Prof. Dr. Klaus Bruhn
The paper was published in Berliner Indologische Studien Vol. 20 (2012), pp. 7-35.
Selected subjects (11-15)
11-12: Overview of selected subjects (drinking and walking); 13-14: quasi-meditation (tapas) and true meditation (kāyôtsarga, vyutsarga); 15: āyariya and antevāsī (scholasticism).
(11) Drinking, washing, cleanliness. Considering thirst and exposure of the body to heat, considering the rule to treat water (and living beings in general) with unbelievable care, and taking into account enforced primitivity of material culture, drinking and washing (or doing without washing) become matters of considerable importance. Physical satisfaction (end of physical suffering through heat and thirst) is restoration of the biological equilibrium by supply of water. But there are limits, the procedure must be correct: Water has to be boiled and therefore lifeless. And there are endless rules for the 'protection' of water (i.e. for the protection of the sub-microcosmic beings which form the element water).
Cautious 'treatment' of water is not a general duty, but the sum of numerous single commands. Daśavaikālika 8,6: >> sīôdagaṃ na sevejjā silā-vuṭṭhaṃ himāṇi ya / usiṇôdagaṃ tatta-phāsuyaṃ paḍigāhejja saṃjae <<. Schubring Daś: 223: “He [the monk] should not use unboiled water, nor hail nor snow; he may accept warm water which is pure, because it has been boiled.” - Daśavaikālika 8,7: >> udaôllam [udaka, ārdra] appaṇo kāyaṃ neva punche na saṃlihe / samuppeha [abs.] tahā-bhūyaṃ no ṇaṃ saṃghaṭṭae muṇī. << Schubring Daś: 223: “When his body is wet, he should neither wipe nor rub it; having become aware that it is wet, he should not touch it.”
Thirst is number 2 (pipāsā, Pkt. pivāsā), and heat is number 4 (uṣṇa, Pkt. usiṇa, uṇha) of the twenty-two parīṣahas (5 supra). Refer for a complete list of the parīṣahas 1-22 to the initial prose-section of JĀGM (Ut), Ch 2. Parīṣaha number 2 (thirst) exists in the prose-section of Ut, Ch 2, and in one of two verses of the ensuing verse-section of the same chapter. >> tao puṭṭho pivāsāe dogunchī lajjā-saṃjae / sīôdagaṃ na sevijjā viyaḍass' esaṇaṃ care. << dogunchī lajjā-saṃjae: “restrained by shame and aversion (from forbidden things)”; Jacobi; vigaḍa: distilled, lifeless water. - Parīṣaha number 4 (heat) is contained in prose and double verse of Ut, Ch 2; the second verse: >> uṇhâhitatte medhāvī siṇāṇaṃ vi no patthae / gāyaṃ no parisincejjā na vīejjā ya appayam. << - In Ut, Ch 2 (verse-section), two stanzas are allotted to each parīṣaha: Jacobi (Ut): 10 (fn. 1).
The monk should not eat food “with a hand wet with cold water.” JĀGM (Sama): 365-366 (sabala number 21); Deo Mo: 207. A post-canonical 'exegetical' text (Oghaniryukti) discusses in unusual detail the problem of the begging monk, if the hand of the giver (female) is not absolutely dry: Mette Oh: 105-106.
Water journey: “The Ācārāṅga allowed boat travel. But the five great rivers, Gaṅgā, Jaüṇā..., were not allowed to be crossed in a boat or swum twice or thrice within a month” (Deo Mo: 243). See also Deo Mo: 156-157 and 245-246. The prohibition is not explained (particular water-phobia?).
Uncleanness is wide-spread and not restricted to limited use of water (although such limitation was certainly the main point). Schubring writes in connection with hygiene (Do: 264-265): “..., as indicated by Āyār.,... the presence of a monk may be [was] scarcely bearable.”
(12) Going on foot. As we know, wandering (rainless season) is normality for Jaina monks and nuns. Wrongs and rights are, therefore, often wrongs and rights in connection with migration. The Ācārānga, Śrutaskandha II.3 on iriyā (JĀGM [Āc]: 170-188, Iriyā Chapter), mentions numerous possible forms of correct or incorrect behaviour of a wandering monk. We present three sections on iriyā from Ācārānga II.3 (JĀGM): infra pp. 170, 172, and 181 (464, 469, 498): wandering prohibited or prescribed. The three sections are difficult, and so are many parts of Ācārānga II, Jacobi (Āc): 88-213. ĀcārāngaI is even more demanding.
