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fellow Jain, one will be asking if he is a vegetarian or a nonvegetarian Jain. Dr. Brianne Donaldson, noted Jain scholar, wrote the following call for action: “I want to hear everyone talking about Jainism. I want religion and philosophy departments teaching it. I want ecologists and agricultural technicians exploring its sustainability models. I want animal ethicists investigating it. I want metaphysicians engaging its textual and cosmological claims. I want economics departments examining its charitable giving and solvency. I want diplomats, nonviolent practitioners and just war theorists scrutinizing it as a viable political way of life. In short, I want it on the lips of every discipline, colliding with existing wisdom, challenging epistemological strongholds, and generally throwing a wrench into any sentiment that would dismiss as impractical the possibilities of humans living in a fundamentally different manner in our current and future worlds.” I hope and pray that we are listening to her. I want to close this chapter with a clarion reminder from an American musician John Denver, who wrote,
“Yes there still is time to turn around
And make all hatred cease Let's give another name to living
And we can call it peace.”
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An Ahimsa Crisis: You Decide
