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The Gods Named Him "Mahāvira", the Great Hero 113
Why this difference? Gautama explained:
The munis of the first tirthankara [were] simple and slow to understand, those of the last, devious and slow to understand; those between the first and the last, simple and intellingent; that is why there are two sorts of dharma.22
In accordance with this point of view, the disciples of the last tirthankara were in duty bound to perform the daily rite of pratikramaṇa, or repentance, even if they had committed no fault- this on account of their innate weakness while the disciples of the intermediate tirthankaras were only required to repent when they had committed an offense.23
The second difference was connected with nudity:
Vardhamana taught the dharma of nudity, while the great Muni Parsva taught that of the wearing of clothes.24
vows at all, but rather the modalities (mind, body, speech, and the senses) through which evil could be expressed. Thus, he concludes, both Parsva and Mahavira practised and taught the same, single, all-encompassing sāmāyika restraint, while the five vows that Mahavira set forth are no more than a specification of the main areas of conduct to which this restraint applied." P.S. Jaini, 1979, p. 18; cf. also pp. 15-21, where this interesting interpretation is further developed.
22 purima ujjujaḍā u vamkajaḍā ya pacchimā
majjhimā ajjupannā u teņa dhammo duha kao. US XXIII, 26.
The degree of knowledge and wisdom of the two contrasted groups ("the first ones, the last ones and those in the middle", the text puts it) depends on the period of the cycle of time to which they belonged. The obligation of taking the fifth vow would have been necessary for temperaments as feeble as those of the men in Mahavira's day.
23 Cf. Jñānamati, 1976, p.44.
24 acelago ya jo dhammo jo imo samtaruttaro
desio Vaddhamāņeṇa Pāseņa ya mahāmuņi! US XXIII, 29.
On this subject cf. P 139 and, for its implications as regards the Liberation of women among the Digambaras, P 640 ff.
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