[Page 170 supra, Jacobi (Āc): 136:] Wandering prohibited. >> abbhuvaga(t)e khalu vāsāvāse abhipavuṭṭhe [when the rainy season has come and it is raining], bahave pāṇā abhisaṃbhūyā, bahave bīyā ahuṇ' ubbhiṇṇā... no viṇṇāyā maggā; sevaṃ ṇaccā no gāmâṇugāmaṃ dūijjejjā, tato saṃjayām eva vāsāvāsaṃ uv(v)alliejjā [one should remain during the rainy season in one place]. << sevaṃ ṇaccā = evaṃ ṇaccā.
[Page 172 supra, Jacobi (Āc): 137:] Wandering prescribed. >> se bhikkhū vā bhikkhuṇī vā gāmâṇugāmaṃ dūijjamāṇe, purao juga-māyaṃ pehamāṇe, daṭṭhūṇa tase pāṇe uddhaṭṭu pādaṃ rīejjā, sāhaṭṭu pādaṃ rīejjā..., sati parakkame saṃjayām eva parakkamejjā [if there be some bypath, the monk/nun should choose it], ṇo ujjuyaṃ gacchejjā, tato saṃjayām eva gāmâṇugāmaṃ dūijjejjā. << The gaze is lowered so that only a short piece of the road (purao juga-māyaṃ pehamāṇe; ca. two metres, infra) is visible for the wandering monk: animalcules and plants become timely visible and can thus be 'protected'.
[Page 181 supra, Jacobi (Āc): 143:] Wandering prescribed. >> se bhikkhū vā bhikkhuṇī vā gāmâṇugāmaṃ dūijjamāṇe no maṭṭiyā-maehiṃ pāehiṃ hariyāṇi chindiya 2, vikujjiya 2, viphāliya 2 ummaggeṇa hariya-vadhāe gacchejjā 'jaheyaṃ [? ] pāehiṃ maṭṭiyaṃ khippām eva hariyāṇi avaharantu.' māi-ṭṭhāṇaṃ [?] saṃphāse [?] ṇo evaṃ karejjā. se puvvām eva appa-hariyaṃ maggaṃ paḍilehejjā, paḍilehettā tato saṃjayām eva gāmâṇugāmaṃ dūijjejjā. << Summary (?) The monk should not walk on a grass-covered path, hoping that the grass would attack (remove) the mud on his feet (and accepting the damage to the grass); he should walk on bare ground and thus protect the grass. See Jacobi's translation. - dūijj- (frequent in Ācārānga II) is an unexplained verbal root (Leumann Aup: 126).
The broom is obviously not used by the wandering monk (see number 7 supra); at least we find no statements to this effect. Continuous use of the broom (every step) would at any rate be unreasonable for the monk or for the nun.
Somewhat strange are two observations on walking in the Bhagavatī. Deleu (Sch) mentions on p. 104 of his article that the earth beings suffer under the pain caused by somebody's [a monk's] treading on the earth, just as an old man suffers when he receives a blow on his head handed out by a strong young man. Moreover if a monk, walking according to the rule, crushes underfoot a small bird (chicken, quail) he does not commit any transgression. The rule includes the prescription that the monk directs his eyes to the ground (J. Deleu: he looks nicht weiter als ein yuga, etwa zwei Meter, vor sich“). If such caution is observed the bad karman bound by the act is at once wiped out. Deleu uses for 'rule' the term īriyāvahiyā kiriyā (cf. 'thirteen activities' supra).
We hear in Ācārānga I of Mahāvīra's painful wanderings: JĀGM (Āc): 89-102 (254-323); Jacobi (Āc): 79-87. - JĀGM (Āc): 97 (295): >> Lāḍhehiṃ [Lāḍhesu] tass' uvasaggā bahave, jāṇavayā lūsiṃsu / aha lūha-desie [?] bhatte [?] kukkurā tattha hiṃsiṃsu ṇivatiṃsu <<. Jacobi (Āc), p. 84: “In Lāḍha (happened) to him many dangers. Many natives attacked him.... the dogs bit him, ran at him.” The section (JĀGM [Āc] supra) gives details of soteriological suffering (Jacobi Āc: 84, earlier verse: 'grass, cold, fire, flies, gnats'). See also 14 infra: hardships of monks.
N. Tatia describes in great detail the experiences of a wandering mendicant: “... a monk is to travel throughout the length and breadth of the country familiarizing himself with the flora and fauna, and the geographical conditions... (etc.).” Tatia uses as his source a post-canonical text, the Bṛhatkalpasūtra Bhāṣya: Tatia As: 43-44 ('Life of a Wanderer').
