An Investigation Of Textual Sources On Samavasarana

Author(s): Nalini Balbir
Publisher: Nalini Balbir

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NALINI BALBIR
AN INVESTIGATION OF TEXTUAL SOURCES ON THE SAMAVASARANA 91 means for taking away from the assistants the pride they could derive from their own beauty."
kings, but are fixed and extraordinarily large in the case of Cakravartins, members of heroic triads (Baladeva/Vasudeva/Prativasudeva), or so-called mandaliya.s. They decrease in quality (gold/silver) and quantity from one case to the other. The dry list of words defining the good reasons to perform such offerings (given in vs. 45) looks stereotype and could fit anywhere: desire to please the gods, proof of devotion, sign of worship, reinforcing of the religious community, desire to show one's sympathy to the person who has announced such good news, to propagate the Jain faith and to perform a good karman.
The peculiarity of the samavasarana-tract is also to consider that certain points are not self-evident and need justification to be understood in the proper way.
The first question is: Why does the Jina pay respects to the tirtha before he starts preaching (vss. 28-29) although he has reached the Goal (kaya-kicco vi)? The term tirtha has different connotations: the Jaina community (ascetics and layfollowers), the corpus scriptorum, the supreme knowledge (kevala-jnana), the Tirthamkara himself; seemingly all four are implied here. The question is answered by saying that the Jina is continuing the tradition of earlier Arhats; he worships the objects of reverence, and thereby follows the disciplinary ritual.
The query about the Jina's beauty (rüva, vs. 31-36) in the samavasarana is even more crucial. This beauty is "unsurpassed" (anultara). It concerns the constitution, the shape, the structure, the colour, the general appearance of the body, the inner essence, the voice and the respiration. It cannot be paralleled by that of any other being (see the descending scale of vs. 32 and the prose commentaries thereupon) and cannot be duplicated even by the heavenly beings. There is no contradiction with the three replicas prepared by gods (see above 1.4.1), since their origin is the internal power of the Jina alone. Secondly, this extraordinary beauty is explained in terms of the karma-theory. The category responsible for it is the so-called namakarman (vs. 33) which gives every individual his own characteristics. Moreover, all Categories of karman effect positively in the case of the Jina. This is summarized in the striking formula dhammodaenam rüvam (vs. 36): "beauty arises from the practice of the Law". The fact that even beautiful beings practice the law is an incitation for others, and the fact that the being whose words have to be grasped is beautiful is a
In spite of the diversity of the audience, the Jina's exposé (vagarana, vs. 3738) is addressed to all at the same time (jugavam). This needs an explanation. An expose done in succession (kama) would require such an immeasurable length of time that there would be a risk of innumerable beings not having their doubts removed and remaining deprived of access to spiritual improvement, if, for instance, death took them away before time. This would be a defect, since the samavasarana is a preaching for all. There is no inconvenience in a simultaneous exposé, which is made possible by the extraordinary qualities (riddhi-viseso) of the Jina and by his being Omniscient. His far-reaching voice itself is also endowed with the faculty of helping beings in their progress: as the Av.-cūrņi says (331.11), it is "a protection against hell", and is meant for all and at the same time unrivalled (sähäranåsavatte, vs. 40). Its application is in accord with the language of the listener so that he never gets tired of it, and could spend his whole life listening to the Jina, if he preached continuously. This idea is somewhat naively illustrated through the awkward and meagre anecdote of the old maid servant (kidhi = ther) of a merchant expanded only in the prose commentaries: while bending down to pick up some wood which had fallen down, she came to hear the voice of the Jina and remained in the same position from midday to sunset, forgetting about food, drink, heat and tiredness. The exegetical tract takes on the canonical statement, which may belong to the nucleus of a samavasarana, that the Jina's language is transformed in the respective language of all members of the audience. However, the comparison with the different effects rain has on different soils may be a secondary embellishment.
Finally, there is a necessity to explain the part played by the ganadhara.s who represent the Jina in the second porisi (biãe, vs. 51). The argument that it is a means to avoid the Jina any pain (kheya-vinoo, vs. 50) is not very convincing, especially on account of what has been specified in the previous verses. The main point is, however, to show the qualities of the Jina's disciples and to convince the audience
"The mention of these "Great men befits the inclusion of the samavasarana-tract in the "Universal History section of the Avasyakaniryukti.
For all the technical terms used here see H. von Glasenapp. The Doctrine of Karman in Jain Philosophy. Bombay 1942,
Cp. the presence of the so-called månastambha in the samavasarana-structure of the Digambaras (see below 2.2.1).
17 Av.-cūrni 331.13-332.4; also in Prakrit in Haribhadra's and Ksemakini's commentaries. See Nalini Balbir, Avafyaka-Studien, vol. 1, p. 142.
See above Introduction 2. The statement of the Av.-cúrni corresponds to Aupapatikasutra 56, whereas Ksemakirti quotes the relevant extract from the Samavāyanga (see n. 13).