saying that when wrath leaves, forgiveness for others[1] enters; when conceit goes, humility comes; intrigue gives place to simplicity; and when avarice disappears, content reigns.
x. Rāga or Asakti.The tenth class of sin is even more worth our studying, seems to put into our hands the key that unlocks the very heart of Jainism and reveals the loneliness within. All over-fondness (Rāga or Āsakti) for a person or thing is sin, since it hinders that perfect detachment from the world which is the goal of the whole system.
It is easy to see that in a coarse way an attachment may hinder a monk’s progress, but the legend that the Jaina tell to illustrate this obvious fact is worth recording, for it shows how clearly they have realized the strange contradictions in character that may exist in the same person. It is told how Mahāvīra once preached at the court of Śreṇika, King of Magadha, with such power that the heir, Prince Nandiṣeṇa, became converted and, leaving all his splendour, went to live in the woods. There unhappily he fell under the sway of a courtesan, and as he felt he could neither leave her nor give up his belief that Jainism was the true faith, he had resort to that most intricate of all compromises, a bargain with his conscience. He decided to stay with her and also to preach Jainism, though he no longer practised it; he determined as a further sop to his conscience to regularly convert ten people to Jainism every day. He continued to do this for some time, but one day he happened to have only ten people in his audience, and though he converted nine of these, the tenth, a goldsmith, was a very hard nut to crack. The woman wanted her breakfast, but the erstwhile prince was determined to get his tale of ten converts complete. At last the woman called out ‘Why on earth don’t you convert yourself and so get your ten, and let us have our breakfast?’ The taunt went home, and there and then he tore out the
- ↑ The Jaina pathetically believe that though there is forgiveness for sins against others, there is none for sins against themselves.
