________________
THE VISIBLE TENDENCIES THROUGH THE INVISIBLE GAUGE
269
Lord Mahavira deemed body, speech and mind, all the three, as the means of bondage The remedy laid by him is threefold 1 Bodily restraint-suppressing all movement of the body. 2 Oral restraint-Silence
Mental restraint-Meditation
The Lord never aimed at masochism However, if the fulfilment of restraint caused incidental pain to the body, he would not recommend any device to obviate it Sitting is more comfortable than standing and lying than sitting but the vortex created by meditation in the standing posture is higher than the one in sitting or lying
It is the mind that steers the body and the speech Hence Lord Buddha held mind to be the cause of bondage and liberation
'It is from 'Majihimnikaya'
'Nirgrantha Natputra camped at Nalanda, then, with his large number of followers Nirgrantha Dirghatapasvi begged his food and took it at Nalanda He then, visited Pravarika mango-grove where the Lord stayed He accosted him to know of his welfare and stood aside
Said the Lord 'Austere gentleman, you may sit down as there are places to sit' The austere took his seat
Said the Lord, 'Austere gentleman! How many karmas does Nirgrantha Natputra suggest for eradication of vicious deserts?'
'May you live long Gautam! Nirgrantha Natputra does not believe in prescribing Karmas He suggests only the causes that lead to Karmas
'Then how many kinds of such causes are suggested by Nirgrantha Natputta for exhausting vicious Karmas ?'
'Gautam, sırl Nirgrantha Natputta prescribes threefold causes for elimination of vicious deeds -
'The bodily cause, the vocal cause and the mental cause.'
'Is it so that the bodily cause, the vocal cause and the mental cause are different from one another?'
