Sthanakavasilain Tradition

Sthanakavasi JainTradition Lonkagaccha(founded c. 1504);the Nagauri Lonkagaccha s (c. 1528);the Gujarati LonkagacchaMota Paks (Varsinha The origins of the Sthanakavasi(lit. hall-dweller) Svetam- 122, Paks,or KesavPaks) (c. 1555);and the Gujarati Lonkagac- bara Jain tradition can be traced to the Gujarati Jain re- former Lonka Sah,Lunka or Lumpaka (c. 1415-1489),who chaNana Paks(Kumvar Paks)(c. 1555). protested against the laxity of the contemporary Tapagac- In protestagainst the renaissanceof image-worshipand (lay) cha Murtipujak Svetambarafain mendicants,because their the renewed laxity of conduct of most Lonkagaccha conduct did not match the prescriptions of the oldest ascetics,five reformers-the so-calledpanca muni-split canonical texts. Lonka was the first layman who started a off from the KesavPaks. the Kumvar Paks.and the Ekal Pa- (a new religiousmovement within the ]ain tradition. Because triya Panth lay movement of unknown origin) in the he copied manuscriptsfor lain monks, he had unique ac- early sixteenth century and founded the principal cessto the fain scripturesand noticed that the oldest Sve- Sthanakavasimendicant traditions, which still exist today. tambara scripturesdo not mention the practiceof merit- The five traditions sharethree doctrinal characteristics:(1) making by giving money as religious gifts (dana) for the rejectionof image-worship,(2) strict asceticconduct in ac- construction of temples,nor the performance of image- cordancewith the prescriptionsin the thirty-two accepted worship (murti-puja) or similar ostentatiousrituals involv- fain scriptures,and (3) compulsoryuse of a mouthmask to ing the breaking of flowers and other actsof violence.On preventthe swallowingof living beingssuch as insectsand the contrary, the scripturesprescribed possessionlessness dust.The squarewhite mouthmaskis now the principal ex- and strict asceticism: nonviolence, self-restraint, and ternal feature of all Sthanakavasimendicants (the Tera- penance.Lonka, therefore, rejected both image-worship panth Svetambaramendicants use a rectangular blue and the authority of fourteen (or fifteen) of the forty-five mask).Sthanakavasi laity generallyreject material forms of canonical texts that contain referencesto it. He also de- worship (dravya) and practice only asceticism (tapas) and nounced the legitimacyof the existingimage-worshipping inner forms of worship (bhava), such as meditation monasticorders and startedto live asan uninitiated ascetic, (dhyana) and study (svadhyaya).Instead of images, they following the oldesttextual prescriptions himself. veneratethe mendicantsas living symbolsof the Jainideals. The surviving original sourcesfor Lonka'sbiography and They also practice daya dharma, the religious work of doctrine are not entirely reliable.But most textsagree that, compassionatehelp (dana) for animalsand human beings, in contrastto common practice,Lonka acceptedalms from in order to accumulate merit (punya) and thus to advance all castesbut no money, that he did not possessa mouth- on the path of salvation.These three typical forms of ritual mask (mukhavastrika),a stick (danda), or a broom (rajoha- practice are known under the titles guna puja, deva guru, rana), and that he practicedneither image-worshipnor the and dana-daya.In 1760,Muni Bhikhan,the founder of the fain rites of purification (pratikramana and posadha), TERAeANTHSvETAMBARA JAIN TRADITIoN, severedhim- which also involved elements of image-worship.Lonka self from the DharmadasaSthanakavasi tradition because quickly gaineda largefollowing among the ]ainsin . he rejectedmerit-making as such,in favor of a purely sal- Although he did not createa monastic order himself, he vation-orientedascetic style of life. laid down instructions for his followers.The original texts The SthanakavasiJain tradition is presentlydivided into were thought to be lost until 1964,when D. D. Malvaniya twenty-sixmendicant orders whose origins canbe tracedto claimedto haverediscovered them in the L. D. Institute li- one or more of the