poor (Vastra puṇya) and especially to monks, as the following legend teaches. Once upon a time a rich merchant's wife saw some monks shivering with cold, and made them blankets of cloth of gold out of some magnificent material she had byhen As a recompense she became in her next birth Marudevī, the mother of the first Tirthankara Ṛiṣabhadeva, and attained mokṣa in the same incarnation.
iv.
Layaṇa
and
v. Śayana
puṇya.Another legend illustrates the reward gained by any one, even a heretic, for building or lending a house to a monk (Layaṇa puṇya), or providing seats, beds or bedding (Śayana puṇya). A potter named Śakaḍāla, a follower of Gośāla, once saw Mahāvīra enter his village and approach his dwelling. At first he thought of not inviting Gośāla's great opponent into his house, but seeing Mahāvīra's divine qualities, he at length asked him in and gave him lodgings and a bed. (He could not offer food, as a'sādhu may not eat at the house where he stays.) In return Mahāvīra taught Śakaḍāla the law and converted him to the true faith, and he became a devoted Śrāvaka in this life and after death a god. Being reincarnated as a man, he became a'sādhu and so reached mokṣa.
vi. Mana
puṇya.By thinking well of every one and wishing them well we gain Mana puṇya, and vii. Śarīra
puṇya.by exerting ourselves to render them service or to save life we accumulate Kāya or Śarīra punya, as the following history shows. In a certain forest there was a small clearing, and once, when a terrible fire raged in the wood, all the animals rushed to this spot, and it became dangerously overcrowded. Even the mighty elephant had taken refuge there, and as he happened to raise his foot to change his position a hare ran under it. The elephant saw at once that if he put his foot down he would crush the hare, and in that crowded space there was not another place to which the hare could possibly move. So the elephant continued to hold his foot in the air for hours and hours, until at last, worn out, he fell to the ground and died. Immediately he was reincarnated as the son of a mighty
