Ahimsa Crisis You Decide

Author(s): Sulekh C Jain
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

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the ecological worldview is a rediscovery of this ancient Jain teaching In another sense, however, this book accomplishes something far more significant. Not only does it call Jains back to their true heritage; it also shows how the pursuit of ahimsa is relevant to all human beings: Indian or Western, Hindu or Christian, atheist or believer in God. As Dr. Jain writes, “To injure any living being in one's thought, speech, or action constitutes violence, or himsa... Harm caused by carelessness for ignorance, we might add] is as reprehensible as harm caused by deliberate action.” For hundreds of years Jains have defined themselves by their ethnic heritage, their language, and their unique culture within the diversity that is India. But if ahimsa is the heart of Jainism, then Ahimsaks across the globe are Jains at heart. Religions that place non-violence at the center are brothers and sisters: the "peace traditions” within Christianity, such as the Mennonites; Quakers, with our strong commitment to non-violence; most serious Buddhist practitioners; and many, many others, whatever their race or creed. At the heart of this book is a truly revolutionary claim:
At the deepest spiritual level, Jainism is nothing morebut also nothing less—than the way humans must live when we realize that all living things form a single interdependent web of life. What was revealed by Lord Mahavira and practiced by innumerable Jain sadhus through the centuries, we now recognize, is the goal and ideal toward which all humans must strive. In our day, Jainism has become the world religion. All enlightened persons must be Jains in this, the broadest sense of the term.
To recognize the himsa in one's own heart and gently, step by step, to eradicate it from thought and action, as the Jain sages have taught—this is the very center of the spiritual quest. In these days when humans are rapidly destroying Mother Earth
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An Ahimsa Crisis: You Decide