Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 22.djvu/61

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ÂKÂRÂṄGA SÛTRA.


FIRST BOOK[1].
FIRST LECTURE[2],
CALLED KNOWLEDGE OF THE WEAPON.

First Lesson[3].

O long-lived (Gambûsvâmin[4])! I (Sudharman) have heard the following discourse from the venerable (Mahâvîra):

Here many do not remember whether they have descended in an eastern direction (when they were born in this world), or in a southern, or in a western, or in a northern direction, or in the direction from above, or in the direction from below, or in a direction intermediate (between the cardinal points), or in a direction intermediate between these (and the


  1. Suyakkhamdha, srutaskandha.
  2. Agghayana, adhyayana. The first lecture is called sattha-parinnâ (sastra-parigñâ),'knowledge of the weapon.' Weapons are divided into material weapon and weapon consisting in a state (bhâva). The latter is explained to be non-control (asamyama) or the wrong use of mind, speech, and body. Knowledge (parigñâ) is twofold: comprehension and renunciation. The subject of the first lecture is, therefore, the comprehension and renunciation of everything that hurts other beings.
  3. Uddesaya, uddesaka.
  4. Gambûsvâmin was the disciple of Sudharman, one of the eleven chief disciples (ganadhara) of Mahâvira.
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