The Jain monks mock the Way

The Jain monks mock the Way with their appearance, with their long nails and their filthy clothes, or else naked and with disheveled hair, enslaving themselves with their doctrine of release.

If by nakedness one is released, then dogs and jackals must be so. If from absence of hair there comes perfection, then the hips of maidens must be so.

If from having a tail there comes release, then for the peacock and yak it must be so. If wisdom consists in eating just what one finds, then for elephant and horse it must be so.

For these Jain monks there is no release, Saraha says. Deprived of the truth of happiness, they do but afflict their own bodies.

Saraha, Saraha’s Treasury of Songs