Article: Five ‘fundamental vows’

Behaviour of a ‘bad monk’
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Keeping these ‘great vows’ is an important element in trying to be the ‘perfect ascetic’, who follows the rules set out in scriptures and other texts on monastic conduct. By following the rules flawlessly, the mendicant makes good spiritual progress, moving further up the ‘scale of perfection’ towards final liberation.

Thus the great vows are seen as extremely valuable. This is stated in comparisons and parables.

For instance, in the second Aṅga of the Śvetāmbara canon, they are compared to ‘precious things … worn by men of princely rank’ (Sūtrakr̥tānga 1.2.3.3).

A well-known parable is in the sixth Aṅga, the Jñāta-dharmakathānga, where the five great vows are equated with five grains of rice. A man entrusts five rice grains to each of his four daughters-in-law, who act in different ways. The conclusion of the parable explains what happens to monks who behave in the same way as one or the other of the four women. This is given in the table.

The importance and relevance of the story in practice is supported by literary evidence that it should be told by the presiding ascetic at the monastic initiation ceremony – dīkṣā. An example is the 14th-century Vidhi-mārga-prapā, a manual written by Jinaprabha-sūri of the Kharatara-gaccha order (Dundas 2002: 158).

Fourfold community
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Lay Jains cannot reach salvation because they do not perform asceticism to the same degree as monks and nuns. However, they can take the aṇu-vratas – ‘lesser vows’ – which are adapted to be practised within the life of the householder and are thus less taxing. Even so, they are very difficult and are a key part of the concept of the ‘perfect lay Jain’.

The motive behind the aṇu-vratas is to minimise behaviour that may harm:

• other living beings
• the individual, by hindering spiritual development.

A lay Jain who makes these resolves not to:

• do any forbidden thing with mind, speech and body – kṛta
• cause harm to other living beings – kārita
• approve of such actions – anumodana.

The aṇu-vratas make up the first five of the 12 lay vows. The other vows comprising the set often have different names in the two main Jain sects. The Śvetāmbaras have two categories of:

• three guṇa-vratas – ‘reinforcing vows’
• four śikṣā-vratas – ‘vows of training’.

Many Digambara sources also use this grouping but others call all of the other seven vows by the term śīlas – ‘moral virtues’.

Taking all of these 12 vows is critical to being an ideal lay Jain – upāsaka. Despite this, contemporary Jains only rarely make one or more of these formal vows.

Since vows are so important to Jain practice, at least one major initiative in post-Independence India aims to help lay Jains integrate vows into their lives. In 1949 Ācārya Tulsi of the Terā-panthin set up the Aṇuvrat movement, based on the five lesser vows.

Plants and two-sensed beings
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The first vow that monks and nuns take on their initiation is the vow of non-violence. This vow expresses one of the main tenets of Jainism and is one of the key principles behind the four other vows new mendicants make.

The fundamental desire to minimise harm to all forms of life can be detected in many of the rules restraining the behaviour of mendicants. These rules relate to avoiding carelessness, which may cause unforeseen injury to living beings. The sub-microscopic nigodas and the tiny one-sensed life-forms – ekendriya – are particularly liable to be harmed by accident because they cannot be seen with the naked eye and live throughout the universe. For example, to minimise the harm done to water-bodied beings mendicants do not use water unnecessarily and drink only water that has been properly boiled.

Probably the most widely known example of the way that following this vow shapes the lives of mendicants is the ritual of seeking alms. Because obtaining and cooking food involves some degree of violence, monks and nuns do not prepare their own food. Instead they rely on lay people to provide food in the form of alms. The most visible instance of avoiding harm among some sects of the Śvetāmbara tradition is the white mouth-cloth worn by members of the Terāpantha and the Sthānaka-vāsins.

Vegetarian dishes
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Jains accept that avoiding accidental harm to all living beings is impossible for lay Jains. The activities of everyday life, such as working, cooking, eating, walking, washing, using tools and so on all involve violence, in that they harm one-sensed beings and nigodas. Lay Jains try to avoid causing more harm than they have to in the course of their ordinary lives but in some cases deliberate violence is allowed.

Householders generally try to minimise direct and indirect involvement in violence by eating a vegetarian diet and avoiding jobs and activities that involve great harm, such as mining. In Jain houses a cotton cloth is often tied to water-taps and used as a filter, to avoid accidentally drinking the single-sensed living beings in water. Providing food and other alms to mendicants entails a degree of violence on the part of lay people, but they gain merit – puṇya – from completing this religious duty. Thus they have an incentive to offer alms to mendicants, even though this duty involves violence in Jain eyes.

There are different levels of non-violence. Lay people are permitted to commit accidental – or even deliberate – violence if greater harm will come from not doing so. An example would be protecting vulnerable people from other people’s physical violence. Although this breaches the principle of non-violence, it is accepted that it is the lesser of two evils in certain situations.

Monks preach to lay men
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The satya-vrata or vow of truth is the second vow in the list of five. It directs the vow-taker to always tell the truth, to never lie.

Lying is often done from passion, such as hatred or a wish to avoid embarrassment. Passions are a sign of attachment, which Jains believe should be conquered to advance spiritually towards liberation.

Telling only part of the truth is also considered to be a lie and is thus wrong.

Despite this, lay Jains can knowingly utter a falsehood if this stops a greater wrong. Mendicants must never tell a lie under any circumstances.