Early Jainism

SR No.: 001520
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: K K Dixit
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 1978
Total Pages: 120
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Agam, Canon, & Philosophy
File Size: 7 MB

Page 51

CHAPTER IV
THE FOUR OLD CHEDASŪTRAS
Certain texts belonging to the Jaina canon are designated Chedasūtras. The reason for the designation is not quite clear but maybe it has someth. log to do with the circumstance that these texts deal with the problems of monastic discipline while 'cheda' is the name of a typical punishment possibly awarded to an erring Jaida monk. In any case, the problems of monastic discipline were bound to attract the attention of Jajna theoreticians and it is in Chedasutras that these problems have been taken up by them for an elaborate consideration. For within the fold of the monastic religious sects like Buddhism and Jainism the monk occupied the same position as the Brahmin did within the fold of Brahmanism--that is to say, the position of spiritual leadership. As a result, the question as to what an ideal monk should or should not do looms largely in the discussions of social problems undertaken by the Buddhist and Jaina theoreticians just as the question as to what an ideal Brabmin should not do does in those undertaken by the Brahmin theoreticians. The topic as pursued in the Jaina Chedasütras deser. ves an independent investigation. (Four Chedasūtras-viz. Daśa, Kalpa. Vyayahāra and Niśitha-are treated as the oldest and most authoritative by the Jaina tradition; they are certainly the oldest and the following remarks mostly refer to them.]
So far as the style of composition is concerned Daśā belongs to one category and the remaining three Chedasūtras to another. Thus in the latter the injuoctions and prohibitions obligatory on a monk are explicitly laid down and that is their exclusive subject-matter. Daśā is divided into 10 chapters each pursuing its own course. So let Daśā be disposed of first of all. Here chapter I barely enumerates - under the title asamadhisthana In case of perturbation) - 20 vices partly vitiating the conduct of a monk. chapter II similarly enumerates - under the title savala (=blemish) - 21 such vices, chapter III similarly enumerates - under the title aśātana (=disesteem - 33 vices which are all so many cases of impertinent behaviour on the part of a disciple in relation to his preceptor, Four things are particularly noteworthy about these chapters-viz.
c) the fact that they barely enumerate certain qualities of human
character. (il) the fact that all these qualities are blameworthy. (ill) the fact that they are possible only in a monk.