Ahimsa Crisis You Decide

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

Page 76

but Jains also hope that attitudinal changes will accompany practice. A practitioner hopes to reach a state of consciousness where he realizes that he is not his possessions, his body, or even his mental states. Moreover, a new awareness of "a strong feeling of identification with all living beings” and the realization that “every living being possesses a soul that may be capable of attaining omniscience” accompany practice as well. In turn, this awareness of the basic worth of all beings, and of one's kinship with them, generates a feeling of great compassion...for others.” Jains, then, begin with a desire to end their perpetual rebirth into suffering bodies, and arrive at a place of deep compassion for all living things through attitudinal changes that accompany the practice of ahimsa. Professor Gary Francione says, “I consider the principle of ahimsa to be the principle of democracy of existence of all life forms. In my opinion, anekanatavada —the Jain principle that no single point of view affords the complete truth —does not give us the freedom to choose a different interpretation of ahimsa. Ahimsa has only one meaning.” According to Jainism, ahimsa is every person's dharma (duty). It is to be practiced all the time with all the energies of the practitioner. It is not for sermons and preaching. It is for practice. Having understood the basis and the definition of ahimsa, now we turn our attention to the types, classification, and intensity of himsa, and to how ahimsa is committed and practiced.
THE TWO TYPES OF AHIMSA The practice of ahimsa can be eitherpassive, which is manifested by not causing harm to others in any shape or form (also known as “live and let live”), or active, proactive or positive, which evidenced in the principle of helping to alleviate the suffering of others to the best of one's ability (also known as “live and help others to live”). In this sense, ahimsa means that when an act of himsa is being committed, one cannot be a mere bystander or spectator.
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An Ahimsa Crisis: You Decide