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HERE-NOW4U :Bruhn : The Fundamentals of Jaina Ethics - Avashyakhttp://www.here-now4u.de/eng/spr/religion/Bruhn/Avashyaka6.html
Avashyaka VI: Pratyakhyana
The title "Pratyakhyana" (renunciation) is based on the verb pratyakhyami ("I renounce") which is used inter alia in connection with the Five Vows. As we know, these basic rules are not represented as precepts but as vows to renounce certain misdeeds. They could just as well be represented as objects of repentance (this is in fact the case in the fifth position of the long chain in Pratikramana). However, in connection with the Five Vows the early texts mostly use the verb pratyakhyami. The inclusion into Pratikramana is a later development.
The Pratyakhyana chapter presents mainly the twelvefold ethics of laymen but it also contains a set of rules for fasting. Accordingly, the expression pratyakhyami is used both for the Five Lesser Vows (the first five of the twelve positions) and for the rules for fasting.
We are here interested in positions 1-5 and 12 (alms-giving). In principle, the Five Lesser (i.e. easier) Vows for the laymen must be viewed in connection with the Five Great (i.e. difficult) Vows for monks. However, the Great Vows and the exact relation between Lesser and Great Vows is not our concern here.
Below we provide on the left-hand side the definitions of the Five Lesser Vows and on the right-hand side the explication of the vows through the pentads of transgressions. These pentads can be seen as a type of catechism, but they also demonstrate in a very clear manner the broad range of Jaina ethics for the layman 11. Due to their rather high degree of detail, the orientation to a male audience in the pentads is particularly apparent.
The Jaina texts on the ethics of the layman reproduce the pentads (our right-hand side) more or less verbatim from ari early text of the Jaina canon, while the treatment of the vows on our left-hand side differs from case to case. The Avashyaka-Sutra says very little about the vows (left-hand side), and in the case of the pentads (right-hand side), it does not differ from the said early text. We translate the pentads verbatim and restrict the text on the vows to the translation of the definitions. The expression "gross" in the case of the first three vows designates the difference from the otherwise identical texts for the monks: In contrast to the monk, the layman does not renounce all possible offences, but all possible "gross", i.e. serious offences. In the case of the vows IV-V there is a difference in kind (see below). Several terms in the pentads are difficult to understand and had already presented problems to the ancient commentators.
The Vow
No. (i)
The Transgressions
• The Jaina layman renounces all
"gross" killing of living beings.
.
• tying down (domestic animals) . beating them with a whip or stick) • piercing / cutting them • overloading them • denying them food and drink.
The first vow is, broadly speaking, the vow of ahimsa or non-killing. The terminology of killing is not uniform (there are other expressions besides himsa), and it is mostly difficult to determine whether a specific term stands only for killing, or for both, killing and injuring. The Avashyaka-Sutra has a term meaning "non-killing" (on the left-hand side), while the pentad (right-hand side) means "injuring", even to the exclusion of killing. On the whole, one gets the impression that in the texts "injuring" is always implied when killing is mentioned. Again, the first pentad refers only to animals (and there only to domestic animals). Only later authors include human beings. This situation is not unexpected: In a community with monastic bias, ahimsa toward men is a matter of course which requires no express mention. The term "gross" indicates that the layman is not obliged to practise ahimsa in the case of the lowest forms of life (element-beings).
Finally for monks (ahimsa as "Great Vow") there are countless commandments. These serve the protection of every conceivable type of living being. The passage cited in Pratikramana gives us an impression of the ways in which the monk might have thought of the living beings
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01.04.99 13:10
