Agam 30 Prakirnak 07 Gacchachar Sutra

Author(s): D S Baya
Publisher: Agam Ahimsa Samta Evam Prakrit Samsthan

Page 41

XL : GACCHĀCĀRA PRAKIRNAKA
and says that a true Gaccha is the one in which there is proper consideration of mutual seniority between the monks and even a one day senior monk's words are not flouted, in which the monks do not accept the food brought by the nuns even at the time of dreadful famine, in which the monks do not enter into meaningless talk with the nuns nor do they look with lust at the enticing parts of the women's anatomy. (60-62)
According to this work the monks have been totally forbidden the company of the nuns. For the monks the company of the nuns has been compared to stepping into fire and taking poison. It says that the monk who keeps the company of the nuns soon comes to be defamed. It very clearly says that the monk who is always vigilant in avoiding the company of the women can only observe celibacy properly; the other one who is negligent in such matters cannot do so. (63–70)
The speciality of the Gacchācāra Prakīrnaka is that it states the rules of well-propounded code of monastic conduct sometimes with reference to the monks and at times with reference to the nuns. However, whether the rules of monastic conduct are stated with reference to the monks or with reference to the nuns, they are equally applicable to both - the monks and the nuns.
Upholding the foremost principle of non-violence towards all the living beings - Earth-bodied (Prthvikāyika), Water-bodied (Apkāyika), Air-bodied (Vāyukāyika), Fire-bodied (Tejaskā yika), Vegetation-bodied (Vanaspatikāyika) and the moving bodies (Traskāyika), it has been said that the monastic group in which the monks do not torment the living beings of the six categories even when they are facing death, is the true monastic group. (75–81)