Esa Dhamme Vusunao Such Is Law Of Sage

Author(s): Colette Caillat
Publisher: Colette Caillat

Page 5

ESA DHAMME VUSĪMAO
85
(Paiņņayas). The Candāvejjhaya emphasises that, at the hour of death, it is important to remember the (even unique) pāda thanks to which one's conversion has taken place:
ekkammi vi jammi pae samvegam vīyarāya-maggammi vaccai naro abhikkham tam maran'ante na mottavvam.20
As for the Samthäraya, its name clearly refers to the death bed, the "bed of grass" on which the pious muni has taken place,
tiņa-samthāra-nisanno vi muņi-varo (48)
Nevertheless this pamphlet also emphasises that the so-called pandiyaor sakāma-marana is the culminating point of a long process of learning and self-improvement. It is expressly stated that liberation "is due not to the grass layer or to the purity of the earth (on which it is strewn): oneself is one's own bed (of salvation), if one's conduct has been pure":
na vi kāranam tana-mao samthāro na vi ya phāsuya bhumi: appå khalu samthāro havai visuddhe carittammi (53).21
Thus, though the emphasis can shift from right knowledge and/or faith to right conduct, or vice versa, all the three Jaina ratnas appear to be strictly intertwined, - like a mat or a well tied bunch (cf. brsi!).22 Hence it could be suggested that b(i)vusiman(t) was not, originally, just a synonym of samjaya "well controlled": rather it is not unlikely that it denoted the perfected niggantha, well equipped in all the three "jewels": being vusimam, he does not only practise, he also thoroughly knows and understands the precepts and their doctrinal basis, like the silavantā bahussuyā of Utt 5.29; he has faith in the law and is an experienced sage.
As a matter of fact, the occurrences of vusimam, vusimao in the Suy would point to this conclusion.
They will be considered now.
The occurrences of the gen. sg. vusimao will be examined first. It recurs three times, in a set formula (an even sloka pāda), used in three different lectures of the first book of Sūy. The wording is:
esa dhamme vusimao,