five principal reformers(kriya uddhara) brary in Ahmedabadin the form of two anonymouslywrit- of the aniconic lain tradition, although the available ten manuscripts:Lunka Na SaddahiyaAne Karya Atthavan sourcesare inconsistent: ( I ) Jivarajahas been made respon- Bolno and Lunka Na Hundi. sible for all crucial innovations of the Sthanakavasitradi- The Lonkagacchamendicant tradition was formed by tion, though some sourcesgive priority to Lava. He lived Lonka'sfirst disciple,Bhana, who apparentlyinitiated him- sometimebetween 1524 and 1641 (probably having been self and forty-five followersof Lonka'sdoctrine sometime born in Surat)and separatedhimself from the Kumvar Paks betweenl47l and 1476by acceptingthe five greatvows of in 1551,1609, or 1629.Apparently it was he who selected the Jainascetics (mahavrata).In the first decadesof the six- the thirty-two Svetambarascriptures that are now accepted teenth century the Lonkagacchasplit into severalmore or by all Sthanakavasis(possibly by adding the Vyavaharasutra lessorganized regional or revisionistLonkagaccha groups, or the Avasyakasutraor both to Lonka'slist, but there is no most of which comprisedlay-ascetics, or yatis,who did not compellingevidence), and who introducedthe mouthmask accept all of the live great vows or reverted to image- (muhapaxi), the rajoharan,and other paraphernaliaused worship.In the mid-sixteenthcentury, the Lonka tradition by present-daySthanakavasi mendicants. (2) Dharmasimha was split into more than thirteen independentbranches, (1599-1671) severedhimself from the Kumvar Paks in which further divided into separatesubgroups. Until the 1628, 1635, or 1644 in Dariyapuri in and demiseof the Lonkagacchyatis in the nineteenthand twen- founded the Ath Koti (eight class) tradition. He was a tieth centuries,only four branchessurvived: the Lahauri scholarand wrote vernacularcommentaries (tabbo) on the Sthanakavasi f ain Tradition s Prakrit Jain scriptures.He introduced a specialpratikra- groupsof the Dharmadasatradition: the faymalgaccha(fay- a222 mana rite for his lay followers and taught that there is no mal, 1708-1796;Rajasthan, 1748 or 1783);the Ratnavams accidentaldeath, because the lifespanof a living beingis de- (Ratnacandra,Rajasthan, 1796); the DharmadasaSampra- termined by its own karma. (3) Lava or Lavji Rsi (c. daya (Umesmuni, late twentieth century); and Upadhyay 1609-1659),the founder of the Dhundhiya (seeker)tradi- Amarmuni (1901-1992), the inspirational force behind the tion, alsoknown under the name Rsi Sampraday,was born modern Virayatan order, which was founded by SadhviCan- in Surat and split from the Kesav Paks in 1637, 1648, danain Ragriha,1974. 1653-i655, or 1657. ( ) The founder of the Baistola None of the Gujarati groupsjoined the Sramanasangha, (twenty-two schools)tradition, Dharmadasa(1645-1703) which is essentiallya Hindi-speakingorder. With the excep- from Ahmedabad,was originally a member of the Ekal Pa- tion of the Khambhat Sampradaya(Lava, Ahmedabad, triya Panth, but under the influence of Lava and Dhar- 1648) and the three Ath Koti traditions-the Dariyapuri masimha fbunded his own tradition in 1660through self- Ath Koti Sampradaya(Dharmasimha, Ahmedabad, 1628); initiation. (5) Hara, the ancestor of the Sadhumargi the Kacch Ath Koti Mota Paks (Krsna, originally Dhar- tradition (a branch of the extinct Kota Sampradaya),sepa- madasaSarnpraday, Kacch l7l5-1782); and the KacchAth rated himself from the Kumvar Paksin L668or 1728. Koti Nana Paks(fasraj, Kacch, 1786)-the majority of the The name sthanaka-vasl(hall-dwellers), though in evi- independent Sthanakavasitraditions in Gujarat descend dencein a text written in 1630,was not regularlyused as a from Mulacandra (1651-1725), one of Dharmadasa's common designationfor all five traditions until the unifica- twenty-two leading monks. Mulacandra'smain disciples tion movement of the early twentieth century.Doctrinally, formed separatelocal groupsafter a disputeat a mendicant only Dharmasimha'sAth Koti tradition in Gujarat dift'ers assemblyin 1788in Limbdi. Not all of