Studies in Buddhist and Jaina Monachism

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

Page 252

PRATIMOKŞA AND PRAYAŚCITTA A COMPARATIVE STUDY 231
for any one of them is expulsion. They are, in all, eight. The first four which pertain to sexual intercourse, theft, killing (manussaviggaha) and exaggeration of one's superhuman attainments (uttarimanussadhamma) are binding on monks and nuns alike. The rest which are meant exclusively for the nuns deal with their conduct showing sexual desire, suppression of fault and siding with a suspended monk.1
Its Jaina counterpart, as we have already pointed out, is known as Parañciya or Saddhana (Sraddhana), offences which entail expulsion from the Order-linga libhedam'. Though it is difficult to give the exact number of offences coming under this category, yet at least this much is certain that they when scrutinized seem to have been based on the same principles as the first three Parajikas of the Buddhists. Our statement is attested by the fact that the violation of any of the Mulavratas involves expulsion from the Order. The Sthānāngasūtra refers to two sets of Parañciya offences, each consisting of three; the former set accruing from hatthakamma (masterbation), mehuna (sexual indulgence) and raibhoyana (night-meal), and the latter from duṭṭha (immoral acts), pamatta (being negligent) and annamannam-karemane (practising homosexuality) Moreover, the Jaina list of the Parañciya offences appears to be more comprehensive and severe than that of the Buddhist, because it includes some offences towards which the Buddhists seem to have taken a lenient attitude. For instance, disrespect to the Acarya or any other officer of the Church, intimacy with a nun or a queen and murder of a king (together known as duṭṭhaparañciya); homosexuality (annamannam-karemāne); violation of the rules regarding food and drink and the like are treated as severely as the offence of actual sex experience and hence their inclusion in the Parañciya group.
Whether the Jaina Order treated a monk exaggerating his superhuman powers or making use of it with the same severity or not is
1. PM (Bhikkhu & Bhikkhuni) Ist Section.
2.
'Samukkasana' & 'Nijjuhana' are also the terms connected with the expulsion of a monk. But they are entirely different from the Parañciya, the expulsion of a person from the Order due to some offence. Samukkasana and Nijjuhana, on the other hand, stand for the expulsion of a person holding an office, if he loses the confidence of his group (Gana) and the omission of a person from a particular Gana respectively. Cf. Vav, 2.6-17; Jaina Monastic Jurisprudence, p. 45.
3. Comm. to Angd., 7. 57.
4. Comm. to Than pp. 162b-164b.
5. Than, 201, p. 162b.
6. Comm. to Angd, 7.57.
7. Brhk, 4.2.
8. Angd, 7.57.