Agama And Tripitaka Comparative Study

SR No.: 022804
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Nagaraj Muni
Publisher: Today and Tomorrows Printers and Publishers
Publication Year: 1986
Total Pages: 804
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 19 MB

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"Mahāvira wandered alone in the beginning, "said Gośālaka, "but now he wanders with a vast group. This is his method of earning a living".
Likewise, after the Buddha had attained his enlightenment, monks from the rival (five) orders said as follows about him,
"Gautama Buddha is now serious about building up accumulations, and he has deviated from his spiritual exertions.... In the beginning of his life as a monk, he was thin and ematiated, but now he is nourished with rich food".
To prepare khir for the Buddha, Sujātā fed 500 cows with the milk of 1000 cows, and in this descending order, she gave at last the milk from 16 cows to 8. In the Jaina traditions, too, we have similar account for making milk mcre palatable, delicious and nourishing. Take for instance khir prepared for a Cakravarti, we read that the milk from 1,00,000 cows who had grazed in a sugar-cane farm was given to 500 cows, and that, in this descending order, the milk obtained from the last cow was used to prepare khir. This was considered to be (very tasteful, and also) a very wholesome food. Only Goddess Sri and a Cakravarti was capable to eat this, and they alone could digest this (3).
MAHĀVĪRA'S EXERTIONS FOR ATTAINING KAIVALYA
We have a detailed account of the spiritual exertions of Mahăvira in the Acārānga Sūtra. In this Sūtra, these exertions have been described as follows:
At the time of his initiation, Mahāvira had only one cloth on his body. For about 13 months, he kept that cloth on his shoulder. In the second year, when half of winter had passed, he gave up that cloth, and became a monk without cloth. He never folded his arms as a protection against cold, but wandered with his arms stretched. In winter, when there was chilly wind, and it was terribly cold, other monks ran about in search of some warm shelter, wrapped themselves with cloth, or, as did the tāpasa monks did, burnt wood in order to warm themselves up; but Mahavira remained in .