Acharya Mahaprajna
1.140 se bemi - appege accāe vahaṃti, appege ajiṇāe vahaṃti, appege maṃsāe vahaṃti, appege soṇiyāe vahaṃti, appege hiyayāe vahaṃti, appege pittāe vahaṃti, appege vasāe vahaṃti, appege picchāe vahaṃti, appege pucchāe vahaṃti, appege bālāe vahaṃti, appege siṃgāe vahaṃti, appege visāṇāe vahaṃti, appege daṃtāe vahaṃti, appege dāḍhāe vahaṃti, appege nahāe vahaṃti, appege ṇhāruṇoe vahaṃti, appege aṭṭhῑe vahaṃti, appege aṭṭhimimjāe vahaṃti, appege aṭṭhāe vahaṃti, appege aṇaṭṭhāe vahaṃti, appege hiṃsiṃsu meti vā vahaṃti, appege hiṃsaṃti metti vā vahaṃti, appege hiṃsissaṃti metti vā vahaṃti.
Thus I say:
Some people kill (mobile beings) for obtaining their body, while others do so for their hide, flesh, blood, heart, bile, fat, feathers, tail, hair, horn, tusk, tooth, jaw, nail, sinew, bone and marrow. Some people kill with a purpose and some without any. Some people kill for vendetta, reflecting that they committed violence to him (or his kith and kin) in the past. Some people kill for they are doing at present or are likely to do violence to him (or his kith and kin) in future.
Bhāṣsyaṃ Sūtra 140
In the present Sūtra, the motives behind the killing of mobile beings are given. These are indicative of the customs prevalent in society in those days.
Body: In the Cūrṇi and Vṛtti there is an example of how a person who has taken poison is inserted in the corpse of an elephant killed for the purpose to cure him of his poison. For the purpose of achieving the desired result, people practised occult science and chanted mantras on the sacrificed body of a person possessed of auspicious marks of excellence and with unmutilated body. Some people sacrificed goats, etc., as offering to the deity.
Hide: People kill lion, tiger etc. for their hide. Some people kill various animals in order to get their flesh, blood, heart, bile, fat, feather, tail, hair, horn, tusk, tooth, jaw, nail, sinew, bone-marrow etc.
It is not that people indulge in injury to life only with specific motives. But sometimes they do so without any motive.
People indulge in acts of violence out of revenge, retribution or suspicion. This is indicated in the last part of the Sūtra: as he had killed a relation of mine.
I shall kill him; he is killing, therefore I should kill him; if he survives, he would kill me, therefore I should kill him.
1.141 ettha satthaṃ samāraṃbhamāṇassa iccete āraṃbhā apariṇṇāyā bhavaṃti.
The person thus indulging in acts of violence does neither comprehend nor abandon them.
1.142 ettha satthaṃ asamāraṃbhamāṇassa iccete āraṃbhā pariṇṇāyā bhavaṃti.
The person not indulging in acts of violence is capable of comprehending and abandoning them.
1.143 taṃ pariṇṇāyā mehāvῑ ṇeva sayaṃ tassakāya-satthaṃ samāraṃbhejjā, ṇevaṇṇehiṃ tassakāya-satthaṃ samāraṃbhāvejjā, ṇevaṇṇe tassakāya-satthaṃ samāraṃbhate samaṇujāṇejjā.
Comprehending this, an intelligent ascetic should not indulge in violence to mobile beings, nor should he instigate others to do so, nor should he approve of such violence committed by others.
1.144 jassete tassakāya-sattha-samāraṃbhā pariṇṇāyā bhavaṃti, se hu muṇῑ pariṇṇāya-kamme. - tti bemi.
The ascetic who comprehends and abandons these acts of violence to mobile beings is indeed an ascetic who has fully comprehended and abandoned all acts of violence.
Bhāṣsyaṃ Sūtras 141-144
See Sūtras 31-34.
