of being in its origin a
protestant or hostile movement. The intellectual atmosphere seems other
than that of the Upanishads, but it is very nearly that of the Sankhya
philosophy, which also recognizes an infinity of individual souls
radically distinct from matter and capable of attaining bliss only by
isolation from matter. Of the origin of that important school we know
nothing, but it differs from Jainism chiefly in the greater elaboration
of its psychological and evolutionary theories and in the elimination of
some materialistic ideas. Possibly the same region and climate of
opinion gave birth to two doctrines, one simple and practical, inasmuch
as it found its principal expression in a religious order, the other
more intellectual and scholastic and, at least in the form in which we
read it, later[259].

Right conduct is based on the five vows taken by every Jain ascetic, (1)
not to kill, (2) not to speak untruth, (3) to take nothing that is not
given, (4) to observe chastity, (5) to renounce all pleasure in external
objects. These vows receive an extensive and strict interpretation by
means of five explanatory clauses applicable to each and to be construed
with reference to deed, word, and thought, to acting, commanding and
consenting. Thus the vow not to kill forbids not only the destruction of
the smallest insect but also all speech or thought which could bring
about a quarrel, and the doing, causing or permitting of any action
which could even inadvertently injure living beings, such as
carelessness in walking. Naturally such rules can be kept only by an
ascetic, and in addition to them asceticism is expressly enjoined. It is
either internal or external. The former takes such forms as repentance,
humility, meditation and the suppression of all desires: the latter
comprises various forms of self-denial, culminating in death by
starvation. This form of religious suicide is prescribed for those who
have undergone twelve years' penance and are ripe for Nirvana[260] but
it is wrong if adopted as a means of shortening austerities. Numerous
inscriptions record such deaths and the head-teachers of the Digambaras
are said still to leave the world in this way.

Important but not peculiar to Jainism is the doctrine of the periodical
appearance of great teachers who from time to time restore the true
faith[261]. The same idea meets us in the fourteen Manus, the
incarnations of Vishnu, and the series of Buddhas who preceded