Some Jaina Canonical Sutras c28.2

c28.2

The *Āvassaya* (*Āvaśyaka*) *Sūya* consists of six sections (*adhyāyas*) corresponding to the six *āvassayas* or the six essential daily duties of a Jaina for the purification of one's own self. The six *āvassayas* are known as *sāmāiya* or *sāmāyika* (way to balance of mind), *cauvīsatthava* or *caturviṃśatistava* (eulogy or glorification of the 24 *Tīrthaṅkaras*), *vandanaya* or *vandanā* (veneration of the teacher), *padikkamana* or *pratikramaṇa* (confession and expiation), *kāussagga* or *kāyotsarga* (penance through certain postures of the body or asceticism) and *paccakkhāṇa* or *pratyākhyāna* (abstinence from food or avoidance of sensual pleasures). This *sūya* (*sūtra*) is the second *mūlasūtra* which has come down only in conjunction with the *nijjutti*.¹ Haribhadra Sūri wrote a commentary on this work. There is also a commentary on it by Jiṇabhadra.² Leumann has published the first three *suttas* in Roman characters with their German translation in *Ubersicht Uber die Āvaśyaka-Literatur*. Some hold that *Āvassaya* is a composition of Śrutasthavira. The authorship of this *sūtra* is either attributed to Indrabhūti or a Śrutasthavira. Some are of opinion that it was composed by Indrabhūti on the very day he composed *Dādaśaṅgī*. It contains many interesting narratives.