Acharya Sthulibhadra

Author(s): JAINA Education Committee
Publisher: JAINA Education Committee

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GANADHARS AND ACHÄRYAS
At the end of the monsoon, all the monks returned and described their experience. The first three monks described their success and they were congratulated. When Sthulibhadra reported the success of his test, the Achärya rose from his seat in all praise and hailed Sthulibhadra for performing a formidable task. The other monks became jealous. Why was Sthulibhadra's feat so much more impressive than theirs? After all, they had endured physical hardships while he had spent the monsoon in comfort and security. The Acharya explained that it was an impossible feat for anyone else. The first monk boasted that he could easily accomplish the same task the following monsoon. The Ächärya tried to dissuade him from his intent because it was beyond his capability. The monk wanting to prove his spiritual strength to the Acharya, persisted and was reluctantly given permission for the next monsoon season.
The next monsoon the monk went to Kosha's place. The immodest pictures in the gallery were enough to excite him. When he saw glamorous Koshä, his remaining resistance melted away and he begged for her love. After seeing the pious life of Sthulibhadra, Koshä had learned the value of an ascetic life. In order to teach the monk a lesson, she agreed to love him only if he gave her a diamond-studded garment from Nepal, a town 250 miles north of Patliputra. The monk was so infatuated that he left immediately for Nepal, forgetting that monks were not supposed to travel during the monsoon. With considerable difficulty, he procured the garment and returned to Patliputra confident of receiving Koshä's love. Kosha accepted the beautiful garment, wiped her feet on it and threw it away in the trash. He was stunned. He asked her, "Are you crazy, Kosha? Why are you throwing away the precious gift that I have brought for you with so much difficulty?"Koshä replied, 'Why are you throwing away the precious life of monkhood that you have acquired with so much effort?' The humbled monk realized his foolishness and returned to his Acharya to report on his miserable failure. There was immense respect for Sthulibhadra from that day onwards.
Sthulibhadra played a major role in later years to preserve the oldest Jain scriptures known as the twelve Anga Ägams and the fourteen Purvas. Jain history indicates that Ächärya Bhadrabähu was the last monk who had complete knowledge of all the Jain scriptures. Ächärya Bhadrabahu succeeded Ächärya Sambhutivijay as head of the religious order. Both Acharya Sambhutivijay and Acharya Bhadrabahu were the disciples of Achärya Yashobhadra.
In those days, the Jain scriptures were memorized and passed on orally from guru to disciple. They were not documented in any form. Under the leadership of Acharya Bhadrabahu, Sthulibhadra thoroughly studied eleven of the twelve Anga Ägams.
An extended famine prevented Sthulibhadra from studying the twelfth Anga Ägam known as Drashtivada, containing the fourteen Purvas. During the famine Achärya Bhadrabähu-swämi migrated south with 12,000 disciples. Acharya Sthulibhadra succeeded him as the leader of the monks who stayed behind in Pataliputra. The hardships of the famine made it difficult for the monks to observe their code of conduct properly. In addition, many of the monks' memories failed them and many parts of the Anga Agams were forgotten.
The famine lasted for twelve years. After the famine, Sthulibhadra decided to recompile the Jain scriptures. A convention was held in Patliputra under the leadership of Sthulibhadra. Eleven of the twelve Anga Ägams were orally recompiled at the convention. None of the monks at the convention could remember the twelfth Anga Agam and its 14 Purvas. Only Achärya Bhadrabahu swami had this knowledge but he had left southern India and was now in the mountains of Nepal to practice a special penance and meditation. The Jain Sangha requested Sthulibhadra and some other learned monks to go to Acharya
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