Trishashti Shalaka Purusha Caritra
by Helen M. Johnson | 1931 | 742,503 words
This page describes Sermon on tenfold dharma which is the twenty-first part of chapter II of the English translation of the Vasupujya-caritra, contained within the “Trishashti Shalaka Purusha Caritra”: a massive Jain narrative relgious text composed by Hemacandra in the 12th century. Vasupujya in jainism is one of the 63 illustrious beings or worthy persons.
Part 21: Sermon on tenfold dharma
After this hymn of praise, Śakra, Upendra, and Sīrin became silent, and the Blessed Vāsupūjya began a sermon.
“In this ocean of worldly existence human birth is attainable with difficulty, like the union of a yoke and yoke-pin, by men devoted to dharma. Verily, this dharma is well proclaimed by all the Lord Jinas.
One who embraces it would not sink in the ocean of existence. It is tenfold:[1]
- self-control,
- truthfulness,
- purity,
- chastity,
- poverty,
- austerities,
- forbearance,
- humility,
- sincerity,
- and freedom from greed.
From the power of dharma, the kalpa-tree, et cetera, grant what is desired. They would not even be within the sphere of persons endowed with wrong dharma. Dharma, very tender, the sole brother, always near at hand, protects a creature falling into this boundless ocean of calamities. The fact that the ocean does not overflow the earth and that the cloud makes the earth expand, this certainly is the power of dharma, nothing else. Fire does not burn horizontally; wind does not blow vertically. The incomprehensible power of dharma is the cause of that. That the earth stands without support, without a prop, supporting everything, is caused by nothing else but dharma. The sun and moon shine for the benefit of all in this world from the teaching of dharma. Dharma is the brother of the brotherless, the friend of the friendless, the lord of the lordless, alone devoted to all. Dharma saves creatures from falling into hell and Pātāla. Dharma offers the same unequaled power of the omniscient.
This tenfold dharma is not regarded by people with wrong-belief. If any of it has been taught (by them) anywhere, that is just a play of words, nothing more. The meaning of the Principles dances about constantly in the speech, the mind, and also in the action of all whoever share the doctrine of the Jina. Brāhmans, their intellects subjected to the teaching of the Vedas, do not know really a particle of the jewel of dharma. How is there any dharma in sacrificers who cause destruction of life, making sacrifices such as the cow-sacrifice, human-sacrifice, horse-sacrifice, et cetera? What dharma is there in those who created the Purāṇas, who relate subject-matter incredible, untrue, and contradictory?
How is there any purity[2] in the Brāhmans versed in law (smārtas), et cetera, who wish to get other people’s money by false legal decisions by means of earth and water, et cetera?[3] How is there dharma in Brāhmans disregarding chastity, destroying embryos in sinning against the proper season? How is there poverty of Brāhmans wishing to take money from a person making a sacrifice, even though he is unwilling to give, and who surrender life for the sake of money? Not an atom of forbearance is seen in the worldly sages pronouncing a curse instantly for even very small offenses. How is there humility in Brāhmans in the four stages of life, their minds stirred up by the meanness of pride in family, et cetera? How can there be a particle of sincerity in the heretic-ascetics filled with deceit and desire and outwardly hypocritical? How can there be freedom from greed on the part of Brāhmans who always have wives, houses, sons, et cetera, houses of the family of greed alone?
Then the good proclamation of the dharma of the Arhats who are free from love, hate, and delusion, endowed with omniscience, is irreproachable. False speaking would arise from love and hate, and also from delusion. In the absence of these, how, pray, could there be false speech of the Arhats? Truthful speech never emanates from persons whose minds are impure from the faults, love, et cetera. Likewise, what dharma is there of those who perform sacrificial rites of offerings and oblations of ghī, et cetera, and who build many pious works, such as tanks, wells, and pools; of those who seek a wrong path to heavenly and earthly happiness by killing animals; of those wishing to cause contentment to ancestors by gifts of food to Brāhmans; of those who perform penance by making a purification of the womb with ghī, et cetera;[4] of those women who marry again in case of the five calamities;[5] of those who talk of children begotten by other men on their own wives in the absence of children;[6] of women who, though guilty, talk of purification through the menses; of those who live by eating the organs of goats killed in the Soma sacrifice[7] with the idea of prosperity; of those who drink wine in the Sautrāmaṇī sacrifice;[8] of those who eat filth[9] and think themselves purified by touching cows; of those who cleanse themselves from evil merely by bathing in water, et cetera; of those who worship the banyan, the pippal, the myrobalan, et cetera;[10] of those who think the gods are pleased by an oblation burned in fire; of those who think a plague is allayed by milking cows on the earth; of those who teach dharma by vows consisting of imitation of women;[11] of those who wear matted hair, sandal-marks, a smear of ashes, a loin-cloth; of those who worship the gods with the arka, the dhattūra, and mālūra;[12] of those who sing, dance, et cetera, striking the buttocks frequently, drowning repeatedly the sound of musical instruments with the noise from their mouths; of those who abuse munis, gods, and people with vulgar talk; of those who seek servitude to slave-girls after breaking their vows; of those who eat fruit, roots, and leaves of bulbs, et cetera with infinite bodies;[13] of forest-ascetics with wives and children; of the Kaulācāryas[14] designated by the name of yogin, indifferent to what should and should not be eaten, to what should and should not be drunk, to whom should and should not be approached; and of others whose minds are untouched by the teaching of the Jina—what dharma is there of these? Where is its fruit? How can there be good proclamation of it?
