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 52

Four Old Chedasūtras
43
(iv) the fact that the number of qualities is found increased as one
proceeds from chapter to chapter. In the next four chapters there are enumerated certain praiseworthy qualities of human character and here too the number of them is found increased as one proceeds from chapter to chapter; the points of contrast are the following two: (i) the fact that to some extent or other all these chapters deal with
the qualities in question going beyand bare enumeration, (ii) the fact that one of these chapters takes up qualities that are
possible only in a householder.
To put it explicitly: (i) Chapter IV considers - under the title gari-sampat (= meritorious
qualification of a group-leader), eight qualities possibly possessed
by a monk occupying the part of group-leader ( =gamin). (11) Chapter V considers - under the title citta-samādhisthana (=case of
mental equanimity)- 10 super-ordinary capacities possibly possessed
by a worthy monk. (iii) Chapter VI considers - under the title upāsaka-pratima(=behaviour
pattern of a pious householder)-the 11 stages gradually traversing
which a householder makes spiritual progress. (iv) Chapter VII coniders—under the title bhikṣu-pratima (= behaviour
-pattern of a mopk) - 12 cases of an increasingly high mode of life which a persevering monk might pursue for the period specific
for each case. The last three chapters are unlike each other and unlike the earlier seven. Thus (1) Chapter VIII contains three independent parts offering (a) a biography of the 24 Tirthankaras - detailed and real in the
case of Mahāvīra, brief and stereotyped in that of the rest (b) a chronologically arranged list of the post-Mabāvīra church
leaders (c) the rules to be followed by the monks stationing during rainy
season (11) Chapter IX describes - under the title mohaniya-sthana (= case
of deluded behavioursome 30 items of blameworthy social
conduct-possible in the case of a monk, a householder or both (iii) Chapter X describes - under the title ajati-sthāna (=case of future
birth) -nine cases of the desire for an increasingly auspiclous