Jainism II -SÛTRAKRITÂ?GA-1st Bk-L4-Ch 1 Knowledge of Women

[Anne Terri]

God's Living Bible - The Third Testament - Research Library - Jainism

FOURTH LECTURE 2.
CALLED
KNOWLEDGE OF WOMEN
FIRST CHAPTER

A monk who has left his mother and father and all worldly ties, (determines) to walk about alone and wise, to abstain from sexual pleasures, and to ask for a secluded place (where to lodge). (1)

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With clever pretences women make up to him, however foolish they be; they know how to contrive that some monks will become intimate with them. (2)

They will often sit down at his side; they always put on fine clothes; they will show him the lower part of their body, and the armpit, when lifting up their arms, so that he will follow them about. (3)

And occasionally a woman 1 will tempt him to a comfortable couch or bed. But he should know these things to be as many traps under various disguises. (4)

He should not look at them, nor should he consent to anything inconsiderate, nor walk together with them; thus he will well guard himself. (5)

Inviting a monk and winning his confidence, they offer themselves to him. But he should know, and fly from these temptations 2 in their various forms. (6)

Meekly and politely they approach him with their manifold arts to win his heart; and talking sweetly in confidential conversation they make him do (what they like). (7)

As (men by baiting) with a piece of flesh a fearless single lion get him into a trap, so women may capture an ascetic though he be careful. (8)

And then they make him do what they like, even as a wheelwright gradually turns the felly of a wheel.

As an antelope caught in a snare, so he does not get a out of it, however he struggles. (9)

Afterwards he will feel remorse like one who has drunk milk mixed with poison; considering the

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consequences, a worthy monk should have no intercourse with women. (10)

Therefore he should avoid women, knowing them to be like a poisoned thorn. He is no Nirgrantha who without companion (goes into) houses, being a slave (to passion) and preaches (his religion). (11)

Those who are attached to this sinful (intercourse) must be reckoned among the wicked. Even a monk who practises severe austerities should avoid the company of women. (12)

A monk should have no intercourse with his daughters and daughters-in-law, with nurses or female slaves, or with grown-up girls. (13)

When the relations and friends see (the intimacy of a monk with a girl), they become angry (saying): 'All creatures love pleasures; you are a man, protect and support her.' (14)

But some become angry even when they see an innocent Sramana, and suspect the fidelity of their wives because of the dishes they serve up 1. (15)

Those who have intercourse with (women) have already ceased to practise meditation; Sramanas, therefore, for the benefit of their souls, do not go to the apartments (of women). (16)

Though many leave the house, some (of them) arrive but at a middling position (between householder and monk); they merely talk of the path to perfection. The force of sinners is talking. (17)

In the assembly he pronounces holy (words), yet secretly he commits sins; but the wise know him to be a deceiver and great rogue. (18)

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The sinner does not confess his wrong, but rather boasts of it when reprimanded. Though he is admonished not to act as most men do, he becomes weak again and again. (19)

Some men of great intelligence who perform their duties as supporters of women, get into their power, though they be well acquainted with the Strîvêda 1. (20)

(The adulterers’) hands and feet are cut off, their skin and flesh are torn off, they are roasted alive, and acid is poured into their wounds. (21)

Their ears and nose are cut off, and their throats cut; (all this) they will suffer, but though suffering here for their sins they will not promise not to do 2 the same again. (22)

All this some have learned, and it has been well demonstrated in the Strîvêda. Though (people) know it, they do wrong (impelled) by Karman. (23)

One man (women) have in their heart, another in their words, and another still in their actions. Therefore a monk should not trust women, knowing that they are full of deceit. (24)

A young woman, putting on fine ornaments and clothes, will say to a Sramana: 'I shall give up (my former way of life) and practise the rough (viz. control). Reverend sir, teach me the Law!' (25)

Or by professing herself a lay-disciple and co-religionist of the Sramanas, (she will try to make a friend of him). As a pot filled with lac (will melt)

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near the fire, so even a wise (monk) will fall through intercourse with women. (26)

A pot filled with lac thrown into the fire melts quickly and is destroyed; so monks are lost through intercourse with women. (27)

Some commit sins (with a girl), but when questioned about it, they say: 'I have done no sin; she only slept in my lap (like my daughter).' (28)

This is a second folly of the sinner that he obstinately denies what he has done. He commits a twofold sin, since, for the sake of his reputation, he falls again 1. (29)

(Some women) will say, by way of invitation, to a good-looking, self-knowing monk: 'Holy man, accept a robe, an almsbowl, food or drink (at our house)!' (30)

He should regard their words like wild rice 2, and should not desire to call at (their) house; for a fool who is bound in the fetters of sensuality will be subject to delusion again and again. (31)

Thus I say.

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Footnotes

271:2 This whole adhyayana is composed in the archaic form of Âryâ, of which I have treated at length in the thirty-eighth volume of the Journal of the German Oriental Society, p. 594. The same metre occurs also in the Suttanipâta of the Buddhists (ed. Fausböll, 26 f., 170 ff.), a fact which I was not aware of when I wrote the paper just referred to.

272:1 The original has the plural itthîô, but the metre requires itthî in the singular.

272:2 Literally 'sounds,' which stands for objects of the senses in general.

273:1 There is a saying in German: Eine verliebte Köchin versalzt den Brei, 'a cook in love spoils the soup.' The commentators put different constructions on the last part of the sentence.

274:1 I.e. Kâmasâstra, or rather the part of it treating on courtezans, Vaisika, that had been composed by Dattaka. He is mentioned by the commentators in an anecdote they relate ad v. 24.

274:2 The original has kâhinti they will do;' it must be kâham ti 'I shall do.'

275:1 Visannêsî. Vishanna is explained asamyama.

275:2 Wherewith pigs are decoyed, see above, p. 265, verse 19.

The Sacred Books of the East -translated by various Oriental scholars and edited by F. Max Müller Vol. xxii
Gaina Sutras Translated from Prakrit by Hermann Jacobi in two parts -
Jainism Part II -SÛTRAKRITÂ?GA-First Book -Lectures
Jainism II -SÛTRAKRITÂ?GA-1st Bk-Lec 4-Ch 1 Knowledge of Women

God's Living Bible - The Third Testament - Research Library - Jainism
Gaina Sutras, Part II (SBE22), translated by Hermann Georg Jacob Jacobi - 1884

This text is in the public domain within the United States, because it was published prior to 1923