The principal fruit of the dharma of the Jinas, either in this world or the next, is called ‘emancipation,’ and it is certainly inherent. Just as straw, et cetera, is a necessary result of ploughing grain, so worldly fruit is inherent in dharma which has emancipation as its fruit.”
After hearing this sermon many people became mendicants. Dvipṛṣṭha attained right-belief, and Lāṅgalin became a layman. The Lord completed his sermon at the end of the first division of the day, and Gaṇadhara Sūkṣma preached in the second division. Then the Teacher of the World wandered elsewhere from the place, and Indra, Upendra, Bala, et cetera, went to their respective homes.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Cf. I, n. 38 and II, p. 274.
[2]:
I.e., honesty.
[3]:
By ordeals.
[4]:
See the Devalasmṛti, 47-51, in the Smṛtisamuccaya, p. 87. See App. I.
[5]:
These occur frequently in the Dharmaśāstras:
naṣṭe mṛte pravrajite klībe ca patite patau |
pañcasvāpatsti nārīṇām patiranyo vidhīyate ||“When the husband disappears from home, dies, adopts a monastic life, is impotent, or becomes an outcaste, it is prescribed that in these five calamities women may have another husband.” Agnipurāṇa 154. 5-6; Tri. 9. 2. 34.
[6]:
Kṣetraja. One of the twelve kinds of permissible sons. See the Vāsiṣṭha Dharmaśāstra, Chap. XVII, SBE XIV.
[7]:
Adhvara, the Soma sacrifice. See Śatapathabrāhmaṇa, Kāṇḍas III and IV, SBE XXVI.
[8]:
A sacrifice in honor of Indra. See Śatapathabrāhmaṇa, Kāṇḍa V. 5. 4 f. and XII. 7 ff. SBE XLI and XLIV. It is both an iṣṭi and animal sacrifice. (An iṣṭi is the offering of milk, butter, grain, etc., as distinguished from animal and Soma sacrifices.) Spirituous liquor is drunk.
[9]:
Probably an allusion to the Aghorapathins, or Aghoras, as Balfour calls them, of whom he says: ‘a depraved sect of Hindus,..... their food being ordure, carrion and, it is said, human flesh. Balfour, I, p. 42.
[10]:
All well-known sacred trees which are still worshipped.
[11]:
Probably the Sakhībhāva sect: “a sect of Vaishnava Hindus in Northern India, who adopt Krishna and his mistress Radha for their special worship. They assume the female garb, and the dress, ornaments, manners, and occupations of women.” Balfour, III, p. 404. See also Ward, III, p. 406. He speaks of a sect, ‘Sukheebhavu,’ “mendicants born in western provinces, composed of Brahmans and other castes, are followers of Krishna and, though men, put on dress and ornaments and assume manners of women. They imitate milkmaids in worship of Krishna.” This sect apparently does not exist at the present time. At least, I can find no contemporary reference to it, nor any one who has any knowledge of it.
[12]:
This sloka is directed at the Śaivites. The first half refers to Śaiva ascetics and the trees—the swallow-wort (Calotropis procera), the datura, and the bel—are used in the worship of Śiva.
[13]:
Vegetables growing underground are forbidden to Jains, as they are considered to contain numerous souls.
[14]:
Kaulas are followers of left-hand Śakti. The text here refers to the ‘five Ms’ that are permitted by them: madya, māṃsa, matsya, mudra, maithuna. See Monier-Williams, Brahmanism and Hinduism, p. 180.