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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about me for a very long time. We have been acquaintances for ever, and for ever you have served me, for ever you have followed me, and for ever you have carried out my orders. In your previous lives, whether as a god or as a human being, you were always linked with me, and what more, after we die, and when this body is destroyed, we shall be together again, in the same state, as liberated souls "(1).
The above should indicate how very intimate was Gautama's relation with Mahavira,
2. Candanabālā - She was the foremost in Mahavira's order of nuns. Her position in the order was called pravartini. She was a princess, but her life was full of many vicissitudes. She spent a part of her life as a maid-servant. She underwent the experience of being in chains. But in the closing chapter of her life, we see her holding the most illustrious position of being the head of Mahāvira's order of nuns.
According to the Thānanga and the Samavāyānga (2), 700 in Mahāvira's order attained Omniscience (3), 1300 attained avadhi knowledge, 500 attained manah-paryava knowledge, 300 were the masters of the 14 Pūrvas, and there were many other monks and nuns who held great powers, who had practised hard penances, who were great debators, and so on.
At times, Mahavira even mentioned about the specialities of his monks and nuns.
In the Tripitakas, too, we have accounts of monks who lived around the Buddha, foremost among them being Sariputta, Mogga'llana, Ananda, Upāli, Mahākāssapa, Ajnākodi - nna, and so on. In the Jaina order, the Gana dharas enjoyed a dignified position and were entrusted with a welldefined responsibility. In the Buddhist order, there is no counterpart of Jaina Ganadhara; but Säriputta and others held quite high positions of honour and responsibility in that order.
3. Sariputta - As was Ganadhara Gautama to Mahāvira, so was Sāriputta an inseparable companion of the Buddha, He