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CONDUCT
C08 - Application of Nonviolence
Medical reasons: Alcohol injures every cell it comes in contact with. With every drink of alcohol, one loses brain cells leading to chronic memory loss and possibly Alzheimer's disease. It enhances GABA, an inhibitory neurotransmitter. It weakens glutamine, an excitatory neurotransmitter. The net result is sluggishness or decreased mental faculty and therefore alcohol is classified as a central nervous system depressant. Alcohol causes cirrhosis of liver, esophageal cancer, pancreatitis, malnutrition, accidents, suicides, and many other diseases. One also has trouble with his/her senses, including a feeling of numbness, blurred vision, and trouble with hearing and taste. Social reasons: 8% of the US population suffers from alcohol abuse and/or alcohol dependence. This number does not include social drinkers. The human brain has the power to think, analyze, and speak. Alcohol alters all three. This is the basic cause of alcohol-related social problems including domestic violence, aggressive behavior, anger, violence, sexual abuse and rape, broken families, ruined careers, and binge drinking and its associated problems. 05 Refraining from Consumption of Honey Along with refraining from consumption of alcoholic beverages and meat, refraining from consumption of honey is also very important for following the vow of nonviolence. The use of honey invariably entails the destruction of life of bees. It is also clear that even if a person uses honey obtained without killing honeybees, it still involves violence because living beings are still killed which are spontaneously born within the honey. It is important to note that it takes nearly a million bees to create 1 pound of honey. 06 Conscious Consumer The three fundamental principles of Jainism are Ahimsä (non-violence), Anekantaväda (multiplicity of view-points) and Aparigraha (non-attachment/non-possessiveness). If, in a 3-legged stool, one leg is broken, the stool will fall. The leg we will pay the most attention to and try to fix is the broken one. Ahimsä is one of the main tenets of Jainism and the one that affects all forms of life: those that can speak for themselves-(human beings), and those that cannot (animals and plants.) Followers of Ahimsä make sure that they do not hurt animals or are not involved in the killing of animals for any reason. If one asks a little child, "Where does meat come from?" The answer is often the supermarket. It is easy to explain that meat, fish, lobsters, etc. come directly from killing living beings. It is often difficult, however, to find out where all the ingredients of a product came from or how the product was tested. For example, shampoos do not specify where all the ingredients came from (animal by-products or not). They also do not mention whether they have tested these products on animals like rabbits. Often, shampoo drops are put in their eyes to see if they tear up. Would we use a shampoo like that? Probably not! As educated consumers, we try to understand where these things come from. When someone gives us something, we ask, "What is it? If someone asks us to eat something, askew ask. "What is it?" In the same way, if we are asked to use a product, we should also ask, "Where does it come from?" As Jains, we should make a conscious effort to avoid all forms of animal exploitation, harm, and cruelty. This may include avoidance of all animal-based food products including animal and fish flesh, dairy products, gelatin, and many other foods. This also includes not wearing clothes containing animalderived ingredients like leather, silk, and fur, and avoiding usage of any household products that have been tested on animals like many soaps, shampoos, cosmetics, etc.
Compendium of Jainism - 2015
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