From these general rules follow numerous special ones, regarding the life of the disciple of Jina. The duty of sacrifice forces him, on entrance into the order, to give up his possessions and wander homeless in strange lands, alms-vessel in hand, and, if no other duty interferes, never to stay longer than one night in the same place. The rule of wounding nothing means that he must carry three articles with him, a straining cloth, for his drinking water, a broom, and a veil before his mouth, in order to avoid killing insects. It also commands him to avoid all cleansing and washing, and to rest in the four months of the rainy season, in which animal and plant life displays itself most abundantly. In order to practice asceticism, it is the rule to make this time of rest a period of strictest fasts, most diligent study of the holy writings, and deepest meditation. This duty also necessitates the ascetic to pluck out in the most painful manner his hair which, according to oriental custom, he must do away with at his consecration--a peculiar custom of the Jainas, which is not found among other penitents of India.
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 Brâhmanic rules for penitents. The outward marks of the order closely resemble those of the Sannyâsin. 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 Brâhma[n.]s alone in ascetic self-torture, which Buddhism rejects; and specially characteristic is the fact that ancient Brâhmanism recommends starvation to its penitents as beneficial. [Footnote: An example may be found in Jacobi's careful comparison of the customs of the Brâhmanic and Jaina ascetics, in the beginning of his translation of the _Âchârâ[.n]ga Sûtra, S.B.E._, Vol. XXII, pp. xxi--xxix. In relation to the death by starvation of Brahmanical hermits and Sannyâsin, see Âpastamba, _Dharmasûtra_, 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".]