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136: JAINS TODAY IN THE WORLD "guruņi” for the nuns. They will become part of an ascetic group (gaccha) and lead wandering existence as beggar monk or nun, except during the monsoon season. They live according to either the strict rules of the Svetämbara or the even more severe regulations of the Digambara. Only in the case of frail health the Ācārya concedes to the harsh rules and may authorise, for example, an extra garment.
A Jain layperson that fulfils the requirements, and has taken the special vow for it, may abandon life through fasting. This is a very arduous process that demands a great deal of courage. Such purification can be carried at home or elsewhere and lasts several days. It consists to gradually limit food and later beverages, while meditating, reading sacred texts and reciting “mantra”, like “Namokāra” or “Navakāra Mantra", until death.
The Jain lay persons who practice non-violence, observe virtues laid in the holy scriptures, who are faithful to their beliefs and their vows, who fast and perform worship regularly are called "pākṣika śrāvaka” if they are men, “pākṣika śrāvikā” if they are women. Those who have completed the eleventh stage of spiritual progress and lead an ascetic life are called “naishika śrāvaka” if they are men, “naisthika śrāvikā” if they are women. A perfect layman is called an "uttama śrāvaka” and a perfect laywoman an “uttama śrāvikā”. Those who go until "sallekhana" are called "sādhaka śrāvaka” (men), “sādhaka śrāvikā”(women),
3. Their threefold path of liberation
To try to stop the inflow of “karma" (saṁvara) into the soul and the wearisome enslavement to transmigrations (saṁsāra), the Jain laypersons must follow the path of the “Three Jewels“ (ratna-traya) i.e. right vision or faith, right knowledge and right conduct, as taught by the Tīrtharikara.
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