Some Aspects of Jainism in Eastern India

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

Page 84

Some Aspects of Jainism in Eastern India
the rainy season under certain circumstances. 48
(i) to know a religious text, known only to an ācārya who is
on fasting to death (ņāņā-ațţayāe), (ii) to spread the faith (dam saņaţthayāe), (iii) to save one from going astray to a bad place (carittaţtha
yāe),
(iv) to attend the ācārya or the upādhyāya who remains in a
dry-place (āyariya.Uvajjhāyāna vā bahitä veāvaccam Karane
tāte); and (v) if the ācārya or upādhyāya is dead (āyariya-Uvajjhāyā vā
se Visumbheijā).
The institution of rain-retreat (Vassăvăsa) seems to have originated in physical necessity, but later on, it appears to have come to acquire ceremonial significance in the Jaina, Buddha as well as in the Brāhmanical societies.
As regards food, the Jaina Parivrījakas always gave emphasis on the non-injury to life The monk was to avoid "living beings, mildew, seeds, sprouts, flowers, eggs, layers, and moisture.''* Similarly, he was not to accept as alms "flattened grains, grains containing much chaff or half-roasted spikes of wheat etc., or flour of wheat etc., or rice or flour of rice 'recognised as only once worked."?50 The Jaina texts, judging from the stand point of asceticism, refer to two kinds of food-nirdosa (pure) and sadoşa (impure). Impurity stands because of the following cause:51
(a) Udgama (preparation of food) (b) Uppādana (how food is secured) (c) Eşaņā (how it is accepted) (d) Paribhoga (how it is enjoyed)
A Jaina monk is supposed to fill half of his belly with food, onefourth with water, and one-fourth with wind. The maximum quantity of food to be taken ordinarily is thirty-two morsels (kavala! 5. The terins ekālpiko, dvålopiko, sattālopiko used in connection with the consumption of food by the monks distinctly demonstrate the restrictions on the quantity of food taken by the monks. The Cheda-sūtias 3 mention the rules about the quantity of food and the mode of eating. A long list of circumstances under