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AN INTERPRETATION OF JAIN ETHICS 17 vow, the Digainbar monks, who roam about, always alone, without clothes, without even vessels to eat from, and the Svetambara Sadhus with their scanty clothes and equipment, who will not accept but what they can use at a time, the acceptance of money being, of course, strictly forbidden.
After having reached a certain standard of Armness in the keeping of Sarva-Virati, and of religious learning too, a monk can climb up to the next step of discipline, the PariharaVisuddhi Charitra, which can be reached by undergoing certain practices requiring a high degree of self-control and firmness. It is prescribed that always groups of nine monks should devote eighteen months to these practices, changing places with one another in the alternate performing of austerities, and service, in obedience to a self-elected Guru. During those eighteen months, the discipline to be observed is so strict that it would o.g., be forbidden to take any care of one's body even in the case of severe sickness.
The fourth standard is the Sukshma-Samparaya Charitra, which requires the complete annihilation of one's Anger, Pride, and Deceit, and a partial one of the fourth great passion., viz., Covetousness, of which only a small fraction is allowed to remain.
The fifth standard, the Yathakhyala-Charitra, demands a completo annihilation of all the four passions, and a strict Jinakalpi conduct, completely in accordance with the monastic discipline, once put in action, and promulgated, by the last Jina.
The last three, standards can no more be attained by monks of the present age, in which the strength of bodily and mental constitution as required for the fulfilment of the respective rules, is no more to be found. Since the time, when all such heroic accomplishments were possible, and were indeed put in action, a great degeneration has taken place according to Jain Tradition.
The lowest standard of discipline is thé Desa-Virati Charitra of Sravakas, the rules for which are the Twelve Laymen Vows, the so-called Doadasa-Vrata, or, in the vernacular, the
3 Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
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| SR No. | 034890 |
| Book Title | Jaina Gazette 1928 |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Ajitprasad, C S Mallinath |
| Publisher | Jaina Gazettee Office |
| Publication Year | 1928 |
| Total Pages | 502 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 33 MB |