The Religions of India: Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume 1, Edited by Morris JastrowHopkins, Edward Washburn
Religion
The Religions of India: Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume 1, Edited by Morris Jastrow
Hopkins, Edward Washburn
India -- Religion
But if the Jain may kill himself, he may not kill or injure anything
else. Not even food prepared over a fire is acceptable, lest he hurt
the 'fire-beings,' for as he believes in water-beings, so he believes
in fire-beings, wind-beings, etc. Every plant and seed is holy with
the sacredness of life. He may not hurt or drive away the insects that
torment his naked flesh. 'Patience is the highest good,' he declares,
and the rules for sitting and lying conclude with the statement that
not to move at all, not to stir, is the best rule. To lie naked,
bitten by vermin, and not to disturb them, is religion. Like a true
Puritan, the Jain regards pleasure in itself as sinful. "What is
discontent, and what is pleasure? One should live subject to neither.
Giving up all gaiety, circumspect, restrained, one should lead a
religious life. Man! Thou art thine own friend; why longest thou for a
friend beyond thyself?... First troubles, then pleasures; first
pleasures, then troubles. These are the cause of quarrels." And again,
"Let one think, 'I am I.'" _i.e_., let one be dependent on himself
alone. When a Jain monk or nun hears that there is to be a festival
(perhaps to the gods, to Indra, Skahda, Rudra, Vishnu,[25] or the
demons, as in [=A]c[=a]r[=a]nga S[=u]tra, ii. 1. 2) he must not go
thither; he must keep himself from all frivolities and entertainments.
During the four months of the rainy season he is to remain in one
place,[26] but at other times, either naked or attired in a few
garments, he is to wander about begging. In going on his begging tour
he is not to answer questions, nor to retort if reviled. He is to
speak politely (the formulae for polite address and rude address are
given), beg modestly, and not render himself liable to suspicion on
account of his behavior when in the house of one of the faithful.
Whatever be the quality of the food he must eat it, if it be not a
wrong sort. Rice and beans are especially recommended to him. The
great Teacher Jñ[=a]triputra (Mah[=a]v[=i]ra), it is said, never went
to shows, pantomines, boxing-matches, and the like; but, remaining in
his parents' house till their death, that he might not grieve his
mother, at the age of twenty-eight renounced the world with the
consent of the government, and betook himself to asceticism;
travelling naked (after a year of clothes) into barbarous lands, but
always converting and enduring the reproach of the wicked. He was
beaten and set upon by sinful men, yet was he never moved to anger.
Thus it was that he became the Arhat, the Jina, the Kevalin (perfect
sage).[27] It is sad to have to add, however, that Mah[=a]v[=i]ra is
traditionally said to have died in a fit of apoplectic rage.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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