Manuscript Illustrations Of Uttaradhyayana Sutra

Author(s): W Norman Brown
Publisher: American Oriental Society

Page 96

31. RULES OF CONDUCT This chapter lists rules of monks' conduct under a numerical classification. For example, under the number one come the one thing to desist from, which is neglect of self-control, and the one thing to practise, which is self-control; under the number two are mentioned the two things which produce bad Karma, namely love and hatred, and these should be avoided; under the number three a monk should remember to avoid the triad of hurtful, conceited, and delusive acts, each of which divisions is itself triply subdivided. The highest number in the whole system of classification is thirty-three. A wise monk who is always successful in regard to these points (thāna) will quickly get release from the cycle of existence. This custom of grouping points of religion under numerical heads is a common mnenomic device in India, especially well developed by the Jains, who for many centuries transmitted their texts orally without reliance upon written records. The most characteristic work of theirs following this procedure is the canonical text Thānanga Sutta (Sthānānga Sutra).
The manuscripts HV (fig. 124) and JM (fig. 125; with painting misplaced in the manuscript at head of Chapter 33) show only an uninteresting scene of Mahāvira seated and preaching to two monks who stand before him reverently listening.
In JP (fig. 126) the upper panel has a monk seated alone eating, with two bowls before him on a stand, from one of which he is taking food. His water jar hangs from the ceiling and also two pairs of small pots in nets. The subject is the proper method of eating, which is one of the six regular functions (stanza 8). In the lower panel two monks are receiving alms from a layman, who has filled a begging bowl and is holding it out to one of the holy men. The subject here is the seven rules of accepting alms (stanza 9).
DV (fig. 127) has in the upper register a monk preaching, while another monk listens, and to the right stands a third monk motionless in meditation, who is practising the life of self-control mentioned in stanza 2. In the lower register a monk sits at the right commenting upon the action shown in the other side of the scene. This consists of a layman with drawn bow aiming at a monk who faces him quietly expostulating. The subject seems to be the statement of stanza 5: "A monk who bears and overcomes the trials inflicted by the three, namely gods, animals, and men, is not within the cycle of rebirth.” Stories of such trials are very common, even of trials instituted by gods (cÉ. BrKS 32, 35-37).