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384
Buddhist scriptures which mention Nirgranthas clad in one single robe (ekaśāṭaka) (vide, the Anguttara Nikaya). When the Bhagavan attained the higher stages of sadhana, he completely abandoned even that piece of robe and became totally acela (naked monk). (Cf. Ācārānga Cūrṇi, p. 300).
५. अदु पोरिसिं तिरियं भित्ति, चक्खु मासज्ज अंतसो झाइ । अह चक्खु - भीया सहिया, तं "हंता हंता" बहवे कंदिसु ॥
5.
5.
1.
ĀYĀRO
Adu porisim tiriyam bhittim, cakkhumasajja amtaso jhai. Aha cakkhu-bhiyā sahiyā, tam "ham tā-hamta" bahave
kamdimsu..
Intensely concentrating his mind on a slanting wall, the Bhagavan meditated for hours on end with his gaze firmly fixed. (The eye-balls used to bulge out, on account of the hard stare over a long period). Children used to get awe-striken by this rather unusual spectacle, and invited other children to come and watch him, with the outcry 'Goodness Gracious! Oh dear! 11
Both, author of the Curni and the Commentator have interpreted it as follows:
"He used to walk carefully with his eyes fixed on the path gradually widening, and of the length of a man (roughly six feet). Shocked at the spectale of the Bhagavan's walking with his gaze fixed, children used to raise a hue and cry and attracted the other boys to it. Dr. Herman Jacobi, who has translated this sutra on the basis of the explanation given by the commentator, has, however, mooted this point: "I cannot make out the exact meaning of it, perhaps, so that he was a wall for the animals.
"
11
Fixing the gaze on the wall has been the meditational technique of the Buddhist monks also. In the present text of Ayaro itself (2/125), we find that this very technique of meditation has been mentioned. The commentator of the Bhagawati Sūtra, Shri Abhayadeva Suri has also interpreted the word tiryagbhitti as the rampart (prākāra), or the wall of a mound, or the
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