by taking upon themselves particular vows, and the monks are required to deliver sermons and explain the sacred texts in the upâs'rayas (separate buildings for monks like the Buddhist vihâras). The principle of extreme carefulness not to destroy any living being has been in monastic life carried out to its very last consequences, and has shaped the conduct of the laity in a great measure. No layman will intentionally kill any living being, not even an insect, however troublesome. He will remove it carefully without hurting it. The principle of not hurting any living being thus bars them from many professions such as agriculture, etc., and has thrust them into commerce [Footnote ref 1]. Life of Mahâvîra. Mahâvîra, the last prophet of the Jains, was a K@sattriya of the Jñâta clan and a native of Vais'âli (modern Besarh, 27 miles north of Patna). He was the second son of Siddhârtha and Trîs'alâ. The S'vetâmbaras maintain that the embryo of the Tîrtha@nkara which first entered the womb of the Brahmin lady Devanandâ was then transferred to the womb of Trîs'alâ. This story the Digambaras do not believe as we have already seen. His parents were the worshippers of Pârs'va and gave him the name Varddhamâna (Vîra or Mahâvîra). He married Yas'odâ and had a daughter by her. In his thirtieth year his parents died and with the permission of his brother Nandivardhana he became a monk. After twelve years of self-mortification and meditation he attained omniscience (_kevala_, cf. _bodhi_ of the Buddhists). He lived to preach for forty-two years more, and attained mok@sa (emancipation) some years before Buddha in about 480 B.C. [Footnote ref 2]. The Fundamental Ideas of Jaina Ontology. A thing (such as clay) is seen to assume various shapes and to undergo diverse changes (such as the form of a jug, or pan, etc.), and we have seen that the Chândogya Upani@sad held that since in all changes the clay-matter remained permanent, that alone was true, whereas the changes of form and state were but appearances, the nature of which cannot be rationally _________________________________________________________________ [Footnote 1: See Jacobi's article on Jainism, _E. R.E._] [Footnote 2: See Hoernlé's translation of _Uvâsagadasâo_, Jacobi, _loc. cit_., and Hoernlé's article on the Âjîvakas, _E. R.E._ The S'vetâmbaras, however, say that this date was 527 B.C. and the Digambaras place it eighteen years later.] 174 demonstrated or explained. The unchangeable substance (e.g. the clay-matter) alone is true, and the changing forms are mere illusions of the senses, mere objects of name (_nâma-rûpa_) [Footnote ref 1]. What we call tangibility, visibility, or other sense-qualities, have no real existence, for they are always changing, and are like mere phantoms of which no conception can be made by the light of reason.