Jaina Monastic Jurisprudence

SR No.: 001621
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Shantaram Balchandra Dev
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown
Publication Year: 1960
Total Pages: 108
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Ritual_text, Philosophy, Ritual, & Religion
File Size: 5 MB

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S. B. DEO Buddha or by the elders in the Samgha or by elderly and well-versed senior monks or by the Vinayadharas. Regarding such agencies of the origin and formulation of different rules, the Jaina texts are silent. What we find in these texts are that the seniors act more as judges than as originators of law.
The prosecution of the guilty was an elaborate affair in the Buddhist jurisprudence. Such trials were to be held in the presence of a full assembly (Mahāvagga, IX, 3). Besides this, the accused was to be allowed to confess or defend if somebody else had accused him. The declaration of the offence committed by the accused was done by a senior monk (Ibid., X, 3, 9). Opinions were allowed to be expressed by other representative monks regarding the offence and whether the accused was involved in it or not. In cases of grave offences, such procedures as ballot and open voting, and holding of a jury were also resorted to. In the case of minor offences, formal confession was deemed sufficient. The account of the trial of Ananda, Devadatta and others makes a wonderful reading which brings out the elaborate procedure adopted in such trials.
Such elaboration of trials is not to be found mentioned or described in any of the Jaina texts. What we have is the reference to the Samgha which in some cases was empowered to commute the punishment inflicted on a monk, under certain circumstances.
The picture that stands before our eyes, on the basis of the information given in the Buddhist texts, is that of a completely organized corporate life of the Bhikkhu sangha, which, though a feature even of the Jaina order of monks and nuns, has not anywhere been graphically represented, so far as the enforcement and administration of monastic jurisprudence is concerned, in the Jaina texts.
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Epilogue Thus, in short, is the rapid survey of the rules and working of Jaina monastic jurisprudence. With all their