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Essence of Jainism
activity and analysis of the two ascetics. In view of the deop influ. ence of the ascetic life of Mahavira and his pupils on the cotemporary public, Buddha was very much disturbed and had to introduce so many stiff rules in his Saagha. We get references to this effect from Vinaya-pitaka. Still however, Buddha has never sided with external austerity, he bas made a mockery of it when. ever an ocassion arose. All the writers on Buddbism who followed him adopted the same style. The result is that to-dav. Buddha's opposition against physical torture has turned into tenderness in the Sangha, On the other side, the life of Mahavira with its external austerity has resulted in just physical torture in the Jain tradition. These are natural faults of temper of groups and not those of the original ideal Sadhakas.
(Dargan aur Cintan, pt. 2, pp. 90-96)
Actually Mabāvıra did not newly invent austerity; actually he inherited austerity from his family and society. He added an inner vision in this worst of the austerities, meaning thereby that he endowed external austerity with an inner vision. The matter can be placed in these words of Samantabhadra, the renowned Digambara logician. “ Bhagavān Mahāvira performed severest austerity, but with the idea io be able to probe deeper into life and throw out the internal dirt or blemishes of life.” This divides the Jain austerity into two : external and internal. The external austerity includes all visible restrictions pertaining to the body, while the internal austerity includes all necessary rulos regarding purity of life. It should not be forgotten that Bhagavān Mahāvira was designated ' Dirghutapasvi' not just because of his austerity but be. cause he made a full use of this in his internal life. Development of Austerity
Austerity is one of the heritages that we have from the life of Mahavira. No other cult has given a living development and expansion to austerity in the 2500 years following Bhagavān as the Jain Sangha has done. If we were to separate only the litera. ture on austerity, written in these 2500 years, even that would amount to a fairly large part worth discussion and analysis, The
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