Compiled by Duli Chandra Jain
Nonviolence: Basic Jain Concepts (1)
1. Obstructing physical and/or abstract life processes on account of passions (of anger, pride, intrigue or greed) is (physical and/or abstract) violence.
2. Absence of attachment and aversion (RAAGADWESH) in spirit is nonviolence and presence of attachment and aversion is violence.
3. If a conscientious individual, whose mind is free from attachment and aversion, inadvertently causes physical and/or mental injury, he/she is not said to commit violence.
4. However, an individual who has attachment and aversion, and who conducts himself/herself incautiously, invariably commits violence even when no physical injury is caused by him/her.
5. One who is negligent and conscienceless, and/or who thinks ill of others, commits violence of one's own thoughts and feelings in the first place. Next comes the question of violence toward others, which may or may not occur.
6. One who does not renounce violence and possesses thoughts and feelings of violence is violent. One who is negligent is violent.
7. Violence is not merely causing injury to other living beings. One should keep one's thoughts and feelings pure to avoid physical and mental violence of self and of others.
8. An individual may not be responsible for violence even on causing injury while another person may be responsible for violence without causing any injury.
9. An individual may suffer significant consequence of a minor violence in some instance, while he/she may suffer lesser consequence of a major violence in another instance.
10. Similar instances of violence may result in lesser or greater consequences in different cases.
11. Undesirable thoughts and feelings lead to painful consequences of violence even in the absence of injury. One who resolves to commit violence but fails in causing injury invariably suffers painful consequences of his mental states.
12. In some cases, many individuals may suffer the consequences of violence committed by a single individual. In other instances, the consequences of violence committed by many may be suffered by a single person.
Nonviolence And Modern Warfare (2)
Modern day warfare can not be considered an honorable exploit of bravery. In ancient India, soldiers engaged in combat with other soldiers. Unarmed warriors were not attacked. No women or children were killed. In those days, war effort entailed equitable exercise of physical force. Brave warriors earned the appreciation of even their adversaries. However, in modern times of scientific warfare, nobody cares about proper or improper, fair or unfair. Instead of physical strength, cunning of intellect is ultimate. Nobody cares about women, children, old and sick. Such lethal bombs are employed that extensive damage is caused to life and property over a wide expanse. There is no limit to lies, deception, conniving and misleading propaganda. The suffering of those who are defeated knows no bounds. If such wars continue, then the world will certainly suffer catastrophic consequences.
Commonly, people believe that only wars can lead to peace on earth. They do not see any alternative to wars. However, past experiences show that war is not the means to attain peace. The two world wars did not lead to peace. On the other hand, conflicts and anguish have grown in magnitude, while more powerful weapons of mass destruction have been invented. Even then the eyes of the leaders of nations are closed shut. They do not resolve the causes of conflicts and disputes, but endeavor to prevent wars with wars. The prime need of the hour is to remove distrust and fear. The powerful and neutral nations should make a sincere effort to stop the secret preparations for wars. These two items, mistrust and preparation for war, are interrelated but no progress can be made without stopping the production of weapons.
During the last world war, Mahatma Gandhi, based on his steadfast belief in peaceful means, had appealed to the warring nations to adopt the path of peaceful persuasion (SATYAAGRAH). He did not succeed because the concept of peaceful endeavor is new to the modern world. ... Today, violence rules the world. Mistrust, fear, ego, exploitation and dishonesty are aspects of violence. In such atmosphere, establishing peace through wars is like jumping into the fire to escape from the heat of the sun. Blood can not be washed with blood. Water has to be employed for washing blood. Nonviolence is such water. When all nations of the world unanimously adopt the path of nonviolence, peace will dawn on earth.