the emerging Gu- significantly from the other four schools,which disagree jarati Dharmadasatraditions survived,and some of them only on minor points of philosophy and ritual. The split further into subgroupslabeled great(mota) and small Sthanakavasitraditions as a whole nowadays are divided (nana).The sevenprincipal orders of today are all named along regional lines between the Gujarati and the non- after the placeof origin that is alsotheir main seat:l.imbdi Gujarati (North Indian) traditions.The non-Gujaratitradi- Cha Koti Mota Paks(founded by Ajramar, Limbdi, 1788); tions are further subdividedinto those who foined the re- Limbdi Cha Koti Nana Paks(Hemcand and Gopal,Limbdi, formist and centrallyorganized Sramanasangha, which was 1859); Gondal Mota Paks (Dungarsi, Gondal, 1788); founded in 1952in Sadariin Rajasthanin a merely partially Gondal Sanghani(Ganga Svami, Gondal, 1794); Barvada successfulattempt to unite all Sthanakavasigroups, and (Mota Kahan,Barvada, 1788); (Jasa, Botad, c. 1850); those who remained outside or left the Sramanasangha. and Sayala(Naga, Sayla, 1772-1812). They arenot led by an Both the Sramanasanghaand the independent traditions electedadministrator cum teacher(acarya), like the inde- include mendicant orders that derive from four of the five pendenttraditions outside Gujarat,but by the male ascetic main Sthanakavasitraditions (the exception is the Ath Koti with the highestmonastic age,or diksaparyaya, who may tradition), which were split into somethirty-three different or may not be called acarya.His main decisionshave to organizedgroups at the beginningof the twentiethcentury. agreewith thoseofthe often hereditaryleader (sanghapati) Although they are nominally under the cornmand of one of the lay community. single acarya whose consent is essentialfor all initiations The overallnumber of Sthanakavasimendicants is much and excommunications(at present, AcaryaDr. Sivmuni), higher than generallyassumed. In 1999 there were 3,223 the original twenty-two founding traditions of the Sra- mendicants,533 sadhus,and 2,690 sadhvis-that is, 27.5 manasanghacontinue to operate within its framework percentof all fain mendicants,distributed in roughly equal more or lessindependently. proportionsamong the Sramanasangha(1,096), twelve In- Some rnonasticorders never joined the Sranranasangha, dependenttraditions (967),and the thirteenGujarati tradi- among them all GujaratiSthanakavasi traditions, the Inana- tions (1,160).The nationwideumbrella organization of the gacchaof the DharmadasaRamratna tradition (foundedby Sthanakavasilaity, the AII SvetambaraSthanakavasi fnanacandra, Uljain 1732),and the Nanakgacchaof the Ii- Jain Conference,the motivating force behind the move- varajatradition (Nanakram,eighteenth century). Because of ment toward unity, was founded in 1906in Morvi in Gu- perpetual discord betweenthe founding traditions, many jarat, but it split in 1984 into two independentorganiza- disappointedsenior asceticsleft the Sramanasanghaagain tions becauseof the irreconcilable differencesin ritual, and establishedtheir own independent groups: Muni culture,and languagebefiveen Gujarati- and Hindi-speaking Hagamilal, and the modernist Arhat Sangha(Susilkumar Sthanakavasitraditions. 1926-1994,New lersey, 1974) of the fivaraja tradition; the MayaramSampradaya (Mayaram, 1854-1912) of the north- Addresses: ern Lavatradition; AcaryaNar-ralal of the Hara Sadhumargi Akhil BharatvarsiyaSvetambara Sthanakavasi tradition (Hukmicand, early nineteenthcentury); and fbur fain Conference(Hindi) Subud

