Ahimsa in Jainism Totally Explained

Everything about Ahimsa In Jainism totally explained

The vow of non-violence
is formalized into Jain doctrine as the first major vow of the ascetics and first minor vow of the laity.
The Vow of Ascetics

The Vow of the Laity

Jain Concept of
Hierarchy of Living Beings on basis of SensesCarefulnessMental States and intentionSignificance of true Knowledge

Anekantavada - The non-violence of mind

Anekantavada is the principle of relativity of truth or the doctrine of multiple aspects. Jains hold that truth is multifaceted and has multiple sides that can't be completely comprehended by anyone. Anekantavada describes the world as a multifaceted, ever-changing reality with an infinity of viewpoints relative to the time, place, nature and state of one who is the viewer and that which is viewed. What is true from one point of view is open to question from another. Absolute truth can't be grasped from any particular viewpoint alone, because absolute truth is the sum total of all different viewpoints that make up the universe. Because it's rooted in these doctrines, Jainism can't exclusively uphold the views of any individual, community, nation, or species. It recognises inherently that other views are valid for other peoples, and for other life-forms. This perception leads to the doctrine of syadvada or sevenfold predication stating the truth from different viewpoints. Anekantvada is the doctrine and Syadvada is its expression. According to Jaina philosophers all important philosophical statements should be expressed in this sevenfold way in order to remove the danger of dogmatism (ekanta) in philosophy.
The concept of syadvada allows the Jains to accept the truth in other philosophies from their perspective and thus inculcating a tolerance for other viewpoints. Anekantvada is non-absolutist and stands firmly against all dogmatisms, even including any assertion that only Jainism is the right religious path. It is thus an intellectual Ahimsa or Ahimsa of mind. In Anekantvada, there's no "battle of ideas", because this is considered to be a form of intellectual himsa or damage, leading quite logically to physical violence and war. In today's world, the limitations of the adversarial, “either with us or against us “ form of argument are increasingly apparent leading to political, religious and social conflicts. Even the mounting ecological crisis is linked to adversarialism, because it arises from a false division between humanity and "the rest" of nature.

Various aspects and consequences of violence

While the Jain ascetics observe absolute non-violence, so far as a Jain householder is concerned, the violence is divided as follows :-

Ways of committing Violence
It would be wrong, however, to conclude that ahimsa only prohibited physical violence. An early Jain text says: "With the three means of punishment – thoughts, words, deeds – ye shan't injure living beings." In fact, violence can be committed by combination of the following four factors :
1. The instrumentality of our actions. We can commit violence by either through ť a. body for example physical action,

   b. speech for example verbal action, or ť c. mind for example mental actions

2. The process of committing violence. This includes whether we ť a. only decide or plan to act,

   b. make preparations for the act for example like collecting necessary materials or weapons, or ť c. actually begin the action

3. The modality of our action, including if we ť a. we ourselves commit violence,

   b. we instigate others to carry out the violence, or ť c. we give our silent approval for the violence

4. The motivation for action. This includes which of the following negative emotions that the violence is motivated by. ť a. Anger

   b. Greed ť c. Pride

   d. Manipulation or deceit
   Thus violence is committed by a combination of any one element of the above four factors. Due to this, there are 108 ways with which the violence can be committed.

The Rationale of Non violence

Fruits of non-violence and violenceMisconceptions on Non-violenceAnimal sacrifices

Worshipping violent gods

Oblations to forefathers

Glory of death on the battlefield

The Hindu belief that the death in battlefield resulted in rebirth in heavens has been recorded in Mahabharata where Krsna tells Arjuna : ť "Slain you'll attain heavens, conquering you'll enjoy earth;

Therefore rise, O Arjuna, resolved to do battle" ť :-Bhagavad Gita ii 37

However according to Jainas death accompanied by hatred and violence can never lead to heavens. According to a story in Bhagavati Sūtra, all the 840,000 soldiers who perished in a war between Konika, the Magadhan emperor and other kings, were either reborn in hell or as animals. Only one person who maintained equanimity in the midst of death in battlefield was reborn in heaven.

Other wrong beliefs

Animals shouldn't be killed for guests or persons deserving respect as often advocated in certain scriptures.

It is also a wrong belief that wild animals that kill many other animals should be killed. This is often justified in the name of hunting of ferocious animals like tigers for sport.

Another wrong belief forwarded to justify killing of ferocious animals is that, these kill many lives and accumulate grave sins and hence killing them is an act of mercy. According to Jainism, killing can never be an act of mercy.

It is also a misconception to believe that it's advisable to kill those who are suffering so that they may get relief from agony. #These sorts of arguments are forwarded to justify killing of those animals that may have become old or injured and hence have become commercially useless.

Other wrong beliefs are killing those who are in state of happiness or those who are in meditation under wrong belief that the mental state at the time of death will be perpetuated in future lives.

It is also a wrong belief that killing of self and others is justified as the soul that's imprisoned in the body will be permanent released and achieve salvation.

Non-violence and vegetarianism

Origins and evolution of Ahimsa

Citations and Notes

Biblography

| publisher =Prakrit Bhartati Academy | date =2004 | location =Jaipur }}

| publisher =Radiant Publisher | date =2007 | location =New Delhi | isbn =81-7027-251-2 }}

| publisher =Bhagwan Mahavir memorial Samiti | date =1993 | location =New Delhi }}Further Information

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