Basis Of Nonviolence In Jainism
Many people think that the concept of nonviolence in Jainism is based upon the virtue of compassion. However, the Jain concept of nonviolence is predicated on the freedom and equality of each individual soul. Further, an individual adopts the virtue of nonviolence, as any other aspect of rational conduct, after inculcating rational perception and rational knowledge. A person embraces a firm belief in the aspects of reality, nature of his/her mundane existence - that material world is fraught with ultimate misery and that true happiness entails contentment and equanimity. One realizes from one's experience that passions such as anger, hatred and jealousy hurt the feelings of the individual self and thus they constitute self-directed violence. Therefore, violence directed toward others usurps the peace of mind of the individual who commits violence. The virtue of nonviolence is motivated by such reasoned knowledge and experience. This is rationalism - rational perception, rational knowledge and rational conduct in practice. ACHAARAANG SUTRA contains similar concepts. It states:(3)
One who knows spiritualism - realizes equanimity, understands the external (worldly) iniquities, and one who understands worldly afflictions attains equilibrium of self. One should exercise such a balance. (24)
One who is in pursuit of sensual pleasures has no peace of mind, and one who suffers from anxiety indulges in sensual pleasures. An individual involved in creature comforts spends his/her life in deep anguish. He/she has deep-rooted passions for materialism and so his/her days pass in indolence, devoid of spiritual uplift. Such an individual is unhappy day and night, always endeavors to obtain petty things, only seeks relationships that satisfy his/her selfish motives, and is extremely greedy. He/she is deceptive and acts without discernment. Such individuals possess insidious attachment and resort to means of violence over and over again. (26)
Many individuals, following their gurus, understand the importance of rational conduct (nonviolence and equanimity) but they do not practice such conduct. They indulge in violence but preach nonviolence and equanimity to others. Such indulgence amounts to grave impropriety, leads to disquietude and causes the influx of painful karma. On the other hand, one who is detached from materialism, attains equanimity with insight, resides in spiritualism, cherishes nonviolence completely and does not resort to the means involving violence. (25)
The well-known philosopher, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, states, "Laying down of the commandment not to kill and not to damage is one of the greatest events in the spiritual history of mankind. Starting from its principle, founded on world and life denial, of abstention from action, ancient Indian thought - and this in a period when in other respects ethics have not progressed very far - reaches the tremendous discovery that ethics know no bounds! So far as we know, this is for the first time clearly expressed by Jainism."(4)
In this context, Dr. Schweitzer, states, "It (AHIMSA) does not develop, as one might expect, out of compassion. ... When once the AHIMSA commandment has become generally accepted, it operates with educative effect. It arouses compassionate feelings and keeps it awake."(5)
In his celebrated work, YOGA SHASTRA, Acharya Hem Chandra writes:
MAATEV SARVABHOOTAANAAMAHIMSA HITAKAARINE |
AHIMSAIVA HI SAMSAARAMARAAVAMRITASAARANIH |50|
AHIMSA DUKKHADAAVAAGNIPRAAVRISHENYAGHANAAVALI |
BHAVABHRAMIRUGAARTTAANAAMAHIMSA PARAMAUSHADHI |51|
AHIMSA is like a mother - always benevolent and beneficial.
In the parched land of worldly existence, it flows like a river of nectar.
AHIMSA is like a host of clouds, showering rain on inferno of miseries.
It is like a medicinal herb to heal the afflictions of our worldly existence.
It should be emphasized that Jainism considers that vices such as untruth, stealing, unchastity and possessiveness involve mental and, in some instances, even physical violence. Thus they are indeed forms of violence. We should avoid all these vices. Instead of merely shouting slogans of supremacy, of nonviolence, we should inculcate the virtues of nonviolence, truth, non-stealing, purity of body and mind, and non-possessiveness in our daily lives.
Footnotes:
1. Adapted from BHARATIYA DHARM AUR AHIMSA by Siddhantacharya Kailash Chandra Jain Shastri, published by Shri Rajkrishna Jain Charitable Trust, New Delhi, 1983, pages 141-142.
For details, please see 'Scriptural View Of Nonviolence', presented in Studies In Jainism: Reader 2, pages 26-28.
'A Few Glimpses Of Nonviolence' by Siddhantacharya Kailash Chandra Jain Shastri, Jain Study Circular, January 1993, pages 5-8.
2. ibid pages 140-141. Back up
3. ACHAARAANG CHAYANIKA by Dr. Kamal Chand Sogani, Prakrit Bharati Academy, Jaipur, 1987. The sutra numbers from CHAYANIKA are given in parentheses. Back up
4. Indian Thought And Its Development by Albert Schweitzer, Henry Holt and Company, New York 1936, pages 82-83. Back up
5. ibid pages 80-81. Back up