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NEW IDEOLOGIES NEW TRADITIONS
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before they embraced the order Not only that, some of the monks chose to remain outside the fold
Gautam initiated Keshi and his disciples in the tradition of five-fold observarces It proved to be a spectacular sight for the thousands who attended the ceremony The monks of the two sects also watched it with great interest It was not a common event It represented the merger of the past with the present It also stood for the unification of the two schools of thoughts conceived by the respective pioneer monks
The Lord treated abstention from eating at night as an observance 1 He also ordained five-fold discretion movement, speech, meals, acceptance and keeping of utensils and replying to the calls of nature, Viz 1 Iryam discreet movement 2 Bhasha-discreet expression 3 Aishana-discreet eating 4 Adan niksepa- discreet acceptance and handling of
utensils 5 Utsarga--discreet reply to the calls of nature
By prescribing these five-fold cautions the Lord portrayed non-violence in its universal-aspect before the monastic order The all-pervading meaningful character of non-violence applicable to all walks of life was presented to the order. The order began to promote non-violence most vigorously * The Lord had a remarkable faculty to observe the minutest things The first duty of a preceptor after initiating a disciple was to make him alive to the minutest occurrences
Meghkumar was the son of king Shrenik He sought initiation by the Lord Meghkumar thus prayed to the Lord, 'My Lord! | invoke your grace to initiate me into the path of selfrestraint'
The Lord imparted to him the non-violent way of conducting oneself while walking, sitting, standing, sleeping,
1 2
'Dasvealiyam' 6/25 'Uttarajihayani' 24/1,2
