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HISTORY OF JAINA MONACHISM
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In a place which had more than one exit, the monks were allowed to stay in separate rooms. In this case, however, a well-versed monk inquired about these monks on every third day and stayed with them at night.219 If in cases of emergency the monks had to stay there, then they reported themselves every morning and evening to their guru. The monks were always expected to stay in the company of well-versed (gītārtha) elders, and no lonely life under normal circumstances was allowed. It may be noted that accepting lodging in condemned families (duguñchiyakulesu) was not allowed.220
Miscellaneous Rules :
Monks and nuns had to give accommodation to their co-religionists, and refusing to do so was deemed a transgression of church discipline.221 But they were not allowed to permit either a known or an unknown layman (uvāsaga) or any other person to stay in their upāśraya either for a full or a half night.222
Staying outside the monastery was not allowed and the monk who remained outside the lodge for three nights had to undergo a punishment for that.223 If accommodation was not sufficient then they were allowed to go elsewhere either for study of for sleep, with the express permission of their guru,224
Further details are seen developed in the Niryuktis, and especially so in the Oghaniryukti. Even though they cannot be said to bring any radical change in the fundamental principles about the acceptance of a lodge by monks, they reveal, as will be seen in the next paragraph, a fine sense of social etiquette blended with supreme efforts to maintain the same standard of monastic rigour of life as revealed in the Angas.
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Ideal Residence :
The monk was not allowed to accept too extensive or too small (vitthinnā' and 'khudduliya') a lodging. The rule cannot be said to be peculiar to the Niryukti period, but the reasoning behind it is marvellous.
The faults involved in accepting an extensive lodging were that such places being generally resorted to by guards, merchants, beggars (kārpaţika),
219. Vav. 6, 4-7. 220. Nis. 16, 29. 221. Ibid., 17, 121-22. 222. Ibid., 8, 12. 223. Ibid., 10, 13: See Appdendix 1. 224. Vav. 1, 21.
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