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Selections from “Basic Doctrines of Jainism” found in
Embree, Ainslee T. (ed.) Sources of the Indian Tradition (2nd Edition), Volume One. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988.
Of all the religious groups of India, Jainism has always been the most fervent supporter of the doctrine of nonviolence (ahimsa), and undoubtedly the influence of Jainism in the spread of that doctrine throughout India has been considerable. But … it is in other and unexpected ways that Jainism has so greatly affected Indian life. Despite their very stern asceticism Jain monks have always found time for study … The Jain monk is allowed and indeed encouraged to compose and tell stories if these have a moral purpose … Jain monks also contributed much to the sciences of mathematics, astronomy, and linguistics … In modern times also Jainism has had some significant influence, for Mahatma Gandhi was born in a part of India where Jainism is widespread, and he himself admitted the great impression made on him by the saintly Jain ascetics whom he met in his youth...
The basic teaching of Jainism may be expressed in a single sentence: The … individual consists of a soul closely enmeshed in matter, and his salvation is to be found by freeing the soul from matter so that it may regain its pristine purity and enjoy omniscient self-sufficient bliss for all eternity.
The early roots of Jainism are also shown in its attribution of souls [jiva] to objects not generally thought of as living. Buddhism does not allow that plants have life in the sense of gods, human beings, or animals. Jainism, on the other hand, finds souls not only in plants, but in the very elements themselves. Among the many classifications of Jainism is one that divides all living things into five categories, according to the number of senses they possess. The highest group, possessing five senses, includes men, gods, the higher animals, and beings in hell. Of these, men, gods, and infernal beings together with certain animals (notably monkeys, cattle, horses, elephants, parrots, pigeons, and snakes) possess intelligence.
The second class contains creatures thought to have four senses only—touch, taste, smell, and sight; this class includes most larger insects such as flies, wasps, and butterflies. The class of three-sensed beings, which are thought to be devoid of sight and hearing, contains small insects such as ants, fleas, and bugs, as well as moths, which are believed to be blind because of their unfortunate habit of flying into lighted lamps. Two-sensed creatures, with only the sense of taste and touch, include worms, leeches, shellfish, and various animalcules.
It is in the final class of one-sensed beings, which have only the sense of touch, that the Jain classification shows its most original feature. This great class is in turn divided into five subclasses: vegetable-bodies, which may be simple, as a tree, containing only one soul, or complex, as a turnip, which contains countless souls; earth-bodies, which include earth itself and all things derived from the earth, such as stones, clay, minerals, and jewels; water-bodies, found in all forms of water—in rivers, ponds, seas, and rain; fire-bodies, in all lights and flames, including lightning; and wind-bodies, in all sorts of gases and winds.
Thus the whole world is alive. In every stone on the highway a soul is locked, so tightly enchained by matter that it cannot escape the careless foot that kicks it or cry out in pain, but capable of suffering nevertheless. When a match is struck, a fire-being, with a soul that may one day be reborn in a human body, is born, only to die a few moments afterwards. In every drop of rain, in every breath of wind, in every lump of clay is a living soul.
The jiva of Jainism in its pure state is omniscient and mirrors the whole universe; but the soul's natural brightness and wisdom is clouded over by layers of matter, and every thought, word, or action is believed to affect the material integument of the soul. Karma, the cause of the soul's bondage, is thought of in Jainism as a sort of subtle matter, flowing in chiefly through the organs of sense. Acts of selfishness and cruelty result in the influx of much very heavy and inauspicious karma, which results in unhappy rebirths; good deeds, on the other hand, have no such serious effects, although suffering willingly undertaken dissipates karma already accumulated. The soul can never gain liberation until it has rid itself of its whole accumulation of karma.
Jain ascetics therefore subject themselves to rigorous courses of penance and fasting in order to set their souls free of the karma already acquired, and all their actions are most carefully regulated to prevent the further influx of karma in serious quantities. Actions carried out with full consciousness which do no harm to other living things and are not undertaken for unworthy motives or for physical satisfaction attract only very slight karma, which is dispelled almost immediately; on the other hand the unintentional killing of an ant through carelessness may have very serious consequences for the soul. Though a deliberate act of cruelty is more culpable than an accidental one, even the latter must be paid for. If the soul at last escapes from all the layers of its material envelope, being lighter than ordinary matter, it rises to the top of the universe, where it remains forever in omniscient inactive bliss.
