Some Aspects of Jainism in Eastern India

Author(s): Pranabananda Jash
Publisher: Munshiram Manoharlal Publisher's Pvt Ltd New Delhi

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Somo Aspects of Jainism in Eastern India
(vi) the body is impure (Aśauca bhāvanā), (vii) the karman is constantly inflowing (Āśrava bhāvanā), (viii) the karman should be stopped by cultivating necessary
virtues (Sarvara bhāvanā), (ix) the karman should be annihilated by penances (Nirjarā
bhāvanā), (x) the nature of the universe (Loka bhāvanā), (xi) the rarity of religious knowledge (Bodhibīja or Bodhidur
labha bhāvanā), and (xii) the true nature of religion (Dharma bhāvanā).
The Jaina ascetic must be always awaking and unmindful of heat and cold and must liberal himself from all miseries. To keep himself steady on the path of liberation and to destroy the karman, a monk has to bear all sorts of troubles (parīşaha) that might cause him distraction or pain. There are twenty-two troubles which a wandering mendicant is expected to face unflinchingly at the time of tour. These are hunger (kşudhā), thirsty (trsā), cold (sīta), heat (uşņa). illness (roga), unpleasant feelings (naişidhiki), trying circumstances arising out of string (dainsana), cloth (vastra), lodging (arati), women (strī) etc. 10
The inflow of karman is also arrested by observing the five rules of conduct or caritra." Monks and nuns should observe this fivefold spiritual discipline or conduct whose pitch ranges from equanimity to ideal and passionless conduct. The karman must be annihilated through practising penances or austerities (tapas). The monk should not be tempted and ceased in the middle by miraculous powers, etc.; his ultimate goal is to attain Nirvāņa or Mokşa, Penance is of twofold-the external penance and the internal penance. Of these two groups, the external consists of 2 (i) Anasana (fasting), (ii) Avamodarikā (abstinence). (iii) Bhik şācaryā (collecting alms), (iv) Rasatyūga (abstention from six kinds of dainty food, such as, ghee, milk, curds, sugar, salt and oil), (v) Käyāklesa (mortification), and (vi) Pratisailinati (restraint of senses, passions, activities and enjoyment of bed and seats). These external penances demonstrate what a rigorous life of self-denial the Jaina monk leads. He just sustains the body with minimum feeding and takes maximum work from it in the attainment of his spiritual ideal. Jainism has evolved an elaborate technique of fasting, and the Jaina monk trains himself all along his career so efficiently that when the hour of