Ahimsa Crisis You Decide

SR No.: 007754
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Sulekh C Jain
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy
Publication Year: 2016
Total Pages: 328
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, D000, & D005
File Size: 6 MB

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Foreword by Philip Clayton
There is nothing so small and subtle as the atom or any element as vast as space. Similarly, there is no quality of soul more subtle than non-violence and no virtue of spirit greater than reverence for life.
(Bhagwan Mahavir) Whether conscious of it or not, every individual person is on a spiritual quest. Every man and woman has emotional and bodily desires; each has beloved family and friends; each naturally seeks to find comfort and avoid pain. The spiritual quest has everything to do with how we respond to these desires. Specifically, we have two choices. We can choose to focus on our own good—letting pursuit of our own pleasure and convenience be our god—or we can focus primarily on the good of others. Then, as we learn lift our eyes beyond ourselves toward others, we face a second choice: will it be only the good of our friends and family that we live for, or will it be the good of all living beings? The heart of An Ahimsa Crisis is about these two choices. Many people today devote their lives to their own pleasure and gain, without regard for the costs to other persons and other living things. By contrast, the Jain way of life calls each one to set aside his or her ego and self-interest. No religion, East or West, has grasped the radical nature of this call as fully as has the Jain tradition. To escape from karma, to embody compassion, we must live in such a way that no living thing is harmed and that the good of others is advanced by our lives. The life that does no harm is the life of ahimsa. Each of us must decide. Recall the classic poem by William Arthur Dunkerley To every man there openeth a way, and ways, and a way, And the high soul climbs the high way, An Ahimsa Crisis: You Decide
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