Like the five great vows, most of the special directions for the
discipline of the Jain ascetic are copies, and often exaggerated copies,
of the Brahmanic rules for penitents. The outward marks of the order
closely resemble those of the Sannyasin. The life of wandering during
eight months and the rest during the rainy season agree exactly; and in
many other points, for example in the use of confession, they agree with
the Buddhists. They agree with Brahma[n.]s alone in ascetic self-torture,
which Buddhism rejects; and specially characteristic is the fact that
ancient Brahmanism recommends starvation to its penitents as beneficial.
[Footnote: An example may be found in Jacobi's careful comparison of the
customs of the Brahmanic and Jaina ascetics, in the beginning of his
translation of the _Achara[.n]ga Sutra, S.B.E._, Vol. XXII, pp.
xxi--xxix. In relation to the death by starvation of Brahmanical hermits
and Sannyasin, see Apastamba, _Dharmasutra_, in S.B.E. Vol. II, pp.
154, 156, where (IT, 22, 4 and II, 23, 2) it, says of the penitents who
have reached the highest grade of asceticism: "Next he shall live on water
(then) on air, then on ether".]
The doctrine of the right way for the Jaina laity differs from that for
the ascetics. In place of the five great vows appear mere echoes. He vows
to avoid only serious injury to living beings, i.
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