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PREFACE: XXXIX
ford. He has mentioned his own sect (the Svetämbara sect of the Jaina faith) as an example of this type.
How far is this classification fair? This may be debatable, but it is certain that in the Jaina tradition various types of religious orders have been thought of on the basis of ease and difficulty of their respective trends of spiritual practices and that the term tīrtha has been taken to mean the path of practising the faith.
Thus, we see that the term tirtha has been employed as the means of spiritual practice rather than the holy places of pilgrimage, and the tri-gem of right-knowledge, right-vision and right-conduct has been called as Bhāvatīrtha or the volitional pilgrimage, because these are capable of giving the spiritual peace and equanimity by removing the filth of sensuality and passions. In the Bhagavatīsūtra, it has been mentioned that tīrtha is capable of yielding spiritual peace. It has also been said therein that the fourfold Śramanic order itself is Tīrtha. Śramapas (the monks), Śramanis (the nuns), Śrāvakas (the male lay followers) and Śrāvikās (the female lay followers) are the four organs of this four-fold Śramana-sangha or the Śramanic order. Thus, it is definite that in the ancient Jaina texts only the four-fold religious order that ensures the fording of the ocean of mundaneness by its members, by adopting and adhering to the three-way spiritual practice of right vision, right knowledge and right conduct, alone, has been accepted as the real Tīrtha.
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Titthani Bhante! tittham titthagare tittham? Goyama ! Arahā tāva ṇiyamā titthagare, tittham puṇa cāuvvaṇāiņam samanasanghe | Tam jahā - samaņā, samaṇīo, sāvayā, saviyao ya │
- Bhagavatī Sūtra, Śataka 20, Uddeśaka 8.
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