killing or non-violence that requires one to respect the life in every creature is an important principle permeating the Jain outlook on life. A Jain looks upon. non-violence not as a negative concept of merely refraining from killing but as a positive conduct that enjoins one not to harbour even the thought of injuring any being, or of uttering by word his Intention to injure or kill the being.
The image of a Jain as a person of peace and goodwill is strongly imprinted in Indian society and indeed in several other societies where followers of the Jain religion have migrated. We may recall in this context the role of Mahatma Gandhi perhaps the greatest champion of non-violence in our age. His upbringing in Jain Society and study of Jain religion was among the seminal influences which lifted him above the narrow limits of his community and helped him touch the hearts of men and women everywhere. Non-violent resistance to evil has now come to be accepted as a potent force in all societies.
The second virtue stressed in Jain ethics is good neighbourliness. Individual kindness, mutual confidence and a reciprocal sense of security progressively dif fused in society at large can help a great deal in achieving peaceful co-existence together with the well-being of the entire humanity.
The third virtue is a steady and progressive restraint on acquisitiveness which manifasts itself either in the form of yearning for sensual pleasure or for acquisition of property. This virtue is to be practsed in different degrees at different. stages of one's spiritual or religious progress. A voluntary limitation of property with its corollary of the concept of holding property in trust for the larger good of society results in social justice and a fair distribution of wealth and among individuals as well as among nations. What a desirable way of bringing about a new international economic and social order!
The other virtues of refraining from untruth, remaining celibate or in the
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