Mahāvīra (enseignement recueilli dans l'Ācārāṅga Sūtra)
All beings love life and hate pain: no being that feels may be slain or tormented (ahimsa).
Life
Mahavira ("the great hero", born Vardhamana) is, for Jains, the last of the twenty-four great teachers (tirthankaras) of their religion, in India. Tradition has him born in 599 and dying in 527 BCE; some historians place him a little later. He is said to have left his princely family to live as an ascetic. No text is in his hand: his teaching is reported in the Jain canon, of which the Acaranga Sutra is the oldest book, passed on orally and written down much later. His central rule is non-violence (ahimsa) toward all living beings.
Main works
The oldest book of the Jain canon: rules of conduct for monks, founded on non-violence toward all beings, animals and plants included (approximate date of the oldest part; the teaching is attributed to Mahavira).
In his own words
« All beings are fond of life, like pleasure, hate pain, shun destruction, like life, long to live. To all life is dear. »
« As it would be unto thee, so it is with him whom thou intendest to kill. As it would be unto thee, so it is with him whom thou intendest to tyrannise over. »
Positions
click a row to see the evidenceJainism has no creator god; each soul wins its own liberation by its own effort, and the Jinas who teach the path, though revered, are not creators.
Ācārāṅga Sūtra, I, 4, 1 (la loi est enseignée par les Arhats, sans dieu créateur ; trad. Jacobi, 1884)
Every living being has a soul (jiva), distinct from the body and reborn according to its actions; "the Self is the knower".
Ācārāṅga Sūtra, I, 5, 5, § 5 (trad. Jacobi, 1884)
Non-violence is a "pure, unchangeable, eternal law" taught by all Arhats, binding on everyone whatever the consequences.
Ācārāṅga Sūtra, I, 4, 1
Life has an objective aim, to end the cycle of birth and death by conduct free of violence and attachment.
Ācārāṅga Sūtra, I, 2, 3 ; I, 4, 1