Injury to one of the higher forms in the scale of being involves more serious consequences to the soul than injury to a lower form; but even the maltreatment of earth and water may be dangerous for the soul's welfare. For the layman it is impossible not to harm or destroy lives of the one-sensed type, but wanton and unnecessary injury even to these is reprehensible. The Jain monk vows that as far as possible he will not destroy even the bodies of earth, water, fire, or wind. In order to remain alive he must of course eat and drink, but he will not damage living plants in order to do so, preferring to leave this to the lay supporters who supply him with food. The monk will not eat potatoes or other root vegetables, since these contain large colonies of plant-lives; he strains his drinking water, in order to do as little harm as possible to the souls within it; he wears a face-cloth, rather like a surgeon's mask, to ensure that he does no serious injury to the wind-lives in the air he breathes; he will not run or stamp his feet, lest he harm the souls in earth and stones, or destroy small insects; he refrains from all quick and jerky movements for fear of injuring the souls in the air. His whole life must be circumspect and thoroughly regulated. Buddhism demands similar circumspection on the part of its monks, though not taken to such extreme lengths, but with the Buddhist the purpose of this is to develop the monk's spiritual powers. With the Jain its purpose is simply to avoid injury to the lower forms of life and thereby to prevent the influx of karma in dangerous quantities.
The number of lives or souls in the universe is infinite … Most souls have no hope of full salvation—they will go on transmigrating indefinitely. This is inevitable, for the number of souls is infinite, and however many pass to the state of ultimate bliss an infinite number will still remain bound in the toils of matter, for infinity remains infinity, however much is subtracted from it. Thus the process of transmigration continues eternally, and the universe passes through an infinite number of phases of progress and decline.
Jainism differs from Buddhism in that its layfolk are expected to submit themselves to a more rigid discipline and are given more definite and regular pastoral care by the Jain clergy. The layman should in theory spend full-and new-moon days in fasting and penance at a Jain monastery. Few modern Jains keep these fast-days … in so rigorous a form, except at the end of the Jain year, usually in July … The year ends with a general penance in which all good Jains, monks and laymen alike, are expected to confess their sins, pay their debts, and ask forgiveness of their neighbors for any offenses, whether intentional or unintentional.
In everyday life the Jains have been much influenced by the Hindus. They often perform all the domestic rites of Hinduism, employing brahmins for the purpose. They worship many of the Hindu gods, who are believed to bestow temporal blessings, and they have their own versions of the most famous Hindu legends. Neverthless Hinduism has made little impression on the heart of Jainism, which remains much as it was over two thousand years ago—an ancient science purporting to give an explanation of the whole universe and to show man his way through it to its topmost point, where the conquerors and completed souls dwell forever in omniscient bliss. There have been no great changes in Jainism over the centuries, and it is today what it always has been—an atheistic ascetic system of moral and spiritual discipline encouraging honesty and kindliness in personal relations, and a rigid and perhaps sometimes exaggerated nonviolence.
The following selections are from Jain texts:
[From Acardnga Sutra, 1.2.1
He who desires the qualities of things is deluded and falls into the grip of great pain. For he thinks, "I have mother, father, sister, wife, sons and daughters, daughters-in-law, friends, kin near and remote, and acquaintances. I own various properties, I make profits. I need food and clothes." On account of these things people are deluded, they worry day and night, they work in season and out of season, they crave for fortune and wealth, they injure and do violence, and they turn their minds again and again to .evil deeds. Thus the life of many men is shortened.
The following passage is taken from the Book of Later Instructions, one of the Basic Texts ... The eloquent verses translated below are part of a long speech delivered by a prince named Mrigaputra, in order to persuade his parents to allow him to take up a life of religion.
[From Uttarddhyayana Sutra, 19.61-67, 71, 74]
From clubs and knives, stakes and maces, breaking my limbs, An infinite number of times I have suffered without hope.
By keen-edged razors, by knives and shears,
Many times I have been drawn and quartered, torn apart and skinned. Helpless in snares and traps, a deer,
I have been caught and bound and fastened, and often I have been killed. A helpless fish, I have been caught with hooks and nets; An infinite number of times I have been killed and scraped, split and gutted.
A bird, I have been caught by hawks or trapped in nets, Or held fast by birdlime, and I have been killed an infinite number of times.
A tree, with axes and adzes by the carpenters
An infinite number of times I have been felled, stripped of my bark, cut
up, and sawn into planks.
As iron, with hammer and tongs by blacksmiths An infinite number of times I have been struck and beaten, split and filed. . . .
