Jain Digest 1997 03

Author(s): Federation of JAINA
Publisher: USA Federation of JAINA

Page 14

A glimpse of our Agams
gam is the term used for the authorized texts of Tirthankars' Dashvaikalik Sutra - presents the code of conduct for monks
teaching. Lord Mahavir's teachings were compiled by as prepared by Shayambhavswami for his son Manak by extracting 1 Ganadhars in 12 parts, these were known as Angas. The the essence of Purvas. Sanskrit word for 12 is Dwadash. Therefore those 12 Angas were Uttaradhyayan Sutra - which is the compilation of the last collectively known as Dwadashangi.
sermon of Lord Mahavir that he gave during his two days' fast and
is widely studied by scholars. It deals with many aspects of Jainism Agams in the Shwetambar Tradition
and contains many illustrative stories. Of the 12 Angas, the last one, known as Drashtivad has been
Avashyak Sutra - with the six avashyaks or the daily essentials lost to us for more than 2,000 years. Thus at this present time we of Samayika, Devvandan, Guruvandan, Pratikraman, Kausagga only know the following 11 Angas.
and Pachchakhan.
Dashashrutskandha - deals with different Jain rituals. Its 9th Acharang Sutra - is the first and foremost Agam and deals with Chapter is the well known Kalpasutra. the code of conduct for spiritual aspirants, particularly for monks and nuns. It covers Lord Mahavir's life during the period of Agams as per Digambar Tradition renouncement.
All of the twelve original Angas have been lost. The books Sutrakrutang - deals with different ideologies, Karma, salva- written by Kundkundacharya and other well known acharyas tion and other aspects of special importance to the spiritual constitute the main agams. The most prominent of them are: aspirants.
Sthanang Sutra - deals with various aspects of Jainism, classi- Pravachansar - which covers the principal teaching of the fying them into ten categories.
Lords. It emphasizes right knowledge, known as Samyagjnan. Samavayang Sutra - has a pattern similar to the Sthanang. But Samaysar - is the most well known and well read agam. It the classification extends to more than ten categories.
emphasizes right perception, known as Samyagdarshan. Vyakhyaprajnapti - is also known as Bhagavati Sutra and deals Niyamsar - deals with the right conduct known, as with thousands of questions pertaining to the spiritual as well as "Samyakcharitra. temporal aspects of life raised by Gautamswami and others, with Panchastikay - deals with the original of the six substances, the responses to these questions by Lord Mahavir.
soul, the lifeless atom, pudgal, the ether like substance useful for Jnatadharmakathang - conveys various aspects of Jainism in making movement, another ether like substance useful in stability, the form of stories. The story of Draupadi and the well known story space, and time. The first five are categorized as Astikay and are of four daughters-in-law are in this book.
collectively known as Pnachastikay. Upasakdashang - describes the lives of Anand, Kamdev and Shravakachar - lays down the code of conduct for laymen and eight other laymen who adopt and rigorously practiced the code for covers twelve types of restraints for the laymen. house holders or Shravaks as laid down by Lord Mahavir.
Aptamimansa - is a detailed discussion about the nature of the Antakritdashang - describes the lives of ten entities who ended soul and its salvation. the life cycle and attained liberation.
Tattvarthasutra - deals with the important aspects of Jainism. Anuttaraupapatik - describes the lives of the entities who Being equally acceptable to Digambars and Shwetambars it is very attained the highest heaven and are destined to attain liberation in widely studied and discussed. the next life.
Sarvarthasiddhi - detailed commentary of Tattvarthasutra and Prashna Vyakaran - describes violence and other defilements elaborates all aspects of the Tattvarthasutra. as sources of asrav and narrates how the major five restraints result in Samvar or prevention of Karmas.
Atma Siddhi Shastra was written by Shrimad Rajchandra one Vipak Sutra- depicts the consequences of Karmas that the soul evening in 1896. It is the poetic version of his well known letter of has to bear at the time of fructification of Karmas.
six fundamentals. It covers everything that a spiritual aspirant Eighty-four Sutras were compiled including the 11 Angas, needs to know and is widely studied by Jains and others. It is a work however many of them have been lost. Currently only forty-five are meant for self-realization and if regularly chanted is known to have available to us. Although those who follow the Sthanakwasi miraculous impact. By covering the essence of all the scriptures tradition consider only thirty-two of them. Aside from above within the 142 stanzas, Shrimad has virtually contained the ocean mentioned 11 Angas, the following Sutras are most prominent. in a bowl.
by Manubhai Doshi
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March 1997 www.jainelibrary.org