पंच व्रत

The five vows

Ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya and aparigraha — taken absolutely by ascetics and proportionately by householders. The difference is degree, not kind.

The same five vows are taken by everyone. An ascetic takes them as mahavratas, without qualification and for life; a householder takes them as anuvratas, scaled to a life that includes an occupation and a family. That the vows are the same is the important part: the tradition does not have one ethic for religious professionals and another for everyone else, only different depths of the same one.

Ahimsa is non-violence. Satya is truthfulness, and includes the restraint not to speak a truth that causes harm — a qualification that follows directly from ahimsa having priority. Asteya is not taking what has not been given, read widely enough to cover sharp practice as well as theft. Brahmacharya is celibacy for the ascetic and fidelity for the householder. Aparigraha is non-attachment, and in householder practice takes the concrete form of setting a limit on possessions and keeping to it.

Aparigraha is the one that most shapes Jain life in practice. Setting a ceiling on wealth, and giving away what accrues above it, is a recognised lay observance, and it is one reason a community historically prominent in trade has also been so prominent in endowment — the temples, the libraries, the animal hospitals and the schools are what the ceiling produces.

Householder practice adds seven further vows to the five, three restraining the scope of activity and four disciplinary, and these are where the five become specific: limiting the distance one will travel, the goods one will deal in, the hours given to activity that harms.