Ever afraid, trembling, in pain and suffering, I have felt the utmost sorrow and agony. . . . In every kind of existence I have suffered Pains that have scarcely known reprieve for a moment.
[From Sutrakrtdnga, 1.1—9]
Earth and water, fire and wind,
Grass, trees, and plants, and all creatures that move,
Born of the egg, bom of the womb,
Born of dung, born of liquids6—
These are the classes of living beings.
Know that they all seek happiness.
In hurting them men hurt themselves,
And will be born again among them. . .
Some men leave mother and father for the life of a monk,
But still make use of fire;
But He7 has said, "their principles are base
Who hurt for their own pleasure."
The man who lights a fire kills living things,
While he who puts it out kills the fire;
Thus a wise man who understands the Law
Should never light a fire.
There are lives in earth and lives in water,
Hopping insects leap into the fire,
And worms dwell in rotten wood.
All are burned when a fire is lighted.
Even plants are beings, capable of growth,
Their bodies need food, they are individuals.
The reckless cut them for their own pleasure
And slay many living things in doing so.
He who carelessly destroys plants, whether sprouted or full grown,
Provides a rod for his own back.
He has said, "Their principles are ignoble
Who harm plants for their own pleasure."
[From Sutrakrtdnga, 1.2.1.10—14]
Oh man, refrain from evil, for life must come to an end.
Only men foolish and uncontrolled are plunged in the habit of pleasure.
Living in striving and self-control, for hard to cross are paths full of insects. Follow the rule that the Heroes9 surely proclaimed.
Heroes detached and strenuous, subduing anger and fear, Will never kill living beings, but cease from sin and are happy.
"Not I alone am the sufferer—all things in the universe suffer!"
Thus should man think and be patient, not giving way to his passions.
As old plaster flakes from a wall, a monk should make thin his body by
fasting, And he should injure nothing. This is the Law taught by the Sage.10
[From Acdrdnga Sutra, 1.1 ]
Unenlightened men, who suffer from the effects of past deeds, cause great pain in a world full of pain already, for in earth souls are individually embodied. If, thinking to gain praise, honor, or respect, . . . or to achieve a good rebirth, . . . or to win salvation, or to escape pain, a man sins against earth or causes or permits others to do so, ... he will not gain joy or wisdom. . . . Injury to the earth is like striking, cutting, maiming, or killing a blind man. . . . Knowing this a man should not sin against earth or cause or permit others to do so. He who understands the nature of sin against earth is called a true sage who understands karma. . . .
And there are many souls embodied in water. Truly water ... is alive. ... He who injures the lives in water does not understand the nature of
cause or permit others to do so. He who understands the nature of sin against water is called a true sage who understands karma. . . .
By wicked or careless acts one may destroy fire-beings and, moreover, harm other beings by means of fire. .... For there are creatures living in earth, grass, leaves, wood, cowdung, or dustheaps, and jumping creatures which . . . fall into a fire if they come near it. If touched by fire, they shrivel up, . . . lose their senses, and die. . . . He who understands the nature of sin in respect of fire is called a true sage who understands karma. And just as it is the nature of a man to be born and grow old, so is it the nature of a plant to be born and grow old. . . . One is endowed with reason, and so is the other;8 one is sick, if injured, and so is the other; one grows larger, and so does the other; one changes with time, and so does the other. . . . He who understands the nature of sin against plants is called a true sage who understands karma. . . .
All beings with two, three, four, or five senses, ... in fact all creation, know individually pleasure and displeasure, pain, terror, and sorrow. All are full of fears which come from all directions. And yet there exist people who would cause greater pain to them. . . . Some kill animals for sacrifice, some for their skin, flesh, blood, . . . feathers, teeth, or tusks; . . . some kill them intentionally and some unintentionally; some kill because they have been previously injured by them, . . . and some because they expect to be injured. He who harms animals has not understood or renounced deeds of sin. . . . He who understands the nature of sin against animals is called a true sage who understands karma. . . .
A man who is averse from harming even the wind knows the sorrow of all things living. . . . He who knows what is bad for himself knows what is bad for others, and he who knows what is bad for others knows what is bad for himself. This reciprocity should always be borne in mind. Those whose minds are at peace and who are free from passions do not desire to live [at the expense of others]. . . . He who understands the nature of sin against wind is called a true sage who understands karma.
In short he who understands the nature of sin in respect of all the six types of living beings is called a true sage who understands karma.
