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

Page 228

CHAPTER vi BIRTH AND INITIATION
The original version of the life-story of Bhagavān Mahāvira is contained in the two Jaina Agamas, the Ayāranga and the Kappa. This version has been further elaborated in the commentaries, cūrnies, nir yukties and poetical works. The earlier lives of Bhagavan Buddha are mainly contained in the Jātakas.' Of course, in their entirety, the
nas and the Tripitakas are virtually the life-stories of these two great men, but in the aforesaid texts, (i, e., the Ayaranga and the Kappa, and the Jätaka) the two life-stories have been given in biographical forms. There are indeed similarities as well as differences between the two descriptions regarding the birth and initiation of these two great men, and these similarities and differences are especially important for understanding the difference between the two cults, viz, Jainism and Buddhism. These apart, the two accounts throw ample light on popular usages, social customs and religious traditions of that age.
Both Mahavira and Buddha think towards the end of their previous birth about their next live; but there is difference in the thinking of the two. For, whereas Mahāvira thinks where he is going to be born, the Buddha thinks where he should be born.
About the time of his birth, the Buddha thought,
'I should be born at the time when the span of human life is more than a hundred years but less than 1,00,000 years. That time is good for nirvana!
. In the Jaina tradition too, that period has been considered most propitious for the birth of a Tirthankara when the span of human life is of a medium size.
The Jambūdvipa of Mahāvira is stated to be 1,00,000 yoj anas, but that of the Buddha (only) 10,000 yoj anas. Mahavira was born at Uttara-ksatriya-Kundapura in South