Introduction to Jainism

Author(s): Rudi Jansma, Sneh Rani Jain
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

Page 63

AHIMSĀ
61
our life that it became our second nature. Today the separate identity of that environmental foundation appears to have been lost. Time took its toll. In the form of ritualistic cults, we were left with mere skeletal remains of the true philosophy of life.
I would like to give an example here. Care in disposal of waste has been included in the five cares (called samitis) which form the essential part of the first and primary Jain vow of ahimsā. We never tried to assess why so much importance was given to such a routine activity. Even today it has not been elaborated beyond its ritual and traditional spiritual role. We now know that one of the prime causes of environmental degradation is careless release of polluting waste into the atmosphere. This includes normal as well as industrial waste.
Forget about what we failed to do. Should we not think of elaborating such pointers and extending the scope of their application from individual to social, national and international levels?
Anyway, all is not lost, even today if we remove the dust of ostentatious rituals we can find practical solutions to the problems. But it is easier said than done. Serious and sincere efforts will have to be made because that remote life style and its philosophy will have to be reshaped to suit the changed conditions. It will have to be presented in the form and language modern society can understand and easily follow.
Accepting life in plants, abstention from destroying any life form, giving importance to discipline and selfrestraint at individual and social levels, pursuing pacification of animosity and aggression, and nurturing universal fraternity and compassion are some of the inherent attributes of the Jain way of life that make it environment friendly. Now that the Jain way of life has been contaminated and environmental degradation has acquired awesome dimensions, it has become pertinent to see and examine every facet of Jain religion in the context of environment.