Agam 05 Ang 05 Study Of Bhagvati Vyakhya Prajnapti Sutra

Author(s): Suzuko Ohira
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad

Page 191

used, which are mainly reported to occur in the Pindaniryukti." VI.1.267-69 are to be placed in the final canonical stage.
(3) Supernatural power
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It is a belief of the Indians since very remote antiquity that the practice of penance produces superhuman power, from which the Jainas are no exceptions. 1.4.159 tells us that a spiritually advanced monk can fly over Mt. Vaibhara and the like only by attracting external matter particles. This ability is however used by heretical monks alone, and never by the Jaina monks. Because the former consume prepared food (pranita), their bones and marrow become strong but their flesh and blood become weak, it is explained, but this works in reverse in the case of the latter. A spiritually advanced monk is also said in 1.5.160 to be able to create forms such as a woman up to syandamanika and so on and so forth by attracting external particles. The range of his capacity of vikurvana is explained by way of a simile as in the case of devas. Here again heretics alone are said to make use of such ability. X 1.9.497, which refers to .4.159 and 11.5.160, says that a spiritually advanced monk can fly up with a water pot tied with a rope in hand, or can fly by assuming the posture of a bat, and so on and so forth. Then, VI.9.298 reads that an indisciplined monk can also produce colour and the like by attracting the external particles which exist in this middle world. It refers to the deva's capacity of vikurvaņā in V1.9.252 (cf. A-3-4), which goes in parallel with the present text.
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Here we find a parallelism between devas' and monks' vikurvana as to capacity, range and means. Using external help as such is not required for the tapasvis in order to exercise their miraculous power. Therefore, the contents expressed in these passages must have become fashionable after the mythological development of devas' rddhi and vikurvana. And in both cases, heretics alone are condemned for the actual employment of their magical power as such. The Jaina monastic authorities have long since been warning their fellow monks not to engage in astrology, dream reading and so on (cf. Dasavaikalika VI, for instance) in order to maintain the standard of ascetic conduct distinguishable from non-Jaina practice. All these sutras belong to the final canonical stage.
X .10.642 reads that a spiritually advanced monk can penetrate the blade of a sword or a knife but he would not be cut, because a weapon has no effect on him. This text is making use of the material in V.7.213 (cf. B-1), to which reference is made. It does not display a mythological tinge, and we place it in the fourth canonical stage. In XIV.9.536 a pious monk's capacities resulting from his penance during one month up to twelve months after his initiation is compared with tejo le's ya possessed by the gods ranging from Vyantara up to Anuttaropapatika. He is said to attain liberation at the end of twelve months' penance. Abhayadeva explains tejo le'sya in the sense of happiness. This text