lain Bhavan possibility to surrender completely to the will of God). s 12Sahid Bhagat Singh Marg Takentogether, Susila Budhi Dharmd means:to follow the r27t NewDelhi 101001 will of God, or the power of the life force that works both India within us and without. Although religious terminology is frequently used, Subud is not seenas a religion-indeed, Conference Akhil BharatvarsiyaSvetambara Sthanakavasi fain membersof many different religions,or no religion at all, (Gujarati) practicethe latihan.Bapak emphasized that Subud has"no I VijayVallabh Cauk holy book, no teaching,no sacredformula. . . . In Subudthe Paydhuni 400 002 membersonly surrenderwith patience,trust, and sincerity India to Almighty God."Subud is a "process,"a "receiving."Bapak instructedhis followersthat there should be no proselytiz- PeterFlilgel ing or advertisingin Subud; he also recommended that thereshould be no membershipfees. Sources: The latihan lasts about half an hour and is practiced Fltigel,Peter. "Protestantische und Post-ProtestantischeJain twice a week.It involvesstanding with a group of people Reformbewegungen:Zur Geschichteund Organisationder (men and women practice separately).Some feel a vibra- SthanakavasiIl' BerlinerIndologische Studien 13-14 (2000): tion; most begin to feel a spontaneousimpulse to move, 37-103. dance,utter sounds,or sing.This is experiencedas an inner "Protestantische und Post-ProtestantischeJain cleansingand a receivingof divine guidance,which spills Reformbewegungen:Zur Geschichteund Organisationder over into the participant's everydaylife. Practitioners report Sthanakavasilll' BerlinerIndologische Studien l5-16 (2002). feeling happier,enjoying improved personalrelationships, Hastimal,Acarya. Iain Dharma Ka Maulik ltihas.Vol. 4. Jaypur: health, and work experiences.For some, however, the lain Itihas Samiti, 1987,1995. Hastimal, Acarya, comp. Pattavali Prabandh Sangraha.Edited by processof purification brings out problemsthat haveto be NarendraBhanawat. Jalpur: ]ain ItihasNirman Samiti, 1968. dealtwith-an experiencethat can be difficult and painful. Jnanasundara,Munl SrintadLnumkasah. Phalodi: Sri Jnana Only members may attend the latihan; newcomers have Puspamala,1936. to wait about three months before being invited to join. Malvaniya,D. "Lokasah Aur Unki Vicar-Dhara." In Gurudev Sri Then, with the assistanceof a helper,they can be "opened" RatnaMuni Smrti-Granth,edited byVijay Muni Sastriand by partaking in their first latihan. HarisankarSarma, pp. 365-383.Agra: Gurr.rdev Smrti Granth Subud has been establishedin the West since the late PrakasakSamiti, 1964. 1950s,when it attracted the attention of severalfollowers of Manilal, PracinSanksipt ltihas Ane Muni. Sri laindharmano Gurdjieff. Worldwide, membership is now estimated as PrabhuVir Panatali.Amadavad: ChaganlalSanghvi, fivanlal around ten thousand in more than seventycountries, with 1934. about twenty-five hundred in the United States and one thousand in the UK. Although somehave left at various peri- ods,numbers have been sustained, with somesecond-gener- Subud ation membersrequesting to join when they reachthe mini- Subudwas founded in Indonesiaaround the late 1920sby a mum ageof seventeen.Throughout the years,several Subud favaneseMuslim named Muhammad Subuh Sumohadi- businesseshave been established,not all ofwhich havebeen widjojo (1901-1987),whose followers call him "Bapakj'an financially successful.Nonetheless, Subud has sustainedvari- Indonesianterm of respectand affectionmeaning "father." ous charitableprojects under the name of SusilaDharma In- From the ageof about sixteen,Muhammad Subuh received ternational,which has a UN-affrliated status. a number of spiritual messages.He worked asa bookkeeper Address: and studied with severalspiritual masters (kiai) before re- ceivingthe latihan kejiwaan,the spiritualexercise of Subud, InternationalSubud Conrmittee jl. TegalHarum No. I as a revelationin 1925.Around 1933 some of Bapak's Denpasar80237 friends receivedthe latihan, and the practiceslowly spread Bali throughout a small group,guided by Bapak,started an Java; Indonesia (esoteric organizationcalled Ilmu spiritual knowledge)Ka- http://www.isc.or.id/ sunyatan(emptiness). The name Subud,introduced by Bapakat the inaugural Eileen Barker meeting of the new organizationin 1947,is derived from threeSanskrit terms: susila (to be ableto live astrue human Sources: beingsaccording to the will of God); budhi (endeavor,the Geels,Antoon. Subudnnd thelawnese Mysticol Traditiotr. power of the intellect,or consciousness);and dharma (the Richmond,UK: Curzon, 1997.