Book Title: Jaina Monastic Jurisprudence
Author(s): Shantaram Balchandra Dev
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown

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Page 69
________________ JAINA MONASTIC JURISPRUDENCE 51 monk was allowed to do him service or have contact with him. Commuting the punishment As under cases of illness, even otherwise the necessities of the situation were taken into consideration. However, it was only the samgha, and not anybody else, who was empowered to do so. Sometimes,-it is remarkable to note,-political considerations intervened. If the monk punished under pārāñcika could please the king who was antagonistic to the monks, then at his request, the Samgha could lessen the pārāñcika punishment. However, this lessening was in a fixed proportion. In extreme cases, the Samgha was even empowered to absolve the punished of his punishment altogether. Laws of Jurisprudence for Nuns With the basic inferiority of the order of nuns referred to above, the other rules of monastic jurisprudence were the same, both for the monks and the nuns. As a matter of fact most of the rules of monastic discipline begin with the phrase "je bhikkhu bhikkhuņi vā' or 'niggantho nigganthi va'. As in the case of the monks, in the case of the nuns also the severity of the punishment increased with the severity of the transgression and the seniority in the church hierarchy. The nuns were subjected to all the ten prāyaścittas along with the set of those like 'caturguru' and others. Only in the case of 'parihāra', the Vavahāra Sutta and the Bịhatkalpabhāsya are at variance. According to the former, parihāra' could be prescribed for the transgressornun, whereas the latter opines against it.. Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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