Studies in Buddhist and Jaina Monachism

Author(s): Nand Kishor Prasad
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

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STUDIES IN BUDDHIST AND JAINA MONACHISM
ends with the decision of the dispute by a complete Sangha constituting of the members of the avasa concerned. In case the local Sangha fails to settle it, then it approaches the members of a nearby avasa for arbitration who accept it only if they consider themselves competent for the assignment. If unable to decide the case, they return the custody of the case to the disputant monks who again refer the question to a select-committee (ubbahika) duly appointed out of the monks of their own avasa. The monks who form such a Sangha must be qualified and virtuous.
As a matter of fact, the text lacks details as regards the actual proceeding of the trial applied by the committee. Dr. S. Dutt assumes the procedure adopted in the Second Council as an instance in point.1
(ii) Sativinaya :-The proceeding for the innocent is applied when a monk is baselessly charged with the breach of morality. The person concerned is made to appear before the Sangha to deny the charge, if conscious of his innocence and to request the Sangha for acquittal usually in the words "Ime mam, bhante.....bhikkhu amulikaya silavipattiya anuddhamsenti, soham bhante, sativepullappatto sanghaṁ sativinayaṁ yācămî’ti”. The acquittal is granted in the usual natti-form.
Five conditions, viz., (i) the monk concerned must be innocent, (ii) he must have been censured, (iii) he must have requested the Sangha for acquittal, (iv) the Sangha must be prepared to grant it and (v) the Sangha must be duly constituted, are required to make the grant of acquittal lawful.
(iii) Amulhavinaya" :-This form is observed in case of offences committed during insanity. As in case of Sativinaya so also in it, the guilty monk appears before the Sangha, confesses his past insanity and the offences committed during that period. The grant of acquittal is deemed valid, if he confesses that he cannot remember the offence due to loss of his memory, or he remembers it as if committed in dream, or that he is still insane.
(iv) Patiññātakarara :-The proceeding of formal confession of an offence incurred by a monk in the presence of a monk senior to him or of a duly formed Sangha is adopted in case of a slight offence (lahuka-apatti). This proceeding of Patiññātakarana is distinguished from those adopted in case of other trials, for, in most cases, it comes,
1. EBM, pp. 157-58.
2. CV, 4.2.5-11, pp. 153-59; 49.52, pp. 184-85.
3. Ibid, 4 3.12.15, pp. 159.62; 4 9.53, pp. 184-86. 4. Ibid, 4.4.16-17, pp. 162-64; 4.9.55, pp. 188-89.