Five Vows And Six Avashyakas

SR No.: 269507
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Klaus Bruhn
Publisher: Klaus Bruhn
Total Pages: 27
Language: English
Classification: Article
File Size: 3 MB

Page 13

HERE-NOW4U :Bruhn : The Fundamentals of Jaina Ethics - Avashyak http://www.here-now4u.de/eng/spr/religion/Bruhn/Avashyaka4.html
handsomeness
austerities i authority
knowledge gain,
• I repent: through the <nine> forms of behaviour which imperil celibacy (contact with
women, talking about women etc.),
• I repent: through [neglect of] the <ten> rules for the monk
forbearance humility straightforwardness contentment austerities restraint or samyama truthfulness purity (imperturbable restraint)
poverty I celibacy,
[tentative translation:] whatever offence I have committed in the course of the day that was due to spiritual blindness.
Position 5 contains the Great Vows, i.e. the monastic version of the Five Vows (Introduction). In its complete form, the chain is almost encyclopaedic. It addresses the layman as well as the monk and contains practically all the important chains of the day. The majority of the terms are of course directed to the monk. Refer also to the Introduction for the relation between monks and laymen.
The four elements are included into the six classes of beings (classes I-IV). It is thus evident that the element-beings do not inhabit the elements but form them. These beings, a product of archaic speculation, consist in each case of a soul with a minimum of matter attached to it. The Jainas have also paid attention to the real animalcules (visible or invisible to the human eye), found in the earth or in the water or in the air or in fire (i.e. in the state of being burnt by fire). This explains Jaina conventions concerning the filtering of water. However, the protection of the true element-beings was mainly expected from the monk, and how this worked in daily practice cannot be explained in a few words.
At the end of the Pratikramana we find the following often-quoted verse:
khamemi savva-jive, savve jiva khamantu me /
metti me savva-bhuesu, veram majjha na kenai //
I ask pardon of all living creatures, may all of them pardon me;
I approach all beings with affection and enmity toward none.
previous next
8 Essay on "cruauté" (compare J. N. SHKLAR, Ordinary Vices, Harvard University Press, 1984, pp.1-9 et passim). Naturally, in some cases the current discussion on violence also considers Jainism, i.e. Jainism as the "religion of non-violence". Generally speaking, it can be useful in discussions on violence to extend the vocabulary and to consider not only all varieties of
3 von 4
01.04.99 12:54