Jainism Some Essays

Author(s): A S Gopani
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

Page 80

Jainism and Buddhism
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the matter whether the clothes should be worn or not. This difference gave rise to another difference whether the woman has a right or not to final release. In the non-idolatrous (Sthānakavāsis) and idolatrous (Mürtipūjakas) divisions of the Svetāmbaras, the principal divergence is with regard to the worship of idols and also there is some dissimilarity as regards the wearing of clothes. The intensity in the outer form of conduct was carried to such an extent in the Sthānkavāsis and Terāpanthis that it remained in the outer form only while, as a matter of fact, the principle of non-injury in amongst the Teräpanthis was put to test on the basis of the said intensity, it turned out to be a judicious principle having no core of compassion or a principle of noncompassion which created jeers in amongst the people. Thus, we can see to what a grievous extent the sacred principle of non-injury as preached by Mahāvira, came to be reduced. Moreover, the form of meditation which is found described in the Jaina scriptures, some two thousand and a half years before, seems to have been rejected by the Sangha later on. This conclusion is necessary because no clarity is found in the old presentation of the process and procedure of meditation and even later on also no explanation of the method of meditation beneficial to him who undertakes it is available. This confirms our said deduction that Jaina Sangha had assigned a subordinate place to meditation and this state of affairs is also seen even today. The penance, the physical mortification, the fast etc. etc. have been classified and reclassified in such a laborious manner that they all can constitute a separate treatise. Moreover, in the preceding and subsequent stages of the undertaking of the fast. so much fuss and pomp are being made that the person who has undertaken the fast remains absorbed in the mere maintenance of the fuss and pomp, forgetting the main thing which is fast Mahā vira had linked intense austerities and meditation together. But in course of time they both were separated with the result that the former got more importance and the latter, less.
As opposed to this, if we examine the history of the Bauddha Sangha we will find that the detailed description of meditation based on one's own experiences as found in ancient Pitakas, as also the subtle analysis of the various attitudes and aptitudes of mind is nowhere to be found. Not only this, but we find also the development of meditational way of life therein. It is because of this that we come across the experienced exponents of the meditational way of life even in the midst of current atmosphere of loose conduct and discipline that has percolated the Bauddha Sangha in and out. In addition to this we find amongst the Bauddhas a new and independent class practising the meditational way of life. But we must also bear in mind that undue and extreme emphasis put on the meditational way of life produced a reaction in the form of easy morals which ultimately culminated in the establi