How is the Buddhist view of human action different from the Jain view of human action?
Answer by Raghav
The Jainas maintain that the ultimate source of human volition and activity is the property of energy that is inherent n the soul. From the Jaina point of view Buddhism is a doctrine of non action or akriyavada because it does not accept the idea of a soul that is the source of energy and consciousness. Buddhists believe that moral value resides primarily in the intention that instigates an act. However they do not believe that physical and verbal acts have no moral significance in themselves. In the Suttas and in the Abhidhamma texts, wholesome and unwholesome intentional acts are conceived as acts involving integration of purposive thought with concrete activity of body, speech and mind. Karma is defined as a purposive impulse and the act in which it becomes expressed are conceived as a single whole. It is this configuration of purposive impulse and act that is assessed as wholesome and unwholesome. Jainism bases moral responsibility not on the intention but on the act as such. Nevertheless both agree that neither moral goodness nor spiritual insight can be attained without cultivating a mind that is free of dangerous passions. For the Jainas karma is like a fine matter that binds the soul and because of which there is further influx of asrava or karmic matter into the soul. This malady can be cured through ascetic discipline. Voluntary acceptance of pain and severe austerities annihilate the evil of past karma. By keeping body, speech and mind in control formation of new karma is avoided. Buddha on the other hand says that we cannot verify the precise amount of karmic consequences in this way. We cannot quantify karma. Buddha does not focus on enduring pain in his methods of training rather on the capacity to remain non-attached to pleasure and retain the mind's equilibrium. With reference to the cultivation of mind, the Buddha emphasizes not only the non-attachment to pleasure but also strength and equanimity in sitautions of pain. the emphasis is shifted from voluntary! sensory deprivation and ascetic endurance of pain to non-attachment as a sustained mental attitude. The Buddha's concern in training is that neither pleasant nor painful feelings should envelop and take over the mind. Purification of purposive impulses purifies karma. For the Jainas on the contrary purification of the soul or the karma itself is needed.
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