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THE RELIGIOUS ORDER AND ITS SYSTEM
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For this reason the Lord visited the householders and took his meals standing at the spot. After establishing the tirthas he allowed a monk to possess one bowl Thoy then began to carry the begged food in these bowls The Lord had no need to go for begging the meals Ganadhar Gautam arranged for his meals Monk Loharya was deputed to do it The Lord used to accept meals carried by him. A commedation by an Acarya in his honour runs thus
Thrice lucky Loharya sliramana be, Tolerant and with fair golden hue
Who brought the food that Lord would take, with his own gracious hands
Protocol in terse:
With respect to mutual greetings and courtesies there are two criteria monkhood-oriented and order-oriented According to the first criterion monkhood is venerable One who has renounced householdership, the male saint or the female, is venerable to all From the second criterion he ordained that depending on the length of sainthood the junior saint male or female should bow to the senior ons !
His precise instruction regarding the mutual greetings of the saints, male or female, is not extant in later works it is recorded that a nun initiated a hundred years ago shall bow in greeting to a monk initiated only today, since it is the male Purusha who has pioneered dharma Again it is the male who has enunciated dharma. He is the senior in lajety also it is the male who dominates, what to say of religious planes
The then belief held the male in a higher esteem Various religious systems idolised the male Buddhistic literature endorses this male-dominated view The great Gautamı
'Awashyakchurni',
1 'Ayaro' 9/1/19 'Acharangachurni' p 309
Ipt p 271 2 'Dasvealilyam' 9/3/3 3 'Upadeshamala verses 15-16
