Book Title: Early Jainism
Author(s): K K Dixit
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
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Early Jainism
trnas parśa. In the final list of 22 parişahas all these four appear but the word sparsa is appended to the fourth alone; (people even forgot that sparśa was in olden times what parişaha was now). In Suttanipāta parissaya (meaning the same thing as parīşaha) is a word of frequent occurrence (e. g. 42, 45, 52; 770, 921, 960, 965, 966 and once (923) we even hear of "sparsena sprşțasya". In 52 the following six parissayas are enumerated: sita, uşna, kşudha, pipasă, vătatapa, damśasaris;pa; all these except the fifth appear in the final list of 22 parisahas-darśasarisypa under the title dambamajaka. In 960 the question is posed exactly in the manner of the later Jaina texts: "How many parissayas are there ?” The answer is forthcoming in vv. 964-966 and runs roughly as follows: "The monk should not be afraid of the following five things: damśadhi patis, sarisspas, manuşyas parśas, catuspadas, param, adharmika. He should also put up with the other parissayas; sprsta by atanka. spraśa and ksudha he should reside in šita and atyuşņa places, sprşta by all these in various manners he should persevere." This answer introduces two more items of the final list of 22 parisahas, for atamkas parśa is equivalent to roga and manuşyasparśa might well be equivalent to vadha, (as for the remaining two items-viz, caluşpada and paramadhārmika--they are absent in the final list). Even otherwise we here find interesting light thrown on the concepts of parişaha, sparsa and all that.
(3) A conspicuous injunction of the Jaina disciplinary texts is to the effect that a monk should not beg for alms in return for religious preaching. On the face of it the injunction is rather intriguing, for it is through religious preaching alone that a monk can possibly 'earn' his livelihoc On further consideration it appears that this injunction was formulated at the time when the monastic institution had just taken its rise and the monk was uncompromising in his criticism of the life of a householder. But since a monk must inevitably receive alms from the householders themselves the fear was that just at the time of begging for alms he might become mild in his criticism of the life of a householder. Hence the injunction that a monk must not undertake religious preaching just at the time of begging for alms. Some confirmation of this surmise comes from Sutta nipāta 81 where Buddha refuses to receive the professed alms because the donor had earlier entered into disputation with him and had to be silenced by putting records straight; (the same verse recurs as 480 where too the alms has been refused though the 'exchange of words' preceding this refusal is relatively mild.)
(4) A conspicuous feature of the Jaina treatment of ethical problems had been to say about an evil-doer that he either himself commits a particular evil act or gets it committed by someone else or approves of It when committed by someone else. The tradition of saying that one commits ag
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