Introducing Jainism

Author(s): Satyaranjan Banerjee
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 43

36
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INTRODUCING JAINISM
the term muni has no relevance, even though the term is used as a prefix to certain Jaina sādhus in modern times. The term bhikṣu is also dubious. It generally means a Buddhist monk, as opposed to a Jaina, and the Svetāmbaras use it to describe an ordinary Jaina sādhu. Even the Digambaras use it to designate a layman in their orders.
Along with the concept of caturāśrama, the Jains also discussed the types of Srāvaka in the same period. Santisūri (11th cent. A.D.) in his Dharma-ratna-prakarana (verse 321) has enumerated four categories of śrāvaka”, e.g., nāmaśrāvaka, sthāpanā-srāvaka, dravya-śrāvaka, and bhāvaśrāvaka.
Nama-sraraka, as the name suggests, is one who is a Jaina in name only, Sthāpanā-śrāvaka is a Jaina layman who follows some statutory principles of Jain orders, but a dravya-śrāvaka is one who follows the Jaina rites compulsory for a Jaina, whereas a bhāva-śrāvaka is a mere believer of Jainism.
After a few centuries, Āsādhara (1240 A.D.) in his Sāgaradharmāmsta and Medhāvin (1504 A.D.) in his Śrāvakācāra had given threefold classification of the Śrāvaka 78 These are pāksika, naişthika, and sādhaka. A pākṣika-śrāvaka is a layman who practises the anuvratas and the mūlaguņas. He is called a pākṣika layman, because he has an inclination (paksa) towards ahimsā, while, on the contrary, the naisthikaśrāvaka (which is, in fact, equivalent to naisthika-brahmacāri and which is again later on called kşullakci) is one who pursues “his path upwards for spiritual attainment and practises the tenfold dharmas of the ascetic. As in his culminating point (nisthā) he leaves the household life, he is called naisthika śrāvaka. A Sadhaka is he who concludes (sādhayati) or renounces his human body by carrying out sallekhanā.
This is, in brief, the history of the origin, growth and development of Jainism in different parts of India. I shall now talk about some aspects of Jainism which will help us to understand the basic contributions of the Jains to the world culture. 77. Williams, ibid., p. 36. 78. Williams, ibid., p. 37.