In Jainism

General definition (in Jainism)

Source: archive.org: Jaina Yoga

Rātribhojana (रात्रिभोजन) refers to “taking food at night”.—Great importance has always been attached by Jaina writers to the avoidance of taking food by night (rātri-bhojana). A passage ofthe Daśa-vaikālika-sūtra gives to this abstention the status of a vow and on this authority Cāmuṇḍarāya (in his Caritrasāra p. 7) in the Cāritra-sāra makes it into a sixth aṇu-vrata (being imitated in this by Sakalakīrti) whilst Amṛtacandra (in his Puruṣārthasiddhyupāya 129-34) gives it in his śrāvakācāra the position that a sixth vow would have occupied. However, this sixth vow failed to obtain general recognition and no aticāra pentad was ever devised for it.

Samantabhadra (in his Ratna-karaṇḍa-śrāvakācāra with commentary of Prabhācandra v. 21) defines abstention from rātri-bhojana as the abandonment of the fourfold aliments by night out of compassionfor living beings. Amṛtacandra (in his Puruṣārthasiddhyupāya 132), who condemns this practice with especial vehemence, cites as arguments against it that there exist many tiny insects barely discernible by day which are completely invisible by night even when a lamp is lit, and that rāga is always more intense in eating by night than in eating by day.

The Śvetāmbaras seem not to lay quite as much stress as the Digambaras on the avoidance of rātri-bhojana (night eating), which receives only a bare mention under the paribhogopabhoga-vrata in the Śrāvaka-dharma-pañcāśaka and the Nava-pada-prakaraṇa. Hemacandra, however, considers the subject of sufficient importance to devote to it a couple of dozen verses. (see Hemacandra’s Yogaśāstra 3.48-70)

Source: academia.edu: Tessitori Collection I

1) Rātribhojana (रात्रिभोजन) or Rātribhojanacopaī is the name of a work by Dharmasamudra dealing with the Ethics section of Jain Canonical literature.—The Rātribhojanacopaī (in Gujarati) is included in the collection of manuscripts at the ‘Vincenzo Joppi’ library, collected by Luigi Pio Tessitori during his visit to Rajasthan between 1914 and 1919.—Dharmasamudra composed the Rātribhojana-copaī about the prohibition from eating after sunset at paṃcālasa (see above). In the introduction he explains how the night is not proper for any religious activity and even less for food. [...]

2) Rātribhojana (रात्रिभोजन) refers to one of the topics dealt with in the Sadbhāṣitāvalī by Sakalakīrti (classified as gnomic literature).—In the Udine manuscript verses are marked by exhortations in imperative which are sometimes emphasized with orange pigment: [e.g., rātribhojana—rātribhojanaṃ tyaja (4v12)]

context information

Jainism is an Indian religion of Dharma whose doctrine revolves around harmlessness (ahimsa) towards every living being. The two major branches (Digambara and Svetambara) of Jainism stimulate self-control (or, shramana, ‘self-reliance’) and spiritual development through a path of peace for the soul to progess to the ultimate goal.

Languages of India and abroad

Sanskrit dictionary

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary

Rātribhojana (रात्रिभोजन):—[=rātri-bhojana] [from rātri] n. eating at n°, [Monier-Williams’ Sanskrit-English Dictionary]

[Sanskrit to German]

Ratribhojana in German

context information

Sanskrit, also spelled संस्कृतम् (saṃskṛtam), is an ancient language of India commonly seen as the grandmother of the Indo-European language family (even English!). Closely allied with Prakrit and Pali, Sanskrit is more exhaustive in both grammar and terms and has the most extensive collection of literature in the world, greatly surpassing its sister-languages Greek and Latin.

See also (Relevant definitions)

Partial matches: Ratri, Bhojana.

Starts with: Ratribhojanacopai, Ratribhojananishedha.

Full-text: Ratribhojananishedha, Anupapanna, Vrata, Kayotsargapratima.

Relevant text

No search results for Ratribhojana, Rātribhojana, Ratri-bhojana, Rātri-bhojana; (plurals include: Ratribhojanas, Rātribhojanas, bhojanas) in any book or story.