Embree, Ainslee T. (ed.) Sources of the Indian Tradition (2nd Edition), Volume One. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988.
Of all the religious groups of India, Jainism has always been the most fervent supporter of the doctrine of nonviolence (ahimsa), and undoubtedly the influence of Jainism in the spread of that doctrine throughout India has been considerable. But … it is in other and unexpected ways that Jainism has so greatly affected Indian life. Despite their very stern asceticism Jain monks have always found time for study … The Jain monk is allowed and indeed encouraged to compose and tell stories if these have a moral purpose … Jain monks also contributed much to the sciences of mathematics, astronomy, and linguistics … In modern times also Jainism has had some significant influence, for Mahatma Gandhi was born in a part of India where Jainism is widespread, and he himself admitted the great impression made on him by the saintly Jain ascetics whom he met in his youth...
The basic teaching of Jainism may be expressed in a single sentence: The … individual consists of a soul closely enmeshed in matter, and his salvation is to be found by freeing the soul from matter so that it may regain its pristine purity and enjoy omniscient self-sufficient bliss for all eternity.
The early roots of Jainism are also shown in its attribution of souls [jiva] to objects not generally thought of as living. Buddhism does not allow that plants have life in the sense of gods, human beings, or animals. Jainism, on the other hand, finds souls not only in plants, but in the very elements themselves. Among the many classifications of Jainism is one that divides all living things into five categories, according to the number of senses they possess. The highest group, possessing five senses, includes men, gods, the higher animals, and beings in hell. Of these, men, gods, and infernal beings together with certain animals (notably monkeys, cattle, horses, elephants, parrots, pigeons, and snakes) possess intelligence.
The second class contains creatures thought to have four senses only—touch, taste, smell, and sight; this class includes most larger insects such as flies, wasps, and butterflies. The class of three-sensed beings, which are thought to be devoid of sight and hearing, contains small insects such as ants, fleas, and bugs, as well as moths, which are believed to be blind because of their unfortunate habit of flying into lighted lamps. Two-sensed creatures, with only the sense of taste and touch, include worms, leeches, shellfish, and various animalcules.
It is in the final class of one-sensed beings, which have only the sense of touch, that the Jain classification shows its most original feature. This great class is in turn divided into five subclasses: vegetable-bodies, which may be simple, as a tree, containing only one soul, or complex, as a turnip, which contains countless souls; earth-bodies, which include earth itself and all things derived from the earth, such as stones, clay, minerals, and jewels; water-bodies, found in all forms of water—in rivers, ponds, seas, and rain; fire-bodies, in all lights and flames, including lightning; and wind-bodies, in all sorts of gases and winds.
Thus the whole world is alive. In every stone on the highway a soul is locked, so tightly enchained by matter that it cannot escape the careless foot that kicks it or cry out in pain, but capable of suffering nevertheless. When a match is struck, a fire-being, with a soul that may one day be reborn in a human body, is born, only to die a few moments afterwards. In every drop of rain, in every breath of wind, in every lump of clay is a living soul.
The jiva of Jainism in its pure state is omniscient and mirrors the whole universe; but the soul's natural brightness and wisdom is clouded over by layers of matter, and every thought, word, or action is believed to affect the material integument of the soul. Karma, the cause of the soul's bondage, is thought of in Jainism as a sort of subtle matter, flowing in chiefly through the organs of sense. Acts of selfishness and cruelty result in the influx of much very heavy and inauspicious karma, which results in unhappy rebirths; good deeds, on the other hand, have no such serious effects, although suffering willingly undertaken dissipates karma already accumulated. The soul can never gain liberation until it has rid itself of its whole accumulation of karma.
Jain ascetics therefore subject themselves to rigorous courses of penance and fasting in order to set their souls free of the karma already acquired, and all their actions are most carefully regulated to prevent the further influx of karma in serious quantities. Actions carried out with full consciousness which do no harm to other living things and are not undertaken for unworthy motives or for physical satisfaction attract only very slight karma, which is dispelled almost immediately; on the other hand the unintentional killing of an ant through carelessness may have very serious consequences for the soul. Though a deliberate act of cruelty is more culpable than an accidental one, even the latter must be paid for. If the soul at last escapes from all the layers of its material envelope, being lighter than ordinary matter, it rises to the top of the universe, where it remains forever in omniscient inactive bliss.
