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JAINA STORIES
thinking as to what to do with the precious thing At that time, Acharya Suhasti, with his five disciples was seated in the temple. The Acharya thought of spending the night in kayotsarga, for which, by chance, he stood beneath the same tree on which sat the monkey, and was soon lost in meditation The monkey considered him to be a worthy person. and so he placed the necklace round his neck and felt relieved.
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"That day happened to be particularly auspicious for the practice of austerities, and so Minister Abhayakumar, himself a devout sravaka, was in the temple practising some in the company of the monks Now, at the end of the first quarter, Monk Siva, who was attending the Acharya in his meditation, came back to the temple when the following words suddenly came out of his mouth, 'Fear exists. instead of the usual 'Everything okay on such occasions When Abhayakumar heard this, he said, 'What fear for a monk, bhante 1 "The monk said, 'Yes, for the monk there is no fear But when I was in the household order, once I had it, It was the memory of it that was up just now 'But, bhante, what was that fear in your life as a house-holder ?' Siva started
"In the great city of Ujjain, there lived two brothers, (myself) Siva and Datta, who were poor. One day, they decided to go to Saurashtra to earn and the two set out But luck did not favour them in their first profession and they changed it, Datta taking to farming and Siva proce-eding to another city with merchandise At night, as Sıva was proceeding, he saw from a distance four merchants beneath a banyan tree, who appeared to be strangers from another land He started watching their behaviour, Suddenly he saw a golden man, no bigger than a hand and a half, who jumped down from the banyan tree and started. The four merchants ran after him The golden man said, 'Wealth is the source of all evils, but these four
to run
