Jaina ethics -- samyaktva -- samyakcaritra as Munidharma and Sravaka
dharma -- ethical codes analysed � mahavratas -- samitis, five types of
sense control, and avasyakas -- Sravakadharma -- anuvratas, gunavratas and
siksavratas -- eleven Pratimas -- the spirit of Anekanta pervading the
Jaina ethics -- a note on Samlekhana as a step to towards self-realization
-- Samlekhana as a form of suicide refuted -- a note on Ahimsa -- Ahimsa
as Mahavrata and Anuvrata -- interpretation of Ahimsa.
1. We have so far seen the pathway to perfection
through practice of Yoga and the stages of self realization. But the
transcendental perfection is to be rooted in the empirical life; as cannot
ignore the empirical for the transcendental. We have first to learn to
live a good life in this world and then we can go higher to spiritual
perfection, or else it would be like one aiming at climbing the Mount
Everest without setting a foot on the base camp without training oneself
for mountaineering. Moral excellence is therefore, as much important as
spiritual perfection.
It has been alleged that the Jaina outlook, as of
other ancient Indian thought, is negative. In their zeal for the other
worldly ends they have ignored the things of the world; life negation and
not life affirmation is the dominant spirit of their outlook; and it is
throughout pessimistic. For Jainas ultimate spiritual excellence could be
attained by the gradual process of getting moral excellence. The good man
can reach the destiny of perfection of soul. There is no short cut to
moksa. As we have seen in the last chapter, Schweitzer maintains that the
problem of deliverance the Jaina and the Buddhist thought is not raised
beyond ethics. In fact it was the supreme ethic, and it was an event full
of significance for the thought of India. And in Indian thought category
of Dharma is important. "So far as the actual ethical content concerned,
Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism are not inferior to others" [2] Suffering
in the world is a fact.: sarvam duhkham was one of the cardinal principles
of the Buddha. Misery leads to think of an escape from the bonds of this
life. In this sense all philosophy is pessimistic. But, the ultimate
ideal of a Jaina is perfection and life-negation is a means to an end. It
is the negation empirical values of life and not of the supreme values;
and ethics leads to realization of the supreme values. In the West the
Helenic ideal was to be a good citizen to attain excellence in this life.
The Vedic Aryans aimed at happiness and good life in the world, and heaven
hereafter. The Indian seers realized that we have to transcend the
empirical to reach pure perfection, or else we have no lasting peace. Yet
the empirical is a stepping stone for the transcendental perfection. Moral
life therefore, is important as the pathway to perfection. The ways of
flesh and mind are to be channelised to the pathway to perfection giving
Caesar what is due to him. Ethics for the Jainas is working in
righteousness all the days of one's life. Of the triple ways to
perfection enunciated by the Jainas, Samyak-caritra is equally important.
It is a way leading to moksha: without hunger and thirst for righteousness
we shall not enter the kingdom of perfection. Caritra is predominently
activistic. lt refers to moral and spiritual excellence. lt implies willed
activity, and samyakcaritra (right activity) is an important step one has
to adopt in the pathway to self-realisaion. To attain samyaktva is not an
easy task. One has to be ripe for it. Samyak-caritra is possible for one
who has attained samyagdrsti (right faith) and Samyagjnana (right
knowledge). One who has cleared the darkness of the deluding Karma and who
possesses knowledge, adopts samyak-caritra. lt consists in avoiding the
influx of Karma (asrava) coming as it does from the practice of himsa
(injury to life), anrta (untruth), steya (stealing) and other forms of
sense pleasures. Samyaktva has been assimilated to the status of a vrata
and presented with five aticaras (infraction). They were enumerated as
early as the Tattvarthasutra though not found in the canon.[3] Without
entering into the minor discrepancies of the Digambara and Svetambara
versions of the essential qualities of Samyaktva, we may mention the
characters of Samyaktva. Samyaktva (rightness) is characterised by i)
samvega (spiritual craving), ii) Sama (stilling of the passion), iii)
nirveda (disgust for sense pleasures), iv) bhakti (devotion), v) anukampa
(compassion), vi) ninda (remorse for the evil acts of relatives and
others), vii) garha (repentence expressed in the form of alocana made in
the presence of guru and viii) vatsalya (loving kindness to The living).
