Aspects of Jaina Monasticism

Author(s): Nathmal Tatia, Mahendramuni
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

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of akriya (inaction), with its pure radiance of unclouded faith manifest in full (9)
"May the serene and tranquil sun of sangha shine in glory in the world eclipsing the lustre of the heretical teachers, with its hue, effulgent with the power of austerity and glowing with the light of knowledge (10).
"May the unruffled vast ocean of sangha flourish for ever, never transgressing the felly of forbearance, (devouring the evils) by its seamonsters of scriptural study (11).
"(To the great Mountain Meru) with its fourdation of the diamond of great right faith firmly fixed deep down into the earth), with its golden girdle adorned with the gem of majestic righteousness (12), strewn over with the golden slabs of morality, possessed of bright and luminous variegated peaks, citrakūta, and also the heights of mental purity, cittakūta, heavily perfumed with the fragrance of the moral purity of the charming odour of the heavenly garden (13), with beautiful caves of compassion for living beings, teeming with dauntless lions of great ascetics, with its caverns and grottos full of the gems of shining herbs, with melting metals of a thousand logical probanses (14), with beautiful garlands of fountains of streaming water of excellent self-mastery, with its crevices resounding with the dancing peacocks of multitude of lay disciples singing joyously (15), with its summits radiant with the lightning of the effulgence emanating from the great ascetics bowed down in humility and modesty (offering homage to arahantas and siddhas), with its orchards teeming with kalpa-trees (of ascetics) laden with flowers and fruits of multitude of virtues (16), I offer my homage bowing down in humility to the Mountain Meru, the Order of monks and nuns, with its peaks shining like brilliant and pure cat's-eye stone of the gem of excellent knowledge (17)."
The above-mentioned passages clearly demonstrate the importance of sangha as an organization of the Jaina and Buddhist monastic orders. Of course, in ancient times, there were ascetics who wandered alone and practised austerities and penances to attain salvation, without affilating themselves to any particular Order. But the emergence of well-knit organizations of monks and nuns took place when great leaders like Mahāvīra, Buddha, or Makkhali Gosāla made their advent and founded tirthas, that is, fords to walk across the samsāra.
4. Selection of Aspects
Our selection of aspects does not follow any pre-conceived plan. The topics are selected at random, the purpose being only to give an idea of the varieties of topics that we should like to treat of under the