Kalpasutra

Author(s): J Stevenson
Publisher: Oriental Translation Fund London

Page 23

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
XXI
descend again to earth, and be burn anew, and continue ever in the world of transmigrations, unless they become sages. The chief of these gods is named Sakra, or in Mágadhi, Sakke, the Sakko of the Buddhists, and the Indra of the Brahmans. The modern Jains have made of the one, sixty-four Sakras, and surname the lord of heaven, Sudharma.
6. The sage, who by meditation frees his mind from all worldly attachments, obtains at death Nirvana, a state of perfect bliss, perfect knowledge, and freedom from all pain and mutation, ascends to the highest heavens, called Siddha Sila (the Rock of the Perfect), and exalted far above the gods, becomes a special object of adoration to gods and men.
7. The Jain community consists of two great sections, somewhat analogous to our clergy and laity, each section embracing both males and females. The clerical males are named Sadhus, i.e., Sages. All profess celibacy, live in monasteries or houses, in communities of from four or five to a hundred, in subjection to an abbot, and perform all the priestly acts of the Jain religion. The Sadhwinis, or Nuns, live also in separate communities,