Gaina sutras

Author(s): Hermann Jacobi
Publisher: Clarendon Perss

Page 24

xxviii
GAINA SÚTRAS.
or unpleasant occurrences, arising from divine powers, men, or animals?.' It is frequently said of the ascetic in the last stage of his spiritual career that he does desire neither life nor death2.'
There are some more precepts in Baudhâyana which bear a close resemblance to such of the Gainas. With the three means of punishment, (viz.) words, thoughts, and acts, he shall not injure created beings 3.' This is only an amplification of the first great vow (see above). Means of punishment'is what the Gainas call weapon (sastra“).
'He shall carry a cloth for straining water for the sake of purification. “He shall perform the necessary purifications with water which has been taken out (of a well or a tank) and has been strained 5. These rules are strictly observed by the Gaina monks. They also carry a cloth for straining water. The commentator Govinda explains pavitra, 'a cloth for straining water,' by a bunch of Kusa grass for removing insects from the road. If Govinda be right, and had the authority of a really old tradition, which I do not doubt, we have here the Brahmanic counterpart of the broom (ragoharana or pâdapronkhana) with which the Gaina monks sweep the road and the place where they walk or sit down, for removing insects.
The outfit of a Brahmanic ascetic consists in 'sticks, a rope, a cloth for straining water, a water vessel, and an almsbowl?' The Gaina monks also carry sticks, at least nowa-days, though I remember no passage in the Pitakas expressly allowing the use of a stick. They have also a rope belonging to the alms-bowls, an alms-bowl, and a water vessel'. Of the cloth for straining water, and the broom, we have already spoken. The filter for the mouth (mukhavastrika) remains as the only article exclusively used
1 Kalpa Sûtra, Lives of the Ginas, $ 117, towards the end.
E. g. Kalpa Sûtra, Rules for Yatis, $ 51. 8 Baudhayana II, 6, 11, 23.
+ Âkârânga Sätra, p. 1, note 2. 5 Baudhầyana II, 6, 11, 24, 25. & See Professor Bühler's translation, p. 260, note. 7 Baudhâyana II, 10, 17, 11.
8 Akârânga Sûtra, p. 67, note 3. • Though a monk is allowed to carry a water vessel besides his alms-bowl, still it is thought more meritorious to have but one bowl.