Traditions: Jain Tattvārthasūtra tradition,Matthean early Christianity Motif: interior and exterior moral activity Connection verdict: substantive ethical contrast; no textual dependence shown Article status: Expanded Date: 2026-11-04
Summary
Both texts make internal activity morally consequential alongside visible deeds.
Read the two scenes
Tattvārthasūtra 6.1 gives a technical triad: activity of body, speech, and mind is yoga. In the surrounding Jain argument, such activity matters for the movement of karma toward a soul, so inner action is not exempt merely because no one sees it. Matthew 5 speaks in a different rhetorical form, repeating “you have heard” and “but I say” to move from homicide toward anger and from adultery toward a desiring gaze. The Jesus saying is part of a kingdom-ethics discourse, not a metaphysical classification of all activity. Their overlap concerns moral scrutiny of inward life, while their mechanisms and goals differ.
What connects—and what does not
Tattvārthasūtra 6.1 classifies the activity of body, speech, and mind as yoga in Jain karmic analysis; Matthew 5 intensifies prohibitions on murder and adultery by naming anger and lust.
The Sanskrit term yoga here is not a generic term for meditation, and Matthew does not present a Jain theory of karmic influx.
Why read them side by side?
The comparison corrects the assumption that only outward violations count, while showing why the two traditions explain inner conduct differently.
Sources and reading notes
- Tattvārthasūtra 6.1, Vijay K. Jain translation and Pūjyapāda commentary — The verse defines yoga as activity of body, speech, and mind in its chapter on karmic influx.
- Matthew 5:21–28, NRSVUE — Jesus discusses anger under the murder command and lust under the adultery command.
Research limit
A named parallel can establish literary reuse or related tradition; a general resemblance alone cannot prove borrowing. Linked editions and translations vary. Where a source is identified as secondary orientation, the comparison does not claim direct close reading of that tradition’s primary text.