Injury to one of the higher forms in the scale of being involves more serious consequences to the soul than injury to a lower form; but even the maltreatment of earth and water may be dangerous for the soul's welfare. For the layman it is impossible not to harm or destroy lives of the one-sensed type, but wanton and unnecessary injury even to these is reprehensible. The Jain monk vows that as far as possible he will not destroy even the bodies of earth, water, fire, or wind. In order to remain alive he must of course eat and drink, but he will not damage living plants in order to do so, preferring to leave this to the lay supporters who supply him with food. The monk will not eat potatoes or other root vegetables, since these contain large colonies of plant-lives; he strains his drinking water, in order to do as little harm as possible to the souls within it; he wears a face-cloth, rather like a surgeon's mask, to ensure that he does no serious injury to the wind-lives in the air he breathes; he will not run or stamp his feet, lest he harm the souls in earth and stones, or destroy small insects; he refrains from all quick and jerky movements for fear of injuring the souls in the air. His whole life must be circumspect and thoroughly regulated. Buddhism demands similar circumspection on the part of its monks, though not taken to such extreme lengths, but with the Buddhist the purpose of this is to develop the monk's spiritual powers. With the Jain its purpose is simply to avoid injury to the lower forms of life and thereby to prevent the influx of karma in dangerous quantities.
The number of lives or souls in the universe is infinite … Most souls have no hope of full salvation—they will go on transmigrating indefinitely. This is inevitable, for the number of souls is infinite, and however many pass to the state of ultimate bliss an infinite number will still remain bound in the toils of matter, for infinity remains infinity, however much is subtracted from it. Thus the process of transmigration continues eternally, and the universe passes through an infinite number of phases of progress and decline.
Jainism differs from Buddhism in that its layfolk are expected to submit themselves to a more rigid discipline and are given more definite and regular pastoral care by the Jain clergy. The layman should in theory spend full-and new-moon days in fasting and penance at a Jain monastery. Few modern Jains keep these fast-days … in so rigorous a form, except at the end of the Jain year, usually in July … The year ends with a general penance in which all good Jains, monks and laymen alike, are expected to confess their sins, pay their debts, and ask forgiveness of their neighbors for any offenses, whether intentional or unintentional.
In everyday life the Jains have been much influenced by the Hindus. They often perform all the domestic rites of Hinduism, employing brahmins for the purpose. They worship many of the Hindu gods, who are believed to bestow temporal blessings, and they have their own versions of the most famous Hindu legends. Neverthless Hinduism has made little impression on the heart of Jainism, which remains much as it was over two thousand years ago—an ancient science purporting to give an explanation of the whole universe and to show man his way through it to its topmost point, where the conquerors and completed souls dwell forever in omniscient bliss. There have been no great changes in Jainism over the centuries, and it is today what it always has been—an atheistic ascetic system of moral and spiritual discipline encouraging honesty and kindliness in personal relations, and a rigid and perhaps sometimes exaggerated nonviolence.
The following selections are from Jain texts:
[From Acardnga Sutra, 1.2.1
He who desires the qualities of things is deluded and falls into the grip of great pain. For he thinks, "I have mother, father, sister, wife, sons and daughters, daughters-in-law, friends, kin near and remote, and acquaintances. I own various properties, I make profits. I need food and clothes." On account of these things people are deluded, they worry day and night, they work in season and out of season, they crave for fortune and wealth, they injure and do violence, and they turn their minds again and again to .evil deeds. Thus the life of many men is shortened.
The following passage is taken from the Book of Later Instructions, one of the Basic Texts ... The eloquent verses translated below are part of a long speech delivered by a prince named Mrigaputra, in order to persuade his parents to allow him to take up a life of religion.
[From Uttarddhyayana Sutra, 19.61-67, 71, 74]
From clubs and knives, stakes and maces, breaking my limbs, An infinite number of times I have suffered without hope.
By keen-edged razors, by knives and shears,
Many times I have been drawn and quartered, torn apart and skinned. Helpless in snares and traps, a deer,
I have been caught and bound and fastened, and often I have been killed. A helpless fish, I have been caught with hooks and nets; An infinite number of times I have been killed and scraped, split and gutted.
A bird, I have been caught by hawks or trapped in nets, Or held fast by birdlime, and I have been killed an infinite number of times.
A tree, with axes and adzes by the carpenters
An infinite number of times I have been felled, stripped of my bark, cut
up, and sawn into planks.
As iron, with hammer and tongs by blacksmiths An infinite number of times I have been struck and beaten, split and filed. . . .