Samyaktva expresses itself in nihsanka (freedom from doubt), nihkanksa (desirelessness),
nirguhana (absence of repugnance), amudha-drsti (absence of perversity of
attitude).[4]
The description of the nature of Samyaktva as shovm
above has a great psychological significance. It presents the mental
setting required for developing character and personality as needed for
spiritual progress., The instructive tendencies and emotions have to be
channelized and directed by transformation and sublimation with a view to
attaining mental equipoise. Ethically considered the characteristics of
Samyak-caritra present a background and a canvas for the illumination of
one's self towards the goal of attaining perfect equanimity and spiritual
strength.
II. Samyakcaritra has been distinguished into two
types: i) sakala (complete) and ii) vikala (partial) . Sakala-caritra is
the rigorous practice of Dharma and is to be adopted by those who are
initiated as monks and who have renounced this world. It is Muni-dharma
(the way of an ascetic). But for those who have not renounced the world it
is still possible to seek the truth and pursue the path of righteousness
though in a convenient and lesser degree. That would be Vikalacaritra,
the way of the householder. There are, thus, two levels of moral life. The
polarity of house-holder and ascetic is indeed one of the most
characteristic features of the Jaina structure. The layman has the
obligation to cherish his family, the monk must sever all ties with them.
The monk is excessive since his life is a negation of compromise; while
moderation must be the key-note of existence for the house holder whose
life is rooted in compromise.[5]
Muni-dharma aims at seeking salvation through the
practice of strict moral and spiritual injunctions. Of these, the five
vratas (vows) are important. They are l) ahimsa (nonviolence); 2) satya
(truth) 3) asteya (non-stealing); 4) Brahmacarya (celibacy); and 5) apari
graha (non-possession). It is difficult to translate these words in
proper form. The Vratas have to be practiced rigorously and withou
exception. In this sense the Vratas to be practiced by th ascetic are
called Mahavratas (great vows). The reverense towards life (Albert
Schweitzer has put it) by which the realm of life was so immeasurably
extended, permeates the discipline of Mahavira's order in a way no other
ethical prescription does.[6] 'We can observe it-entering into the fields
of other vows like truthful speech as arising out of passion. The vow of
non-possession is equally important. A monk is not allowed to possess
anything, in some cases including a piece of cloth. The vow of chesty has
a large effective range. The prescriptions cohering with it do not refer
to normal sexuality only, but they frequently also indicate events of
sexual pathology .[7] According to one tradition, the fifth was added by
Vardhamana Mahavira, the twentyfourth prophet. Parsva the twenty third
Tirthakara did not mention celibacy as a vow. In a discussion between Kesi,
a disciple of Parsva and Gautama, a disciple of Mahavira, it was made
clear that the addition of the fifth did not imply any major deviation
from the teachings of the Jinas, but was an outcome of circumstance.[8] It
indicated a fall in the standards of monastic moral life as there was
sufficient interval of time between the last two Tirthakaras. Later it is
sometimes suggested that the sixth vow rai-bhoyanao veramanam (abstaining
from taking food at night) was added with the main intention of avoiding
injury to life in the dark. This was primarily meant as injunction for
the householder as the ascetic takes only one meal a day at midday. It is
a special case of ahimsa. In fact the entire ethical structure of the
Jainas is centered round the fundamental principle of ahimsa. We find this
expressed in the other lnjunctions to be followed by the ascetics. The
ascetics have to practice: I) the five mahavratas, 2) five samiti. 3) the
control in five senses 4) six avasyakas. other practices like i) loca
(plucking the hair on the head with hands),ii) acelakatva (abstaining from
the use of covering of any sort, iii) asnana (abstaining from bath). iV)
Prthivisayana v) adantadhavana (abstaining from cleaning teeth), vi)
sthitibhojana (taking food offered by the lay discip1e, by using the palm
only and by standing) viii) ekabhukta (taking one meal a day). The five
samitis are irya samiti (restriction on movement),ii)bhasa-samiti
(restriction on speech), iii) esana-samtti (taking pure and permissible
food). iv) adana-niksepa (careful usemovemen: of the necessary objects
like kamandalu, a pot for use of water etc., and v) pratisthapana-samiti
(answering the nature calls in solitary places). The practice of vows and
other injunctions has to be carefully done by the ascetic without
exception. The life of a monk is hard and rigorous in this sense. His
object is to attain Moksa, and for this purpose rigorous mortification of
the body has to be practiced. The practice of vows is threefold: in body,
mind and speech.
