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645
Pitaka. From a comparative study of the two, it appears that some of the prescriptions come very near to one another while some remains very far. Both the texts impose strict prohibition on violence, falsehood, theft, sex indulgence and accumulation of property. Atonements, both light and severe, have been prescribed if a monk indulges in anyone of these in one form or the other. But when everything is said, it must be admitted that regarding rules of conduct, the Nisitha prescriptions reach an extreme position, those in the Vinaya Pitaka would appear to be somewhat crude, making concession or compromise with considerations of practical life. This is the fundamental difference between the two texts. The non-violence of a Jaina monk extends to earth, water, flora, air and fire as essential and unavoidable, and in case of a lapse, various monthly and four-monthly atonements have been laid down. The rules of the Nisiha make no concession to consideration of practical life; its exclusive emphasis is on the purity of doctrine, The position is reversed in the Vinaya Pitaka wherein monastic order has been given precedence over doctrine.
According to the doctrine of the Jainas, water is life. So a monk does not use water from river, tank or well, nor rain water. Only when it is boiled and made In confree from life, water becomes usable to a monk. trast, the Vinaya Pitaka prescribes that water filtered If a monk through a piece of cloth may be used by a monk. does not filter it through cloth, he is required to undergo a păcittiya (43). The Jaina monks are not allowed to take bath(44). They do not take bath in part or of the whole body with even life-free (boiled) water. According to the Vinaya Pitaka, a monk is not permitted bath before a fortnight. If he does, he has to undergo a pacittiya. Exception has been made for summer season, etc. (45). There are elaborate prescriptions as to how a monk is to take bath in rivers, tanks, etc. The point is that there is a gulf of difference between the Jaina and the Buddhists attitudes regarding life in earth, water, flora, etc.
Regarding cloth, the prescription of the Nisitha Sutra is that if a monk accepts cloth made for him or bought for him, he must undergo light atonement for four months (46). In contrast, the prescription of the Vinaya Pitaka on this is as follows:
