________________
Jaina Acāra : Siddhanta aura Swarūpa
141 what items what monks may need, because the overall responsibility is his. Monks have two kinds of things, what is to be used and what is to be returned. The former are food, drink and the like. They are consumable articles. The latter like seat, bed sheet etc, called 'pratiharika' are to be returned. The head knows what things are available where. His living is an ideal to be emulated by others. He himself respects elderly, learned monks. This is an object lesson to others to do likewise in their turn.
These eight multiplied by four come to thirty-two. With four additions of respect relating to conduct, learning, getting at the meaning according to usage and demerit-demolishing bring the total to thirty-six. They are thirty-six from another angle too; eight of conduct, twelve penances relating to fasting, ten ways of good conduct relating to sky or sparsely clad monks and six others of daily meditation for equanimity etc. From the third angle they are—(1) Reliable (2) Impressive (3) Proficient in scriptures (4) Sweet-voiced (5) Serious (6) Patient (7) Instructor (8) Wakeful (9) Amiable (10) Prone to collection of necessaries (11) Persisting in his own well-cogitated belief (12) No rash talk (13) Steady (14) Perfectly caim. The other division is (1) Forgiveness (2) Simplicity (3) Tenderness (4) No relishing desire (5) Austerity (6) Self-discipline (7) Truth (8) Purity (9) Noni-possessiveness (10) Chastity.
The twelve contemplations are :
(1) The fleeting nature of things, (2) helplessness of one involved in the world, (3) the world fraught with misery and suffering, (4) loneliness of the worldly sojourn, (5) transcendental nature of the Self as distinct and separate from the body, (6) impurity of the body, (7) inflow of the karmic matter and the consequent misery and suffering, (8) stoppage of karmic inflow, (9) dissociation of karmic matter from the soul, (10) nature of the constituents of the universe, (11) difficulty in the attainment of enlightenment, (12) the rightness of the path of right course one has selected to tread upon.
Considered from still another angle, the thirty-six qualities are: control of the five sense-organs, nine ways of preserving chastity, renunciation of four passions,five great vows, four tenets of good conduct, five ways of vigilance and three methods of self-discipline.
The head preceptor is virtually a photo-stat copy of the Founder of Faith, since he follows his footsteps. The Founder is care-free so far as administration of the Order is concerned, to explicate the fundamentals of Jainism. Likewise the head preceptor is free to teach scriptures which must be listened to attentively. This raises the possibility of getting at new and newer meanings.
The head preceptor must be a pure, undefiled soul without which all efforts go waste and the organisation gets split.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
