Dr. Sulekh Chand Jain
The Jain scriptures go further, reminding us that:
Some kill living beings for sacrificial purposes,
Some kill for their skins,
Some kill for their flesh,
Some for the blood, heart, liver, fat, feathers or teeth....
Some out of fear.
He who is disinclined to kill the smallest living thing,
knows what suffering is, because he who sees and understands
the real cause of his own happiness and pains, knows others’ too.
And he who sees and understands
others’ feelings also knows his own feelings.
This is the way one must compare oneself with others.
Knowing what is bad, he who knows it with regard to himself
knows it with regard to the world;
And he who knows it with regard to the world outside,
knows it with regard to himself.
This reciprocity between oneself and others
(one should mind).
Thus we enjoin on you, thus do we say,
Thus we believe, thus we proclaim to all:
No living things should be slain anywhere,
Nor ordered forcibly this way or that.
Nor put in bonds, nor tortured any way
Or treated violently otherwise:
Because you are the same which ye would slay
Or order here or there against his will.
Or put in prison, or subject to pain,
Or treat with violence: ye are the same;
The Self-same Life doth circulate in all.
-Lord Mahavir – Acharanga Sutra
Similarly, the Uttradhayan sutra shares the following:
“Seeing the self in every one and everywhere, knowing that all beings love their life, we, having made ourselves free from fear and enmity, should not kill other beings,”
and the Acharanga sutra reminds us:“All living beings love their life. For them happiness is desirable; unhappiness is not desirable. Nobody likes to be killed. Everybody is desirous of life. Everyone loves his own life.”
Finally, Lord Mahavira preached,
“Nonviolence and kindness to living beings is kindness to oneself. For thereby one’s own self is saved from various kinds of sins and resultant sufferings and is able to secure one’s own freedom.”
“Our cup of compassion must become our perpetual mindset. The mindset of compassion makes us sensitive and motivates us not to accept pain, poverty and injustice to others. He who is disinclined to kill the smallest living thing, knows what suffering is, because he who sees and understands the real cause of his own happiness and pain, knows others too.”
“There is nothing so small and subtle as the atom or any element as vast as space. Similarly, there is no quality of soul more subtle than non-violence and no virtue of spirit greater than reverence for life.”
