Acaranga-sutra
by Hermann Jacobi | 1884 | 71,211 words | ISBN-10: 8120801237 | ISBN-13: 9788120801233
The English translation of the Acaranga Sutra, which represents the first the 12 Angas in Shevatambara Jainism. It is traditionally dated to the 5th-century BCE and consists of two parts containing lectures based on the teachings of Mahavira. Topics include: lifestyle of an ascetic: conduct, behavior, collecting alms, clothes, mode of walking and ...
Lecture 6, Lesson 5
Staying in or between houses, in or between villages, in or between towns, in or between counties, a monk is attacked by murderers, or is subject to the hardships (of a mendicant’s life). A hero should bear these hardships. (1)
A saint[1], with right intuition, who cherishes compassion for the world, in the east, west, south, and north, should preach, spread, and praise (the faith), knowing the sacred lore[2]. He should proclaim it among those who exert themselves, and those who do not[3], among those who are willing to hear (the word). (2)
Not neglecting tranquillity, indifference, patience, liberation, purity, uprightness, gentleness, and freedom from worldly cares[4], one should, with due consideration, preach the law of the mendicants to all sorts of creatures. (3) With due consideration preaching the law of the mendicants, one should do no injury to one’s self, nor to anybody else, nor to any of the four kinds of living beings. But a great sage, neither injuring nor injured, becomes a shelter for all sorts of afflicted creatures, even as an island, which is never covered with water. (4)
Thus a man who exerts himself, and is of a steady mind, without attachment, unmoved (by passion) but restless (in wandering about), having no worldly desires, should lead the life of an ascetic.
Having contemplated the beautiful law, the discerning one is liberated.
Therefore look at worldliness, ye men, fettered in fetters!
Those whom lust conquers, sink; therefore do not shrink from the hard (control)! He who knows (and renounces) perfectly and thoroughly these injurious acts, from whom the injurers do not shrink[5], ‘who has shaken off wrath, pride,’ delusion, and greed, ‘he is called a removed one.’ Thus I say. (5)
On the decay of the body (he does not despond, but deserves) his appellation, ‘the leader of the battle.’ The sage who has reached the other side, unafflicted and unmoved like a beam, being in the power of death, desires death as the dissolution of the body. Thus I say. (6)
End of the Sixth Lecture, called the Cleaning.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Oya, see note 2, p. 52.
[2]:
Veyavī = vedavid.
[3]:
This is equivalent either to believers and heretics, or to clerical and lay men.
[4]:
Lāghaviya, lightness, explained, freedom from bonds.
[5]:
One expects, who does not shrink from the injurers.