SERMON ON DHARMA by Sūri Dharmaghoṣa “Dharma is the highest happiness. Dharma bestows heaven and emancipation. Dharma shows the road for crossing the wilderness of saṁsāra. Dharma nourishes like a mother, protects like a father, pleases like a friend, and is loving like a kinsman. Dharma imparts very fine qualities like a guru. Dharma confers a distinguished position like a master. Dharma is a mansion of bliss. Dharma is a shield in danger from enemies. Dharma is heat for the destruction of cold. Dharma knows the weak points of sins. From dharma a creature could become a king, from dharma a Rāma, from dharma an ardhacakrin, from dharma a cakrin, from dharma a god, and from dharma an Indra. From dharma one attains Ahamindraship in the Graiveyaka and Anuttara heavens (in these two heavens, the highest, the gods have no distinction of rank, and all are called ‘Ahamindras’). From dharma one attains Arhatship. What is not accomplished by dharma? Dharma is so-called from supporting creatures who have fallen into a bad condition of existence. It is fourfold with the divisions of 1. liberality (dāna), 2. good conduct (śīla), 3. penance (tapas), and 4. state of mind (bhāva). 1. Now of these, liberality (dāna) is said to be of three kinds: a) the gift of knowledge, b) the gift of fearlessness, and c) the gift of the support of religion. a) The gift of knowledge (jñānadāna) is said to be the gift to those not knowing dharma by teaching, preaching, etc., and the gift of means to acquire knowledge. By the givt of knowledge a creature knows right and wrong, and knows the fundamental principles, soul (jīva), etc. [the nine categories (Navatattva)], and acquires renunciation of worldly objects. From the gift of knowledge one attains splendid omniscience and, having favoured the whole world, goes to emancipation. b) In the gift of fearlessness (abhayadāna) there is the avoidance of injury to living things (jīvas) by thought, word, or deed, by doing, causing to be done, or by approving. Jīvas are known to be of two kinds: immovable (sthāvara) and movable (trasa). In both of these there are two divisions, depending on whether they have faculties to develop (paryāpti) or not. There are six faculties to develop, which are the cause of development: eating food and digesting it, body, senses, breath, speech, and mind. Creatures that have one sense, two sense to four, or five senses, have respectively four, five, or six faculties. The immovable jīvas having one sense are: earth, water, fire, air, and plants. The first four of these may be either fine (sūkṣma) or gross (bādara = when someting can be grasped by any of the senses. E.g., air cannot be seen, but can be felt). Plants are of two kinds: those that have one soul in one body (pratyeka) and those that have many souls in one body (sādhāraṇa); and those that have many souls in one body are also of two kinds, fine and gross. The movable souls are of four kinds: two-, three-, four-, and five-sensed. Among these, the five-sensed are of two kinds: rational (sañjñin) and irrational (asañjñi). The ones that know how to learn, teach, and converse, they are rational. They have mind-vitality (note 1, see ext commentary). Others are irrational. The skin, tongue, nose, eye, and ear are the five sense-organs of which touch, taste, smell, form, and sound are the province. Worms, conch-shells, earth-worms, leeches, cowries, and oyster-shells having many forms, are considered to have two senses. Lice, bugs, termites, nits, etc., are considered to have three senses. Moths, flies, bees, gnats, etc., are considered to have four senses. The remainder that have animal-birth-nuclei, living in water, on land, or in the air, hell-inhabitants, men, and gods, are all considered five-sensed. The gift of safety is the avoidance of injuring them in three ways: destruction of life, causing physical pain, and mental pain (duḥkhotpāda and saṅkleśa, respectively. This is a Jain distinction, not inherent in the words themselves). Whoever gives the gift of safety gives all the objects of life. If one has life, the fourfold object of existence (dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa) is gained. What is dearer than life to any creature? Certainly not a kingdom, nor universal sovereignty, nor even Indraship of high rank. Fear caused by loss of life is the same to a worm living in impurity on one hand, and to Hari living in heaven on the other hand. Therefore a pious man should by all means be always careful to give the gift of safety desired by the whole world. By making the gift of safety people become charming, long-lived, healthy, with beauty of form, and strong in other births. c) The gift of supporting dharma (dharmopagrahadāna) is fivefold: (i) PURITY OF GIVER, (ii) RECEIVER, (iii) GIFT, (iv) TIME, and (v) THOUGHT. (i) Whatever a giver, who has lawfully acquired wealth, is learned and pious, GIVES WITHOUT DESIRE and WITHOUT REGRET, in that there is purity of giver. A giver thinks, ‘I have attained my desire, I to whom the wish, the object to be given and a suitable person have come at the same time.’ (ii) That gift would have PURITY OF RECEIVER, whose receiver IS such a man as has ceased censurable activitsy, is lacking in three vanities (note 2), has three controls (note 3), observes the five kinds of carefulness (note 4), is free from love and hate, has no attachment to towns, dwelling, body, clothes, etc., cheerful in observing the eighteen thousand laws of good conduct (note 5), possesses the three jewels (note 6), is resolute, considers gold and a clod to be equal, is firm in the two kinds of good meditation, has subdued his senses, takes food only for his stomach (i.e., enough to live), is unceasingly devoted to various and manifold penance according to his ability, keeps the seventeen kinds of self-restraint unbroken (note 7), and practices the eighteen kinds of chastity (note 8). (iii) A thing given, drink, food, fruit, a sweet, clothing, bed, etc., that is free from the forty-two faults (note 9) is pure. (iv) Whatever is given at a suitable time to a suitable person is pure in respect to time. (v) Whatever is given without desire and with faith has purity of intention. Dharma cannot exist without the body, nor the body without food, etc. Therefore the gift of support to dharma should be practiced constantly. Food, drink, etc., to suitable persons by way of support to dharma make continuation of the order and obtain emancipation. 2. Good conduct is defined as the rejection of sinful activities. It is twofold: a) partial (deśavirati) and b) total (sarvavirati) (note 10). a) The five lesser vows (aṇuvrata), the three meritorious vows (guṇavrata), the four disciplinary vows (śikṣāvrata) are considered the twelve-fold partial rejection. Among these, avoidance of injury, lying, stealing, impurity, and possessions in their grosser forms are called by the Jinas the ‘lesser vows’. The three ‘meritorious vows’ are: the limitation of travel, the limitation of things of single and repeated use, and the limitation of purposeless injury. The four ‘disciplinary vows’ are tranquillity, limitation to one place, fasting, and living like a monk, the distribution of alms. This partial-rejection belongs to those householders who possess the attributes of a desire to hear, etc., (note 11) devoted to the duties of monks (note 12), desiring to take food benefiting dharma, who have attained right belief characterized by tranquillity (śama), desire for emancipation (saṁvega), indifference to worldly objects (nirveda), compassion (anukampā), and faith in the principles of truth (āstikya), who are entirely free from false belief, noble-minded, devoid of the maturing of permanent anger (note 13) by destruction of conduct-deluding karma. b) The avoidance of injury, etc., both gross and otherwise (i.e., fine), that is total rejection (of sinful activities), the stairs to the palace of emancipation. This belongs to noble-minded munis who have slight passions by nature, are indifferent to the pleasures of existence, and devoted to the qualities of reverence, etc. 3. That is called penance (tapas) that burns away karma. Outer penance is fasting, etc., and inner is confession and penance, etc. Fasting (anaśana), partial fasting (aunodarya), limitation of food (vṛtteḥ saṁksepaṇa), giving up choice food (rasatyāga), bodily austerities (anukleśa), and avoidance of all useless motion (līnatā) are called outer penance. Confession and penance (prayaścitta), service to others (vaiyāvṛtta), study of sacred texts (svādhyāya), reverence (vinaya), indifference to the body (vyutsarga), good meditation (śubhadhyāna) are the sixfold inner penance (note 14). 4. State of mind (bhāvanā = bhāva, 152) is devotion solely to the possessors of the three jewels, service to them, only pure thoughts, and disgust with existence. This fourfold dharma, producing boundless fruit must be observed with care by those who fear wandering through births.” [Source: Hemachandracharya’s Triṣaṣṭiśalākāpuruṣacaritra, Helen Johnsons transl., published under the Authority of the Government of His Highness the Maharaja Gaekwad of Baroda 1931, Vol. I, p. 18-27]
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 21:10:00 +0000