Jainism and Karnataka Culture

SR No.: 011062
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: S R Sharma
Publisher: Karnataka Historical Research Society Dharwar
Publication Year: 1940
Total Pages: 263
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 9 MB

Page 185

IDEALISM AND REALISM
141
related to each other by a kind of affinity of ideas "'48 : For example, Ahimsa and Karma. Similarly the Ratna-trayi or the Three Jewels (Right Faith, Right Knowledge, and Right Action) of the Jainas might be compared to the Eightfold Path elaborated by Buddha : i. Right Belief; ii. Right Aims; jii. Right Speech; iv. Right Actions ; v. Right means of Livelihood; vi. Right Endeavour; vii. Right Mindfulness ; viii. Right Meditation.50 On the other hand, the five great vows of the Jainas, viz., Ahimsa, Sunrita, Astéya, Brahmacarya, and Aparigraha were exactly the same as those laid down by Patanjali in his Yoga Sūtras, 51, though in the Jaina system they were elaborated and explained in a manner unsurpassed by others in minuteness of detail and painstaking observation. The Jaina idea of Ahimsa, for example, extends far beyond the Brāhmanical or Buddhist notions. “Lest plants and animalculae be destroyed, the Jaina ascetic sweeps the ground before him as he goes, walks veiled lest he inhale a living organism, strains water, and rejects not only meat but even honey, together with various fruits that are supposed to contain worms; not because he has distaste for worms, but because of his regard for life.” 52 We shall consider in the next chapter how these characteristics of the Jaina religion and society came to be transformed in Karnāțaka in the course of a few centuries : until at the present day the Jainas of Karnāțaka are hardly to be distinguished from other Hindus, both in their beliefs as well as in their practical life.
49 Jacobi, S.B.E. XLV Introd., p. xxxvii. 50 Cf. Jaini, Outline of Jainism, pp. 52-66 : Rhys Davids, op. cit.,
pp. 47, 108. 81 Päthnjula Yoga Sutra II 35-39 ; Ācāranga Sütra, S.B.J. XXII,
pp. 200-210. 52 Hopkins, The Religions of India, p. 288 ; of. Smith, op. cit., p. 53
Jaini, op. cit., (Trades and Industries ) p. 71. The minuteness of observation to which this doctrine led is seen in the Kalpa Sitra, Rules for Yatis, S.B.E. XXII, pp. 301-5; similarly, for details of discipline see Asadhara Dharmanrta ch. viii, cf. Bhandarkar, op. cit., p. 98 n. 2.