________________
1.
important to emphasise the superiority of the confessor over the one 01. confessing, all the time taking into account the religious rank of the two individuals concerned. Through their persons, it is the Law which is involved.
: 152
The scholastics, who delight in subdivisions, count three varieties of acārya (cf. T III 42 a 4 ff.), according as they deserve to be compared to the lion, the bull or the jackal (acāryas trividhaḥ simhanugo vṛṣabhanugaḥ kroştukânugas ca). They are distinguished according to the seat on which they sit and from which they preach: the lion-like acarya sits on a high seat, the bull-like one on a piece of cloth (ekasmin kalpe), and the third on sacking or on a mat (rajoharaṇa-niṣadyāyām aupagrahika-pāda proñchane va, ibid 5 ff.). If there is no ācārya to be found, one approaches a "bull" (vrşabha) or, failing that, a monk. These also can be likened to the same three animals (42 a 8).
For their part, the penitents are similarly of three kinds : ācāryas, "bulls", or simple religious (ācāryā vṛṣabhā bhikṣavaś ca); and each of these categories in turn has its lions, bulls and jackals. Among these last, a distinction can be made between those who sit on a sack and those who confess squatting, in the position utkutuka (ibid 10); a seat is allowed them if they are ill, in the same way as provision is made for a seat for the superiors and the "bulls"(11). But squatting is the pure position: (yady utkutukaḥ sann alocayati, tataḥ śuddhiḥ (T III, 42 a 10). As is well known, this is the position, of the Buddhist monk while confessing (supra).
12
Normally the elevated seat is the one proper to the acarya (sva-sthana, 42 b 10 ff.), in contrast to the cloth and the sacking (para-sthana). The commentaries thus examine successively confession to all types of confessors by all the types of penitents:
Confessor
ācārya :
và sabha :
kroştuka:
lion bull
jackal
lion bull
jackal
lion bull jackal
131
13
the 3 types of ac.
""
"1
13
Penitent
""
در
the 3 types of ac.
of bull
of jackal
of bull of jackal
the 3 types o ac.
""
of bull of jackal
11 # [
666
⇓⇓ n
aaa a66
9
9
9
= 9
Thus :
9
cases
cases cases
cases
cases
cases
cases
cases
9 cases
27 cases
27 cases
27 cases
In all, then, there are 81 cases (45 a 13). It will be noted that the confession of same to same is expiated by a parihara of one light month (ibid 11), and that, in general, no fault is to be imputed to the penitent who abandons the seat proper to his status to occupy a lower one (ibid 12).
