Fasting Unto Death According To Jaina Tradition

SR No.: 269284
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Colette Caillat
Publisher: Colette Caillat
Total Pages: 24
Language: English
Classification: Article
File Size: 2 MB

Page 16

58
COLETTE CAILLAT
tavassiņo hu tam seyam jam s'ege viham āie, (36, 10*). His baggage, his clothing, and his food are systematically reduced (36, 14-21; 37, 3 foll.). He practises the Law as best he can. His proficiency becomes such that he is fully conscious of the essential distinction between his soul (jiva, which, alone, is 'life', according to the Jaina doctrine), and his empirical appearance, which is different from his real self.59 Therefore, he rightly grows tired of his body, which cannot any more be of any help to him, but has become a vain hindrance.60 Consequently, he reduces his food more and more; and, at the same time, what is left of his passions,61 until, it is said, he is as thin as a plank, 62 he is no more than a shadow.
At this stage, he goes to the nearest inhabited place, where he will beg for grass (tana, skr. tṛṇa).63 Then, he will look for a suitable halting place, and will carefully remove all dust, so as not to hurt any living creature: he spreads the straw; and, having selected the favourable time, he applies himself to limited fasts.64
In the third stage, when his self-mastery is such that he is able to bear all sorts of persecutions, for instance, the biting of cold, of insects, the pricking of grass, etc., and the shame of being
59 (tassa bhikkhussa)... evam bhavai: 'ego aham amsi; na me atthi koi, na yaham avi kassai', evam sa egāniyam eva appāṇam samabhijāņejjā, 'it occurs to this monk: 'I am one and alone; no one belongs to me, nor do I belong to any one': he should thus recognize his oneness...', Ayar 1, 37, 7-9; compare (n. 72) Candāvejjhaya 160-161 (and, on these slokas, Caillat, p. 149). Cf. a similar disconnection aimed at in the Buddhist training, n. 38.
60 'se gilāmi ca khalu aham imammi samae imam sariragam aņupuvveṇam parivahittae', 'I am tired, in the present circumstances, of continuing to haul this miserable body of mine', Ayar 1, 37, 14-15 (whereas, previously, the body had played a role in the struggle towards Deliverance, cf. mokkhasāhaṇa-heussa sāhudehassa, Dasav 5, 1, 92 c-d).
61 se anupuvveņam āhāram samvaṭṭejjā... 'kasãe payaṇue kicca', ib 16-17., 62 phalagdvayatthi, ib, 37, 18* (on the second term of the compound, Acar, Gloss., s.v. ph.).
63 anupavisitta gāmam vā ..., taṇāim jāejjā, ib., 20-22.
64 taṇāim jāittä se ttam āyāe egantam avakkamejjā... paḍilehiya 2 pamajjiya 2 taṇāim samtharejjā, taṇāim samtharetta ettha vi samae ittiriyam kujjā, ‘having begged for grass, he shall take it and go to a secluded place...; after inspection and cleaning, he shall spread the grass; and, in due time, he shall devote himself to transitory (fasts)', ib, 22-26.
On ittariya, itti-, *itvaraka, Acar, Gloss., s.v.; Worte, p. 112 and n. 3 ('Fastenübungen').