Book Title: Atonements In Ancient Ritual Of Jaina Monks
Author(s): Collete Caillat
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

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Page 197
________________ 181 A certain number of measures contribute to the tempering of the severity of these penances, and especially to making them profitable. They recall the services done for the "isolated" religious. Each day, the acarya visits the demoted monk, satisfies himself as to his well-being, helps him if he is weak (personally bringing him food and drink), and massages him : aharati bhatta-pānam uvvattaṇa-m-ādiyam ti se kuṇati sayam eva ganahivati agilano so sayam kunati (Vav Bh 2, 239). In addition, he helps him with his instruction, receives news of his health and comforts him if the penance is wearing him out. Then he returns to the site where the gana of which he is the head is established: ubhayam pi dauņa sapaḍipuccham, vodhum sarirassa ya vaṭṭamāṇim āsāsaitṭāṇa tavo-kilantam tam eva khettam samuventi thera (ibid 240). If the superior is prevented (by sickness, exhaustion, the ill-will of the king), he appoints in his place the preceptor or any other qualified adept to replace him in this task. Whether asked about it or not, these substitutes tell the penitent of the circumstances obliging them to replace the ayariya. Then with everyone remaining silent, they carry out the orders of the teacher. very scrupulously (T IV 54 b). In spite of these precautions, it apparently happens that these exiles lose their strength completely (gilayamīṇa, Vav 2, 7-8). They are succoured, in that case, as is the parihariya. The "service" here prescribed falls upon the gaṇavacckeiya to whom the demoted or excluded monk addressed himself, and upon the ayariya. The "coadjutor" inspects the belongings of the religious, helps him to rise and to sit down, goes begging in his stead (cf. T IV 22 a 10 f.). This is not to say that he approves of the conduct of the offender. But he knows that such is the order of the Omniscient and that in performing this service, he eliminates his own karman (ibid 26 a 11 f.). As for the superior, he goes in person to the penitent, hears his p. 208 news, watches over his health and well-being: glanasya sato gaṇāvacchedina ācāryeṇa ca yathasūtram vaiyāvṛtyam kartavyam, Vav T IV 26 b 13; cf. 26 a 11). The teachers never relax their diligence (ibid 27 a 4 f.; Bh 2, 100; cf. Vav 2, 7-8, agilae). Those who evade this obligation must, for their penance, observe four heavy months of the sixth atonement (Bh 2, 99). The ceremonial for the acceptance back into the community of the demoted religious and the excluded religious is summarised in the suttas 2, 18-23 of the Vavahara. In the last analysis, the company can impose it, no matter what the conduct of the penitent. On the contrary, the "coadjutor" to whom he presents himself has no right to re-ordain the demoted monk who does not approach him as a "faithful layman" (giht):

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