Book Title: Agam 05 Ang 05 Study Of Bhagvati Vyakhya Prajnapti Sutra
Author(s): Suzuko Ohira
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad
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163
say that they have not yet arrived at Rajagsha when they are arriving at it (transgressing the vow of satya). The Jaina elders defend themselves by way of the dictum 'kajjamane kade' that food in the process of being given equals food already given, that the Jaina ascetics walk carefully by way of repeatedly observing their kaya (-yoga), yoga (i.e., vac and manas, that is, without chatting or thinking) and the motion of their walking (riya), and that an action in the process of arriving at Rajagsha equals the completed action, thereby no transgression can be incurred. Then the Jaina elders return with the retort that the heretics are 'trividham trividhena asamyata up to totally stupid', because they prove themselves to be so by their own argument. X V1.8.639 virtually repeats the above account pertaining to ahimsa, where repartee is made by Gautama against the heretics. MV is highly pleased with him saying that many of his disciples would not be able to defend themselves as he has done. We would place both texts which do not involve later technicalities in the third canonical stage. We should note here that VI.7.336 refers to 1.5.107 (cf. D-3; fifth stage) and VI.2.270 (cf. D-2a-2; third stage) for varnakas. This is a typical example of how varnaka references are not always useful in determining the age of a text.
418
Somila, a Brahmin monk, attempts to defeat MV by asking a series of puzzling questions in X V1.10.645 as follows: (A) Whether MV assents to yatra, yapaniya, avyabadha and prasuka vihara; what their meanings are and how he practises them, and (B) Whether or not the following items are enjoyable or eatable: sarisava (in Sk. it has two meanings, (a) a friend of the same age, and (b) mustard), maşa (Sk. masa is in Pk.: (a) masa or month, and (b) maşa which means (1) a weight of gold-silver, and (2) a kind of beans), and kulattha (Pk. kulattha is in Sk.: (a) kulastha meaning a woman, and (b) kulattha meaning a kind of pulse). Question series B is, in essence a word game. Somila is converted upon hearing MV's reply. In the Jnatadharma I. 5, the Brahmin Suka similarly troubles Thavaccaputra with the same series of questions excluding yatra, and the former is likewise converted by hearing the latter's reply.
419 MV explains in our text that yatra means yatana which he practises by way of
yoga such as tapas, niyama, samyama, svadhyaya, dhyana and ava'syaka, etc. Tapas, svadhyaya and dhyana are here separately enumerated, though they belong to the category of tapas. Ava'syaka in this context must denote six kinds of daily rite. Umasvati separately enumerates six Ava's yaka chapters in his T.S. The Anuyogadvāra classifies utkā lika into avas yaka class and nonava'syaka class, and the Nandi divides angabaya into ava'syaka class and nonava's yaka class. Also Bhadrabahu, who was Umasvati's younger contemporary, composed the Ava'syakaniryukti. From this it is assumed that the six independent Ava'syaka chapters were codified under the title Ava'syaka in the late
final canonical stage. At any rate, we can safely place our Somila story in the Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only
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