JAINA Convention 1993 07 Pittusburgh

Author(s): Federation of JAINA
Publisher: USA Federation of JAINA

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farms. We can also support organic farmers by selectively purchasing their produce, and buy various cosmetics and other consumables that have not been consumer-safety tested on animals, and which contain no ingredients of animal origin.
But as predominantly urban-dwelling consumers, often employed in industry-related businesses that value economic growth and material profit over environmental and animal protection (and even over consumer protection and worker safety), there seems to be no escape: No alternative but to be part of a culture that is the antithesis of ahimsa.
There are, however, some choices that we are still free to make in accordance with the doctrine of ahimsa. And every choice that we make is a vote that will make a difference, like choosing to eat less meat or to become a vegetarian; to have a small, fuel- efficient car; to recycle household and office trash; to buy "cruelty-free" toiletries. The choices are many once we become more vigilant, informed and dedicated to live as best we can in gentler ways that cause less harm to others and the natural world.
Certainly we must exploit life in order to sustain our own. In natural ecosystems, one life supports another. The entire plant-animal food-chain reveals how interdependent each life form is and how each life gives as much as it takes so that ecological balance is preserved, and the system remains sustainable and self-renewing.
We have been slow to apply these scientific findings and natural laws to modern agriculture and other industries. It is noteworthy that in every healthy (balanced) ecosystem, every life- form therein plays an integral role and even if it takes another's life, it still causes more good than harm to the life community within that system. But since the human species is less constrained than other creatures and has the powers of free-will and dominion to act
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outside of natural law, we must, for the good of the whole and for our own good, apply the guiding principle of ahimsa to help ensure that when we exercise these powers, we cause more good than harm to the life community.
The cultural assimilation of the doctrine of ahimsa is the hallmark of a truly humane society. We have much work to do to help lay this foundation for such a society. That we will never enjoy it in this lifetime is no reason for us not to begin to build our own lives around the doctrine of ahimsa, for the good of all and for generations to come.
Animals have served many human needs over hundreds of thousands of years. They have variously provided us with food, shelter, social status, clothing, labor (as for draft work, pulling ploughs, carts and sleds), and have served loyally as companions and guards of home and livestock. Many animals, especially dogs, have heroically saved their human companions from accidental drowning or fire, to being buried alive under an avalanche, or suffering under the burden of loneliness and depression.
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Our demands upon animals have increased rather than decreased over the millennia as human society has become more industrialized, if not actually more civilized. Should we not forfeit any presumed entitlement over them so long as we continue to cause them any physical injury or psychological harm that could be avoided without resulting in any comparable injury or harm to ourselves? The following examples of widespread animal cruelty and suffering clearly illustrate that our power of dominion over them is beingabused and that without concerted effort, contemporary society will continue its ethical and spiritual decline, and suffer the consequences.
The meat, eggs and dairy products we consume come mainly from animals raised in cruel factory farms where they are either stressed out and made susceptible to disease by extreme overcrowding in cages or pens, or are so confined alone in crates or stalls that they can neither walk nor turn around. Until these systems are changed to provide animals. with environments that better meet their physical and psychological needs, we owe it to them not to support such inhumane production methods by eating less or no animal products from factory farms; by selectively purchasing produce from farmers and ranchers who have adopted less intensive and more humane methods of livestock and poultry production; or by becoming vegetari
ans.
Many other consumables, from household cleaners to cosmetics and other toiletries, have been safety-tested on animals, these laboratory tests often resulting in great suffering. Concerned consumers purchase products that are either clearly marked as not having been tested on animals, or buy old tried and true brands rather than "new and improved" products that have most likely been tested on animals. The suffering of animals for such trivial ends cannot be justified. Many compassionate consumers go one step further and boycott any products that contain animal ingredients, like perfumes that contain animal musk oil and soaps and cosmetics that contain animal fat (tallow) and oils.
Items of adornment, from fur coats to leather goods and jewelry made from various animal products are avoided by those who care for animals. Furs come from wild animals that are caught and suffer great anguish in steel jaw traps and snares: or from wild animals raised in small cages on fur farms where conditions are no better than on cruel factory farms. Other animal products come from rare and endangered wild animals that are killed merely for their ivory,
"Greed begets hatred and hatred begets violence and violence begets death." -The Persian prophet, Zoroaster
7TH BIENNIAL JAINA CONVENTION - JULY 1993 For Private & Personal Use Only