Wandering (iriyā) is one duty (eight months), and the fixed place during the rainy season (four months: cāturmāsya, Pkt. cāummāsiya) is the other duty: rainless season and rainy season. Schubring Do: 260-262; Jacobi [Āc]: 136-148 (general rules of iriyā), 259-263 (Mahāvīra: early wanderings). A monk is not expected to have any preferences, and we are not told which time of the year and which form of living is generally preferred. Monasteries have been founded by the bhaṭṭārakas of the Digambaras (Dundas Jn: 123) and, in a different form, by the Śvetāmbara caityavāsīs (Wiley Di: 63). However, monasteries are no regular feature of Jainism.
(13) Quasi-meditation. Descriptions of the Jaina religion attach much importance to the four jhāṇas (Skt. dhyānas), generally called 'meditations': Leumann Aup: 42-43 (tapas 2.V = jhāṇa); JĀGM (Sthā): 95-96 (247); TS ix 27-41; Glasenapp Jn: 236-237; Schubring Do: 313-316 (numerous references to TS); Bruhn Ma: 63-64. - The jhāṇas 1-2 are mainly negative: aṭṭe jhāṇe [including wishes for the future], rodde jhāṇe; jhāṇas 3-4 are mainly positive (dhamme jhāṇe, sukke jhāṇe). The order is probably always aṭṭe, rodde, dhamme, sukke. The four well-known titles are accompanied by tetradic subtitles, e.g. by four 'lakṣaṇas'. Aṭṭe jhāṇe has kandaṇayā..., rodde has ussaṇṇa-dose..., dhamme has āṇā-ruī..., and sukke has vivege.... The four lakkhaṇas of sukke are always vivege, viosagge, avvahe, asaṃmohe. Each jhāṇa has different planes of definition (four different lakkhaṇas,... ālambaṇas,... paḍoyāras,... aṇuppehās). The bewildering complexity and the existence of three not absolutely identical versions (supra) make an overview practically impossible. Dundas Jn observes on p.167 ('Meditation': pp. 166-169): “The idiosyncrasy of the early systematised pattern which uses the term dhyāna is indicative of the somewhat unfocused manner in which the topic of meditation was handled by the Jain scriptures.”
A different subject are the twelve so-called anuprekṣās (Pkt. aṇuppehās, 'reflections'), a fairly systematic bundle of subjects (not in the canon). See TS IX.7 (1-12, enumeration). The anuprekṣā literature is touched on in the jhāṇa cycle (supra), but it is not meditation in the technical sense; four anuprekṣās merely form a tetrad within the dhamma-jhāṇa (aṇiccâṇuppehā, asaraṇa-, egatta-, saṃsāra-: tradition) and in sukka-jhāṇa (avāyâṇuppehā, asubhâṇuppehā, aṇantavattiyâṇuppehā, vipariṇāmâṇuppehā: speculation). - W. Schubring writes on the anuprekṣās: “They include the reflections on the transitoriness of things, the helplessness of man, the painful roaming about in the Samsāra, the loneliness of man...” (Do: 307-308). Ut, Ch 10 gives an impression of the spirit of the anuprekṣās (see in particular verses 1-2). Schubring Do: 307-308 calls the genre “monastic poetry with its pessimistic character” (p. 307). A monograph on the anuprekṣās (text edition and survey) has been published by A.N. Upadhye (see Upadhye Ka).
(14) True meditation is largely found in the Āvaśyaka Sūtra (see 1; the ĀvSū can be called 'post-canonical'). The text used nowadays appears in a triple volume of the JĀGM (Daś/Ut/Āv) and will be found on pp. 333-358. See also Dundas Jn: 166-169 ('Meditation') and 169-173 ('Obligatory Actions' or sixfold Āvaśyaka ritual). Of fundamental importance is Leumann's Übersicht (Baumann Āv) which includes text and translation of parts I-III of the ĀvSū and short information on parts IV-V (VI). See Baumann Āv (pp. 15-20 and p. 3). - There are further Āv.-versions: See again 'The Āvaśyaka-parts I-III' (pp. 15-20) and see the diagram on p. 41. The pluralism of versions is responsible for the complexity of the available text corpus (known in Jainology since Leumann's days as 'Āvaśyaka Literature').
We select from the small disconnected text corpus part V (kāyôtsarga), i.e. Leumann's very short survey of part V: “Āv.V is a mixture of Kāyôtsarga forms [formulas] and short hymns. The former are to be spoken when the 'body (kāya) is abandoned,' i.e.when, as an ascetic exercise, a particular body posture is assumed and, in defiance of any outward influence, is kept for a certain period of time. Āv. I [karemi bhante Sāmāiyaṃ], again, serves as an introduction.” Refer for the hymns to JĀGM (Āv): 345-348 (Āv V); and for a prose text to JĀGM (Āv): 344-345 (also ĀvV).