Tulsi Prajna 1993 02

SR No.: 524574
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Parmeshwar Solanki
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati
Publication Year: 1993
Total Pages: 166
Language: Hindi
Classification: Magazine, India_Tulsi Prajna, & India
File Size: 7 MB

Page 162

Mahāvīra Era
The Kalpasutra list of the patriarchs from Suhastin onwards is as follows. Suhastin, Susthita, Supratibuddha, Indra, Dinna, Sinhagiri and Vajra. The last, i, e. Vajra went to Bhadragupta of Pataliputra and returned back to Dashapura after learning the knowledge of Purvas. He joined his guru Sinhagiri and succeeded him.
54
Now there was a person called Aryarakṣita, who lived in Dashpura. He went to the local Jain Acharya to learn the Drisṭṭivada. The acharya asked him to become a monk first. Aryarakṣita was willing but he was afraid that king and people would importune him, so he induced the monks to remove their residence and after doing so he intered in the order.
After acquiring all knowledge that the Acharya possessed, Aryarakṣita went to join Vajra and in short time he had mastered nine Purvas. It was when he learned the yamaks of lhe 10th Purva, that the course of his studies was interupted and he was forced to return home. (This was a simple case that Jainas were guilty of seducing disciples of the other sects.) It appears from the account given by Hemachandra that this man occupied the top place in the church and he was the one who knew the Jaina sacred literature in full. There was upto that time no written record of this literature and every thing had to be committed to memory.
Goşṭhamahila of Dashpura took his initiation from this Aryarakșita and afterwards as a successor to him he led the seventh schism. His followers were called Abaddhiyas who asserted that Jiva was not bound by karman.
In this way the eighth schism was inevitable, as there was no patriarch of the cadre of Aryarakṣita or his disciple Goşṭhamāhila. And just 40 years before him Rohagupta saparated from the church on the Jiva, ajiva and Nojiva principle. It was therefore question of time only. Accordingly the Jaina order was divided into two sects, later known as Svetambers and Digambers, 609 years after the death of Mahavira (Avaśyaka Bhāṣya, G. 145).
However as the anceint canonical literature shows in the early stage there was no hard and fast distinction between the precepts of these two Jaina sects nor any clear demarcation between them along sectarian lines. For example, the Sthananga (II, 171) pern its the use of garments under certain conditions; the Acārānga (II, 5) provides for begging of garments and the Uttaradhayayan (II. 12) refers to the worry of monks about their garments becoming old and torn.
With the passage of time and changed conditions, attitudes and approaches began to stiffen, doctrines to ossify and sectarian outlook