History of Jaina Monachism

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

Page 14

HISTORY OF JAINA MONACHISM
a girdle of iron that cut to the bone....Of the Irish saint Kevin it is said that he remained for seven years in a standing posture without sleep, with his arms held up in the same position, and that a blackbird laid and hatched her eggs in his palm.”37
Common Basis of Indian Monachisms:
It is not only when compared with western monachism that different types of Indian monachism present similarities but even otherwise when studied individually, the three principal systems-Brāhmanism, Buddhism and Jainism , reveal many common points between them.
The approach to life may be said to be identical to all the three, inasmuch as they looked upon life as a drudgery and sought refuge in the bliss of self-realisation.
The ethical foundation38 of all these is the same for the principal vows of ahimsā, satya, asteya, aparigraha and brahmacarya are to be found in the three systems without any change.
Ideas regarding the karma theory, rebirth and liberation are more or less the same.
The identity of the above points was so fascinating as to lead some scholars to believe that Buddhism and Jainism were not independent systems but mere offshoots of Brāhmanism.
Brähmanical Monachism:
Irrespective of this essential identity with Buddhist and Jaina monachisms, Brāhmanism has shown comparatively more elasticity inasmuch as it has given refuge to hundreds of sects and subsects of varied philosophies and practices under its wings.
The effect of this spiritual generosity, as we may put it, was the weakening of the Church and the loss of a central binding force. The Buddhist and the Jaina monachisms, however, were more organised and disciplined efforts of corporate life under the directions of a conscious church.39
It was unfortunate, however, that this spiritual generosity did not condescend to allow women and low-class people to enter nunhood or monk
37. ERE, Vol. 2. p. 72. 38. WINTERNITZ calls it 'ascetic morality': Hist. of Ind. Lit. Vol. 2, p. 425.
39. 'While in Brāhmanism the monastic life has preserved its eremitic character, in Buddhism we find it, on the contrary, in the cenobitic form. The monks live together in monasteries, in the practice of poverty-as mendicants, in fact-and celibacy'-ERE, Vol. 8, p. 782.
BULL. DCRI.-2