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AHIMSA
69
cruelty towards the full range of animals that are tortured and killed, not just for food and medicine, but also for producing things of comfort and beautification. When we resolve not to harm one-sensed living organisms we will avoid careless exploitation of the material resources available in nature.
The life-style proposed here is completely and intimately connected with mutually sustainable interaction with nature and environment. This is what conservation ethics is all about. This unique way of living shows the path of spiritual as well as mundane development that avoids disturbing the fragile dynamic balance of the ecology of this planet.
Achārānga establishes ahimsā as a universal and eternal truth. Ahimsā as elaborated in Achārānga does not stop at philanthropy. It proposes universal fraternity for all life-forms and extends to matter. It is a fundamental principle applicable to all facets of life and all dimensions of the physical world. It is not just about feelings; it is also about the balance in the physical universe. Anything conducive to balance is ahimsā.
These are some examples selected from the first chapter of Achārānga. Although the book was written more than two millennia ago by Jain thinkers, if the whole book is studied from an ecological point of view it appears as if it has been written by modern environmentalists on the basis of profound study and with great care. The need of the hour is that rising above the traditional bias, modern Jain thinkers and scholars conduct unbiased and multidimensional research on this and other scriptures. This would indeed be a beneficial and important contribution towards the beatitude of mankind, or indeed, the entire world of the living.
Respect and understanding
Mahāvīra said that “as long as one holds on to one of the many aspects of a thing while at the same time rejecting or ignoring other aspects, one can never reach the truth.”
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