Jain Journal 1974 04

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

Page 87

APRIL, 1974
from attachment to anything, poverty and chastity, we have what is called the tenfold highest law of the monks (uttama dharma). (4) Helpful for the realization of the sanctity of which an earnest searcher of the highest good stands in need are the 12 reflexions (anuprekṣā or bhāvanā) on the transitoriness of all things, on the helplessness of men, on the misery of the world, and similar topics, which form the subject of endless homilies inserted in their works by Jaina authors. (5) Futhermore, it is necessary for a monk, in order to keep in the right path to perfection and to annihilate his karma, to bear cheerfully with all that may cause him trouble or annoyance. There are 22 such troubles' (parişaha) which a monk must endure without flinching, as hunger and thirst, cold and heat, all sorts of trying occurrences, illness, ill treatment, emotions, etc. 32 If we consider that the conduct of the monk is regulated with the purpose of denying him every form of comfort and merely keeping him alive, without, however, the risk of hurting any living beings, it may be imagined to what practical consequences the endurance of the parişahas must lead. (6) Conduct (caritra) consists in control and is of 5 degrees or phases. In the lowest phase all sinful activities are avoided, and the highest leads to the annihilition of all karma, preliminary to final liberation. (7) The last item is asceticism or austerities (tapas), which not only prevents the forming of new karma (samvara) but also purges off the old (nirjara) provided that it is undertaken in the right way and with right intention; for there are also the 'austerities of fools' (bālatapas) practised by other religious sects, through which temporary merits, such as supernatural powers, birth as a god, etc., can be accomplished but the highest good will never be attained. Tapas is, therefore, one of the most important institutions of Jainism. It is divided into (A) external and (B) internal tapas; the former comprises the austerities practised by the Jainas, the latter their spiritual exercises. (A) Among austerities fasting is the most conspicuous; the Jainas have developed it to a kind of art, and reached a remarkable proficiency in it. The usual way of fasting is to eat only one meal every second, third, fourth day, and so on down to half a year. Another form of fasting is starving oneself to death maraṇāntikīsamlekhana. Other kinds of abstinence are distinguished from fasting properly so called; reduction of the quantity of the daily food; restrictions as regards the kind of food selected from what one has obtained by begging (for monks and nuns must, of course, beg their daily meal and must not eat what has been specially prepared for them); rejection of all attractive food. To the category
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32 See 'Voluntary death or euthanasia' in the art. 'Death and Disposal of the Dead' (Jaina), ERE.