Heritage of the Last Arhat Mahavira

SR No.: 001653
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Charlotte Krause
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith
Total Pages: 32
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Religion, & Devotion
File Size: 3 MB

Page 13

arbitrarily, that of sexual intercourse and everything connected therewith, and that of keeping property or belongings of any kind. These five Vows are taken by every Jaina monk at the time of his initiation in a form of absolute strictness. They comprise not only the doing of those objectionable actions, but also the causing of their being done , and the approval one might give to their being done, by thought, word and action. The five Great Vows guarantee indeed the optimum of faultlessness attainable in this world. And this optimum is only attainable by persons of the highest qualities, who do not care to keep up any attachment whatsoever. Thus, (a genuine Jaina Muni, even one of the twentieth century, will never use any vehicle, nor shoes, nor keep money, nor touch a women, nor kindle, or sit before, a fire, nor use unboiled water, nor take any food containing a trace of life, nor such food as has been prepared expressly for him, nor touch a green plant, for fear lest its delicate body might suffer from his bodily warmth, nor keep any property except his begging-bowls, his stick, and the scanty clothes that cover his body. And even these few things cannot well be called “Property” in the sense of the Scriptures, because in their case, the characteristic which distinguishes property, viz., the attachment of the owner, is wanting. And there are even a group of Jaina monks who renounce these few utensils too, walking about unclad, and using their hands as their eating vessels. But there are only a few of them, in the whole of India : the “Digambara" or Sky-clad monks, whereas the other branch the “Svetāmbara" or White-clad monks, come to several hundreds.
The standard of the usual Pratyākhyānas for laymen consists in the group of fixed Pratyākhyānas called the Twelve Laymen Vows, which can be taken in various shades of strictness and in an optional number. Though standing below the standard of the ascetical vows, still they represent a high form of ethical conduct.