The Doctrine of the Jainas, Described after the Old Sources c11.22

Language: English

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§170. We started our description by dealing with man in general as appearing in Mahāvīra's similes, and we now proceed to him in whom the teaching has taken root even if without leading him to monkhood. It is the layman. He charges himself with a number of restrictions, and paradoxically enough, they exceed in number those accepted by the monk. This is due to the larger diversity of the civil life in which the layman still stands, and this also accounts for the texts specifically, naming several exceptional cases which, according to the subject, are contained in the fundamental commandments. The duties a layman is bound to observe must be derived from those observed by the monk. They divide into three groups of lay restrictions: (a) the small vows (*aṇu-vaya*), (b) the additional vows¹ (*guṇa-vaya*), and (c) the strengthening vows (*sikkhā-vaya*).² Their number is twelve in all, and hence the texts speak of the *duvālasaviha agāra-dhamma*. We gain this tripartition from Uvav. 57, the wording, at least as far as it concerns the first, is shown by Uvās. § 13ff., and offences are quoted by Uvās. 45ff.³ The Small (*aṇu*) Vows Thāṇ. 290a; Samav. 10a) are called thus as compared with the Great Vows taken by the monk (§ 171),⁴ and they remain in force lifelong as do the latter. While the Great Vows are unconditional, they are reduced for laymen to their abstaining 1. from gross (thūlaga) offences against live matter leading to death (pāṇāivāya), 2.

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from gross untruthfulness (musā-vāya), from gross appropriation (adinn'ādāna), 4. from adultery by contenting oneself with one's wife (sa-dāra-saṃtosa), and 5. from greed by restricting one's striving after possession (icchā-parimāṇa). thūlaga¹ in the first line concerns the action expressed by the prohibition, but (Uvās. 45ff.) different others, i.e. five in each case, are equated with it.² That it concerns merely a selection—taken especially from agriculture and commercial activities—is indicated in Uvās. 45 by the word peyāla "typical" which, however, is missing in later texts. Gross offence against live matter is understood by fettering, beating, wounding, overloading and disregarding the urge of appeasing one's hunger and quenching one's thirst, all this most probably with a view to domestic animals. Gross untruthfulness is understood by falsely accusing³ a person either directly or indirectly, by compromising one's wife by indiscretion,⁴ by passing on wrong informations and by forgery. Gross appropriation consists in receiving of, or dealing in, stolen goods, in the instigation to theft, in illegally entering a country, in using false weights and measures, and in the adulteration of goods. The offences against matrimonial faith need not be mentioned (Uvās. 48). As to self-restriction we are referred to gold, cattle, real estate, carts and carriages as well as a long list of possessions, jewelry and luxuries.

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The five Small Vows are followed by the three "Additional" Vows: 1. refraining from useless actions which may cause damage (apaṭṭhā-daṇḍa), i.e. from worries and desires, from doing foolish and dangerous things, and from instigating others to do them,⁵ 2. the commandment directing the layman to confine himself to an area of a certain extension in either direction which he may not leave in his undertakings (disi-vvaya), and 3. the commandment of observing moderation in eating and drinking as well as in all furnishings along with the prohibition of practising certain trades (uvabhoga-paribhoga-parimāṇa). In a concrete sense the latter was already listed among the fifth anu-vvaya. That is why here, first of all, fundamentals are referred to, i.e. the consumption of things containing life. They are followed by the trades or by activities affecting live matter of which fifteen different kinds are listed, e.g. charcoal burning, ivory- and lacquer-trade, pressing of fruit kernels, drainage of swamps, etc. This prohibition accounts for the fact that up to this day the Jains are found but in a restricted number of occupations. According to this view also b 3 along with b 1 represents but a special formulation of the commandment asking for the preservation of life a 1, though in Uvās. the demand to restrict one’s striving after possession 5a is immediately followed by b3 and b 1.

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In any case, however, the guṇa-vvaya prove to be special forms of the anu-vvaya in which b 2 equally follows a 5. As compared with those mentioned up to now the Strengthening Vows are of a positive nature. By them the layman temporarily comes near to the monk and his conduct of life. 1. By sāmāiya the comm. understands the state of an inward balance without adding that it concerns an act of devotion to be repeated several times every day (§ 151).¹ 2. desavagāsiya stands for the self-limitation of one’s dwelling- and occupation- area which may not be transgressed by messengers, calls, signs, nor by the way of throwing objects across. 3. By the posahōvavāsa certain fasting days combined with night watches (posaham paḍijāgarette) are observed at least every fortnight in a special room called the posaha-sālā (comp. Viy. 553a; Jambudd. 3). 4. ahā- or atihi-saṃvibhāga means the distribution of gifts in which a.o. tricks of any kind excluding their acceptance are forbidden. To these twelve duties of a layman the texts (also Samav. 119b), and in conformity with them Umāsvāti in T. 7, 17, add the fasting leading to death which by its name of *apacchimā māraṇantiyā samlehaṇā jhūsaṇ’ārāhaṇā* indicates the high esteem it enjoys. This addition explains itself by the fact that in the *samlehaṇā* (or *sallehaṇā*), too, the layman puts himself on a par with the monk. It could not be admitted among the formal duties since, by its nature, it is voluntary (§ 165).

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A man carrying loads stops in his way by placing his burden from one shoulder on to the other, by relieving nature, by resting at a shrine (*nāga-* or *suvaṇṇakumāra-vāsa*), or by retiring from active life for good. *Thāṇ.* 235b compares these ever increasing breathing-spaces (*ussāsa*) with the interruptions in the increase of Karman which occur when the layman undertakes responsibilities, in which case *sāmāiya* and *des’avagāsiya* are considered more effective than the remaining¹ except for the fasting vow which, again, is more effective than those two, while the *samlehaṇā* effects the ultimate goal of ending.