Studies in Buddhist and Jaina Monachism

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

Page 40

THE SALIENT FEATURES OF JAINA ACARA
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contents of his bowl to the gurū and performs the pratikramana for the transgressions committed intentionally or inadvertently in course of begging. Then he distributes it to the needy fellow-monks and takes it in their company. Generally it is finished in the third porist of the day', i.e. nine hours after sun rise, a practice which unlike that of. the Buddhists who must finish their luncheon before noon.
2 Clothing and dress : It has already been stated that the material needs of a Jaina monk are very limited. The requisites which they possess are called bhandaga4 or dhammopagarana', and are of two types-ogha or essential requisites and aūpagrahika or auxiliary requisites, sometimes also interpreted as requisites of general and occasional use respectively. The former group, for instance, includes clothes, begging-bowl, blanket and broom, etc.?, while the latter stick (danda), leather-bag (cammakosa), curtain (cilimili), etc.
The problem of clothing was in no way less important than that of the food as it was one of the most important items of requisites which the monks were allowed to use. Moreover, it was perhaps the question of dress which was responsible for the division of the Order into two, the Digambara or the sky-clad and the Svetămbara or the white-clad. The Diga mbaras advocated and practised nudity because Lord Mahāvīra not only discarded the use of clothes completely but also recommended it to his followers --'mae samanānam... acelate dhamme pannatte...''. Besides, the idea of nakedness is also attested by the epithets, nagiralo and acela”), assigned to the Jaina monks and the inclusion of nakedness (aceloparisaha) in the list of parisahas12.
On the other hand, there are references in the Agamas which go against the idea of nakedness, i. e. nakedness is not deemed as a compulsory item of monastic life. 13 But it never means that those who are
1. Ibid, 5-1. 84-97; Āyar (SBE. Vol. XXII), 2.1. 10.1-3 (pp. 113 ff); Uttar, 1.35. 2. Uttar, 26. 12.
Vide Infra, "Time of cating.
Uttar, 24.13; Ogh N, 666, p. 207 b. 5. OghN, 745, p. 229 b. 6. Uttar, 24.13; OghN, 667, p. 208a. 7. OghN, 668-6 77, pp. 208a-209b. 8. Ibid, 728-29, pp. 217b-218a. 9. Thân, 693, P. 460b. 10. Daso, 6.65. 11. Ayar, 1.7.7.1. 12. Uttar, ii. 13. Ibid, 2.12-13; 23.32-33 ; Ayar (SBE. Vol. XXII), 1.6.3.1 (p. 57); 1.7.4.1
(p. 69); 1.7.1.1 (p. 71); 1.7.7.1 (p. 73); Suyg (SBE. Vol. XLV), p. 354.