History of Jaina Monachism

Author(s): S B Deo
Publisher: Deccan College Research Institute

Page 12

HISTORY OF JAINA MONACHISM
Even in the practice of monk-life Indian monachism was rather individualistic.33 One was free to follow ascetic life either in company with comonks or alone in a forest. The monk was free to adopt the way he thought proper for the attainment of liberation and carry it out in his full faith. This naturally gave rise to a number of sects and subsects which rose up and dwindled for want of co-ordination and centralised control.34
7
Essentials of Western Monachism:
Western monachism, on the other hand, does not seem to have afforded a planned scheme of life leading towards monkhood. One has to choose one course of life, either that of a monk or of a married man. The married person can be a monk only if his wife is dead or if his wife also has become a nun.3 35
Ideas regarding final liberation also differ from those laid down in Indian monachism. Christian monachism depicts moksa as the gift of the grace of God. Unless God is pleased, one cannot get His mercy, however one may try. Thus this monachism may be said to picture beatitude as something beyond the reach of mere human effort.
This grace of God, it may be noted, can be acquired without following the monastic life. The latter is taken to be an image of what life will be in heaven, and there is every likelihood of an ideal and pious householder getting the grace of God.
This grace of God, according to Christian monachism, can be attained only in human life as that is the best opportunity of getting it. There being no rebirth to assure any future hopes of acquiring Grace, one has to please God for it. Death is a punishment and not a step towards better or worse life. It is a point which takes one either to hell or heaven permanently.
33. "In the east the dominating principle of monachism was its strongly marked individualism-the protest of the individual against a collectivism which tended to lose sight of his value. Unfortunately the protest became a council of despair and flight, although the element of life which underlay it must not be overlooked. Individualism was self-surrender united in a yearning for ideals which took a form of a flight to the desert."--ESS, Vol. X, p. 585.
34. "The various orders have been for the most part loosely organised, and that from want not of organising power but of inclination and will."-ERE, Vol. 8, p. 803.
35. I am indebted to Father DELURY for these Roman Catholic views; For details of Christian outlook see, Christian Spirituality by P. POURRAT. English Monastic Life by Cardinal GASQUET (6th Ed.) London, 1924. Cambridge Medieval History, Vol. 1, 2nd Ed. Cambridge, 1924, Chapters XVIII and XX. Monasticism: ESS, Vol. X, pp. 584-90. Monasticism: ESS, Vol. X, pp. 584-90. Monasticism: Ency. Brit., Vol. 15, pp. 687-90.