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226: JAINS TODAY IN THE WORLD
Ascetics who are very old or have an incurable illness may, with the agreement of their “Ācārya”, practice the rite of “sallekhana”. For that he (she) confesses his (her) sins and goes to either a remote place or is transported to a place where other ascetics have already performed the rite. He (she) sits directly on the ground, a bed of straw or dry leaves. Then he (she) recites the hymn of praise to the “Arhat" and to the "Siddha” called the "Prānipāta sūtra" or someone recites these for him (her). He (she) performs the respectful greeting to the “Ācārya”, if he is present, and progressively reduces, day after day, his (her) food intake and then his (her) beverage until the fast is complete and waits for death in saying or meditating the “Great Mantra”.
After a Jain ascetic is dead, the corpse is washed and dressed again in its monastic robe. In the case of a Digambara monk who has practised the rite of nudity it remains naked. The corpse is exposed on a stretcher or in a special wooden recess where adepts can see it. They come to pay their respects to it and to sing specific “mantra”.
The corpse is then carried in a procession to the cremation site. After the performance of the traditional ritual it is burned. The day after, the ashes are collected and the site is cleaned. These ashes are put in a wooden urn and then buried. Often, a commemorative slab is set at the place of the "sallekhana". Adepts and pilgrims will come here to meditate.
If the ascetic who died was known for his (her) special holiness or was a great “Ācārya”, a little chapel, called “samadhi mandira”, is erected in his (her) memory with his (her) statue or footprints (caraṇapāduka). Often, adepts on a pilgrimage stop a moment to do a "pūja" in remembrance of this holy monk or nun and to recall his (her) example for attaining liberation.
Jain ascetics practice their faith like this, in India, since many centuries. One can understand why their number has decreased in time with the hard life they lead. It becomes ever more difficult in our
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