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190
DISTINCTION BETWEEN SMALL AND GREAT VOWS
desisting from stealing, desisting from unchastity and desisting from attachment. Non-injury is mentioned first, as it is the most important of the vows. . Just as the surrounding fonce protects the corn, so also truth etc. safeguard nonviolence. From the point of view of sāmāyika cāritra (equanimity or concentration of mind), which consists of desisting from all kinds of harmful activities, the vow is one. And the same vow is spoken of as five from the standpoint of reinitiation (chedopasthāpanā cāritra). Now, is it not improper to describe non-violence etc. as the cause of influx, as these are included in stoppage of influx? Self-control and regulation of activities are mentioned as the causes of stoppage of influx. There the vows are included among the ten kinds of moral virtues or discipline. But there is no contradiction. There the reference is to the negative aspect of the stoppage of influx which is characterized by abstinence. Here it is the positive aspect of active life that is emphasized. When violence, falsehood, stealing, unchastity and attachment are discontinued, non-violence, truth, non-stealing, chastity and detachment are practised. And it aids the means of stoppage of influx, namely self-control and so on. Tho. ascetic who practises the vows easily stops influx. Hence the vows are mentioned here separately. Now, should not the sixth minor vow of abstainiñg from eating at night be added here ? No. It is included among observances of the vow of non-violence. These are enumerated below. Among these is mentioned the practice of examining the food before eating to see that there are no organisms in it. The subdivisions of the fivefold vow are given below.
देशसर्वतोऽणुमहती Deśasarvato anumahati
(2) 2. (The vow is of two kinds), small and great from its being partial and complete.
Deśa means partial. Sarva means complete. Deśa and sarva are partial and complete. Deśasarvataḥ means from being partial and complete." Desisting is supplied from the previous
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