________________
approach. He took it into his own life and practice.
This is a beautiful example for me. It will help me keep balance and feel compassion. Instead of holding a grudge and remembering someone's mistake, let me forget the mistake and remember only the good service. What a perfect way to keep the consciousness flowing and clear!
At times Munishree felt that he could not follow certain of the monks' rules even though they had been sanctified by centuries of tradition. The first instance came in his first year as a monk. The munis were required to avoid the excessive use of water, for in water, life abounded. Through its use, myriads of tiny organisms would be harmed and deprived of life. That resulted in the rule that monks were not allowed to bathe. To clean themselves, they were to use a wet cloth and do the best they could to remove dirt.
After deep thought, young Chandraprabh presented his view to his teacher, “Man cannot live in this body without doing some violence to life. It is inevitable, and in my heart, I long to minimize my part in it. But in order to maintain my body in health, I need to keep it clean. Without a healthy, clean body, it cannot reflect a good image of myself. To me cleanliness is more important than following the rule prohibiting bathing. If it means my having to leave the monkhood in order to do this, I will do it, though I would prefer to remain.”
Munishree observed his Master's flexible manner of thinking. He was willing to see his young disciple's point of view. It was anekantauada in action, relativity in thinking. If nonbathing was distracting his student from his path to Self, then it was not conducive to his growth. The Master was not one to impose rules in a strict way upon his disciples. Therefore, he decided that it would be all right for Munishree to use one bucketful of water each day, provided it was used carefully and sparingly.
Later Munishree happened to read this story.
Once there was a disciple who went to the well to draw water for his Master's bath. When he poured the water into his Master's bucket, he saw that it was too much. So he spilled the
118
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org