Ācārya Samantabhadra’s Ratnakarandaka-śrāvakācāra = The Jewel-casket of Householder’s Conduct

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Last edited by MARC Bot
December 18, 2022 | History

Ācārya Samantabhadra’s Ratnakarandaka-śrāvakācāra = The Jewel-casket of Householder’s Conduct

Ācārya Samantabhadra’s Ratnakarandaka-śrāvakācāra – Ratnakaranda, in short – comprising 150 verses, is a celebrated and perhaps the earliest Digambara work dealing with the excellent path of dharma that every householder (śrāvaka) must follow. All his efforts should be directed towards the acquisition and safekeeping of the Three Jewels (ratnatraya), comprising right faith (samyagdarśana), right knowledge (samyagjñāna) and right conduct (samyakcāritra), which lead to releasing him from worldly sufferings and establishing him in the state of supreme happiness. The treatise expounds an easy-to-understand meaning of ‘right faith’: To have belief, as per the Reality, in the sect-founder or deity (āpta or deva), the scripture (āgama or śāstra), and the preceptor (guru). It specifies criteria to distinguish between the real and the counterfeit enabling one to eliminate follies attributable to wrong faith. Only the householder who has right faith establishes himself on the path to liberation. Right faith is the treasure chest of whatever is propitious and worthy; wrong faith of whatever is inauspicious and contemptible. After laying the foundation called the right faith, Ācārya Samantabhadra goes on to complete the superstructure known as the Three Jewels (ratnatraya) with the remaining two elements, right knowledge and right conduct. The householder who has attained right faith on the destruction of darkness of delusion is fit to attain right knowledge and right conduct. He gets rid of the conduits of demerit (pāpa) comprising injury, falsehood, stealing, unchastity, and attachment to possessions. Further, he observes three subsidiary vows (guņavrata), and four instructional vows (śikşāvrata). Giving up of the body in a manner that upholds righteousness (dharma) on the occurrence of a calamity, famine, senescence, or disease, from which there is no escape, is called the vow of sallekhanā. Sallekhanā has been termed as the final fruit or culmination of penance (religious austerity) and, therefore, all persons with right faith, the ascetic as well as the householder, look forward to attaining voluntary, passionless death at the appropriate time. The treatise finally describes the eleven stages (pratimā) of the householder’s conduct.

Publish Date
Publisher
Vikalp Printers
Language
English
Pages
288

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Edition Availability
Cover of: Ācārya Samantabhadra’s Ratnakarandaka-śrāvakācāra = The Jewel-casket of Householder’s Conduct

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Book Details


Table of Contents

Section 1. Right Faith
Page 3
Section 2. Right Knowledge
Page 65
Section 3. Right Conduct
Small Vows (anuvrata). 79
Section 4. Right Conduct
Subsidiary Vows (gunavrata). 113
Section 5 Right Conduct
Instructional Vows (śiksāvrata). 143
Section 6 On sallekhanā
Embracing Voluntary, Passionless Death. 191
Section 7. Eleven Stages (pratimā) of the Householder’s Conduct
Page 221

Edition Notes

Published in
Dehradun, India

Classifications

Library of Congress
BL1350 .S2513 2016

The Physical Object

Format
Hardcover
Pagination
xxiv, 264p.
Number of pages
288
Dimensions
23 x 15.5 x 1.5 centimeters
Weight
500 grams

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL25916958M
ISBN 10
8190363999
LCCN
2016318778
OCLC/WorldCat
953615751

Source records

marc_columbia MARC record

Excerpts

Sallekhanā, unlike a custom, is a pious vow, like non-injury and non-stealing, which every individual, young and old, male and female, looks forward to observing when the appropriate time comes. Even a young individual can say with pride and determination that he or she looks forward to observing sallekhanā at the time of death. And the elderly wishes and prays that at the time of death he or she should have the opportunity to observe the vow of sallekhanā. Could a married woman ever wish and pray to have the opportunity to observe the practice of satī? Sallekhanā is a reasoned, scientific way of facing death, an inescapable truth of life, and is applicable to and implementable by the whole of humanity.
Page 197, added by Vijay K. Jain.

Sallekhanā, an essential part of Jaina practice, has become a contentious issue in recent time. The book has irrefutable logic behind the concept of sallekhanā.

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History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON
December 18, 2022 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
May 15, 2016 Edited by Vijay K. Jain Added new cover
May 15, 2016 Edited by Vijay K. Jain Added new cover
May 14, 2016 Edited by Vijay K. Jain Added additional link
May 14, 2016 Created by Vijay K. Jain Added new book.