________________
HISTORY OF JAINA MONACHISM
373 (4) there he acquires a liking for service and study; (5) he does not come in contact with women; (6) on the advice of the ācārya he controls his passions; (7) it was the order of the Tirthankaras that a gurukula should not
be left; (8) the newly-ordained gets a liking for religious life in a good com
pany; and (9) if he lives alone then bad thoughts crowd in his mind. Thus corporate life was more or less compulsory for the monks.
The ācārya looked to the upkeep of the morale of the members of the gaccha. If, inspite of repeated warnings, the disciples indulged in bad ways, then they were driven out of the gaccha. If, however, the monk or monks begged pardon for the offence, then they were expressly told that they were driven out with a view to avoid further moral decay, and then were readmitted to the gaccha after they had underwent the punishment of 'mäsalaghu.'
If the dissenters were in a majority, and they refused to fall out, then the minority kept them awake till late at night under some pretext, and when the dissenters slept, the minority left the place before the former awoke. 46
In cases of quarrels, the ācārya and the upādhyāya had to do their best to pacify the members involved in quarrelling. They were neither allowed to leave the gaccha in disgust without pacifying the quarrels, nor remain in it with a prejudiced mind.47
Normally the 'pārsvasthas' were not to be saluted. But in order to save the interests of the gaccha, one was allowed to do so to create goodwill in their mind.48
Monks were allowed to leave the gaccha if they thought that it did not follow a proper mode of life. That gaccha in which the members did not remind (sāraņā) their co-monks about their proper duties or lapses in them, where transgressions were not disliked (vāraņā) and where the recurrence of faults was not tried to be prevented by scolding the transgressors, was to be given up.49
46. Ibid Vol. II, 1272-73. 47. Ibid., Vol. V, 5750-83. 48. Ibid., Vol. IV, 4542. 49. Ibid. Vol. IV, 4464.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org