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To follow Jainism for example, one's entire Life needs to be changed. including dietary habits. Thus, there is no separate category of "religion" as distinct from daily life.
8. Religious Rivalry
In India, polemic debates among several philosophies of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism have rarely turned into violent wars and battles as is the case in the Western religions. Similarly in China, for the most periods, Buddhism co-existed harmoniously with Taoism and Confucianism. In Japan, as we saw above, Buddhism existed with Shintoism. However, the Western history has several incidences of Crusades, Jihads, and anti-Semitism.
From these above eight themes, we can now conclude that it may be preferable not to call any Asian tradition as religion. It may be better to situate Jainism also as a dharmic tradition instead of referring it as a religion. <>
Jatta Biennial JAINA Convention 2007
Photograph by Thomas Dix
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