Ever afraid, trembling, in pain and suffering, I have felt the utmost sorrow and agony. . . . In every kind of existence I have suffered Pains that have scarcely known reprieve for a moment.
[From Sutrakrtdnga, 1.1—9]
Earth and water, fire and wind,
Grass, trees, and plants, and all creatures that move,
Born of the egg, bom of the womb,
Born of dung, born of liquids6—
These are the classes of living beings.
Know that they all seek happiness.
In hurting them men hurt themselves,
And will be born again among them. . .
Some men leave mother and father for the life of a monk,
But still make use of fire;
But He7 has said, "their principles are base
Who hurt for their own pleasure."
The man who lights a fire kills living things,
While he who puts it out kills the fire;
Thus a wise man who understands the Law
Should never light a fire.
There are lives in earth and lives in water,
Hopping insects leap into the fire,
And worms dwell in rotten wood.
All are burned when a fire is lighted.
Even plants are beings, capable of growth,
Their bodies need food, they are individuals.
The reckless cut them for their own pleasure
And slay many living things in doing so.
He who carelessly destroys plants, whether sprouted or full grown,
Provides a rod for his own back.
He has said, "Their principles are ignoble
Who harm plants for their own pleasure."
[From Sutrakrtdnga, 1.2.1.10—14]
Oh man, refrain from evil, for life must come to an end.
Only men foolish and uncontrolled are plunged in the habit of pleasure.
Living in striving and self-control, for hard to cross are paths full of insects. Follow the rule that the Heroes9 surely proclaimed.
Heroes detached and strenuous, subduing anger and fear, Will never kill living beings, but cease from sin and are happy.
"Not I alone am the sufferer—all things in the universe suffer!"
Thus should man think and be patient, not giving way to his passions.
As old plaster flakes from a wall, a monk should make thin his body by
fasting, And he should injure nothing. This is the Law taught by the Sage.10
[From Acdrdnga Sutra, 1.1 ]
Unenlightened men, who suffer from the effects of past deeds, cause great pain in a world full of pain already, for in earth souls are individually embodied. If, thinking to gain praise, honor, or respect, . . . or to achieve a good rebirth, . . . or to win salvation, or to escape pain, a man sins against earth or causes or permits others to do so, ... he will not gain joy or wisdom. . . . Injury to the earth is like striking, cutting, maiming, or killing a blind man. . . . Knowing this a man should not sin against earth or cause or permit others to do so. He who understands the nature of sin against earth is called a true sage who understands karma. . . .
And there are many souls embodied in water. Truly water ... is alive. ... He who injures the lives in water does not understand the nature of
cause or permit others to do so. He who understands the nature of sin against water is called a true sage who understands karma. . . .
By wicked or careless acts one may destroy fire-beings and, moreover, harm other beings by means of fire. .... For there are creatures living in earth, grass, leaves, wood, cowdung, or dustheaps, and jumping creatures which . . . fall into a fire if they come near it. If touched by fire, they shrivel up, . . . lose their senses, and die. . . . He who understands the nature of sin in respect of fire is called a true sage who understands karma. And just as it is the nature of a man to be born and grow old, so is it the nature of a plant to be born and grow old. . . . One is endowed with reason, and so is the other;8 one is sick, if injured, and so is the other; one grows larger, and so does the other; one changes with time, and so does the other. . . . He who understands the nature of sin against plants is called a true sage who understands karma. . . .
All beings with two, three, four, or five senses, ... in fact all creation, know individually pleasure and displeasure, pain, terror, and sorrow. All are full of fears which come from all directions. And yet there exist people who would cause greater pain to them. . . . Some kill animals for sacrifice, some for their skin, flesh, blood, . . . feathers, teeth, or tusks; . . . some kill them intentionally and some unintentionally; some kill because they have been previously injured by them, . . . and some because they expect to be injured. He who harms animals has not understood or renounced deeds of sin. . . . He who understands the nature of sin against animals is called a true sage who understands karma. . . .
A man who is averse from harming even the wind knows the sorrow of all things living. . . . He who knows what is bad for himself knows what is bad for others, and he who knows what is bad for others knows what is bad for himself. This reciprocity should always be borne in mind. Those whose minds are at peace and who are free from passions do not desire to live [at the expense of others]. . . . He who understands the nature of sin against wind is called a true sage who understands karma.
In short he who understands the nature of sin in respect of all the six types of living beings is called a true sage who understands karma.
TL;DR KEK
Dafuq? Geegee Boy !!
Erm? Your in? im so confused...
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