The infraction of the practice of vows and other
injunctions has also to be threefold: i) by one self, ii) by getting
others to commit violation, and iii) by acquiescing in the act of
violation.
A Muni is not to cover himself with any type of
clothes ordecoration made of cotton, wool, bark of a tree or even grass.
He is forbidden to take bath (asnana). He should sleep with care on one
side where there is little possibility of injury to living being including
the tiniest insects. He should not clean his teeth, nails and other parts
of the body nor should he decorate himself in any way (adanta-dhavana) .
He should eat taking the food on the palm standing on a clean and purified
place, and he should eat only once a day after midday. These are included
in the twenty-eight basic mulagunas of a Muni.[10] Rigorous restrictions
are imposed on an ascetic; which if imposed on the layman, it would not be
possible for him to practice in conformity with his responsibility of
household life.
The Dasavaikalika-sutra gives description of the
essential qualities required of an ascetic. One who is self-controlled,
who is free from passion and is non-attached is a real Muni. He saves his
soul and those of others. Such self-controlled persons go to heaven (deva-loka)
or are freed from the bonds of life according to the degree of destruction
of Karma. One who goes to heaven is reborn and has to continue his
struggle for the destruction of the remaining Karma ultimately to attain
Moksa.[11]
A true monk should have no desires nor attachments and
should wander about as the known beggarHe should live as a model of
righteousness.[12] He is not to live by any profession or occupation;
possessed of full self-control and free from any ties, he should live the
life of a homeless mendicant.
The daily routine of a monk is well regulated and
regimented. He has to be severely solemn and is obliged to behave in a
strictly -reserved and unobtrusive manner. He cannot indulge in singing,
dancing, laughing or any other form of merrymaking. He has to devote much
of his time to meditation, study. and in the third part of the day he has
to go only for
food and drink.
The Acarangasutra and Dasavaikalika present a detailed
picture of the strict rules for taking a midday meal. He has to be modest
in behaviour and give precedence to other receivers and even to
animals.[14] And such a monk practising the rigours of an ascetic for the
sake of a fuller and more perfect life here and here-after-is superior to
all others. like a trained 'Kamboja steed' whom no noise frightens,Iike a
strong irresistible elephant, like a strong bull and a proud lion.[15]
Four things of supreme value are difficult to obtain in
this world: l) human birth. 2) instruction in the Law (dharma), 3) belief
in the Dharma and 4) energy in self-control. We must therefore, make the
most of what we have not because tomorrow we die but because we become
immortal and perfect. The attainment of perfection is in the hands of man;
and knowing this, we should avoid sense-pleasures which are short-lived
and apparently sweet yet fraught with the danger of losing all that we
have, as a man lost his kingdom by eating a mango fruit which was strictly
forbidden by his physician[16] and as forbidden fruit whose mortal taste
brought death into this world and all our woe. Asceticism is the primary
step for the monks on their way to self-realization. External asceticism
consists in dropping one's meals, in restricting oneself to a few objects
and in begging for food. These are meant for preparing one's mind for
selfpurification. The internal asceticism is mainly mental and it aims at
purification in the final form. It includes the control of the senses,
subjection to confession and atonement, readiness to spiritual service.
study and the practice of dhyana in gradual stages. And one who has given
up all worldly ties, is well-versed in the Dharma, who practices all codes
of ascetic life, is the sramana, a bhikkhu. A monk compiles with the rules
of yati as regards postures, lying down, sitting down and is thoroughly
acquainted with the samitis and guptis.[18]
