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SOME JAINA CANONICAL SOTRAS
to the guru he should practise those austerities which he has undertaken, and praise the perfected saints.
Renouncing household life a sage should know and give up those attachments which take hold of men. A restrained nonk should abstain from killing, stealing, lying, carnal intercourse and greed. In his thoughts, a monk should not long for a pleasant dwelling house. He should happily live in a burial place, in a deserted house, below a tree, in solitude, etc. A well-controlled monk should live in a pure place which is not too much crowded and where no women live. A monk should abstain from building a house. Out of compassion for living beings a monk should not cook nor cause another to cook. A monk should cause nobody to cook because beings living in water, corn, wood, etc., are destroyed in food and drink. He should not light a fire. In his thoughts a monk should not long for gold and silver. He is not to engage in buying and selling. He who is to live on alms, should beg but not buy. He should collect alms in small parts. He should contentedly go on his beggingtour whether he gets alms or not. A great sage should not cat for the sake of the pleasant taste of the food but for sustenance of his life. He should meditate on true things only, committing no sins and having no property. He should walk about careless of his body till his end comes. He obtains absolute knowledge and reaches eternal beatitude, free from passions and sins, without property and without egoism.
A monk is holy through his innocence. He allows no troubles to influence his words, thoughts and acts. He should take no notice of the seductive pleasures and endeavour to shake off delusion. Knowing the highest law, he should perform his religious duties. He should be free from attachment and earnest in the performance of austerities.
Begging is a hard task. It is painful never to take anything but what is freely given. Some weak men who are unable to preserve their chastity will become disheartened. Some fools take a pious monk for spy, bind him and insult him. Some low people who lead a life of iniquity being subject to love and hatred, injure a monk.
There are some tender affections which monks cannot easily overcome. A monk should renounce attachment, for every attachment is a cause of sin. A holy monk may find many inducements and seductions in this world, but they should not break down like weak bullocks carrying a heavy burden uphill. A monk should slip off the ties that bind
