Sramana Tradation

Author(s): G C Pandey
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 61

Sramana Tradition
Anand of the city of Campā, not essaying to be a monk, accepts the five Aņuvratas : 'aham ņam devanuppiyānam antie pañcānuvvaiyam sattasikkhāvaiyam duvālasaviham gihidhammam padivajjissāmi '62 As a result he accepts restrictions on his conduct which would help in the direction of non-violence, truth, non-stealing, chastity and non-possession. With respect to the last two, marital faithfulness and a voluntarily accepted ceiling on different forms of property are resolved upon. Lord Mahāvīra specifies five transgressions of each of the Aņuvratas, which need to be avoided. For example, with respect to Prānātipāta one needs to avoid bandha, vadha, chaviccheda, atibhāra and bhakta pānavyavaccheda / This excludes gross violence to men and animals done directly or through cruel treatment or indirectly by oppressing them. Falschood, again, must be avoided even in the form of rash speaking or speaking out secrets or giving wrong advice or preparing false documents. Similarly, stealing must be avoided in the shape of aggression as well as cheating such as through the use of false weights and measures or counterfeits. Marital faithfulness must be combined with a general restraint or moderation of sexual passions. A number of industrial business enterprizes are stated to be undesirable and fit to be avoided. Such are professions connected with the cutting of trees, extraction of tusks, manufacture of lac, sale of poisons, castration of animals, burning of forests, draining out of lakes etc. The extension of the concern for life and organic environment shown in such precepts is one of tremendous significance socially.
If we turn to a Buddhist text such as the Sigalovādasutta of the Dīghanikāya, which has been described as Gihivinaya, we find the duty of the householder summarized in terms of his social obligations, Sigala, a householder's son was found by Buddha worshipping the different quarters of the earth and sky. Buddha substituted the performance of moral duties in place of such external ritual. I crave your indulgence to quote from Dr. Rhys David's translation of the suttanta -
“Mother and father are the Eastern View,
And teachers are the quarters of the South, And wife and children are the Western view,
62. Suttāgame (1953), p 1128.