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FOOD, SHOES AND PENCILS - AHIMSA IN OUR DAILY LIFE by Smriti Shah
t's the end of the spring semester and crunch time for final exams. Raj, Tina, Abhi, Vishal, Nick, Ben and Steven are floor mates. This tightknit group frequently studies together on the second floor lounge, often gets coffee together and looks out for one another. It's 7:00pm and you can hear their stomachs growling. They pack up their books and see Tom, Steven's roommate, walking by. Tina invites Tom to join them for dinner. Tom makes an excuse for not going with them and walks away. Steven makes a comment to the group, you know Tom's been skipping meals and hasn't been able to concentrate on his work. He sleeps a lot. Raj asks the group to wait a minute and heads towards Tom. Raj in his inquisitive way asks Tom about dinner and Tom says he just isn't hungry. The group heads to the dining hall down the street.
Program (TCCOP). She meets Sheela and Nina in the front and asks if they have everything. They unload their cars and set the tables with bagels, orange juice and fruit. The residents are waiting anxiously for them to finish. Rita says, "Good morning." The residents line up quickly and grab their breakfast. Nina notices Anna, one of the residents. She comments to Sheela and Rita, "Have you noticed that Anna wears the same shirt and pair of pants every week." Sheela notices her shoes and says, "Anna really needs a pair of new shoes. How can she be comfortable in the tattered shoes?" Rita noticed Orlando doesn't have a good pair of shoes either. Orlando has lived in this shelter for at least eight years. The supervisor at the shelter has often mentioned that Orlando hasn't spoken a single word since he has been here. The three ladies huddled by the coffee pot and started guessing their shoes sizes.
Raj knows that towards the end of the semester many of his friends have run out of meal points and will ask, "Hey, can you swipe me in". Raj thought, maybe Tom didn't have any meal points left. The next day at breakfast, Raj asks Tom to join them and asks, "Come on, it's on me". Tom looks at the floor and just utters "No, you go ahead." That afternoon, Raj asks Tom to come to Target with him to buy some snacks for their evening study session. Tom agrees. They take the bus to Target. Raj asks what if we get some bread, peanut butter, jelly and granola bars. Tom says that sounds good. Raj pays for the groceries and as they walk out the door, Raj hands the bags to him. Tom grabs the bags as they continue walking to the bus stop trying to be helpful. On the bus, Raj tells Tom, "Buddy, this is for you. We have two weeks left and you need to eat something and pass the finals. You don't have to say anything." Tom was astonished and had tears in his eyes.
2015
JAINA Convention
It's 7:00am on Thursday and Rita is driving through some tough traffic on her way to the homeless shelter. This is her routine every Thursday along with two other volunteers of Tender Care Community Outreach
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The following Thursday, Rita brought two shoeboxes, size 6 ladies flats and size 8 men's loafers. Rita gives the shoe box to Anna. She at first looked blanked faced and was quite surprised to receive new pair of shoes. She tried them on but did not say anything and walked away. Rita observed here putting the shoes away neatly in her bag. Rita started to wonder why she isn't wearing the shoes. Did they not fit her? Anna spoke no English so how could she find out. She asked one of the supervisors at the shelter and he said that the shoes fit her and she was so grateful that she will take them to church on Sunday first and then start wearing them.
Every week, Nina greets each of the residents she meets with a smile and "Good Morning". Each week, Orlando just stares at her and keeps walking. This morning, Nina gives the size 8 shoes to Orlando who takes the box, looks at Nina but does not say anything and walks off to his room. The following week, again Nina says, "Good Moming". Orlando's eyes look straight at Nina and he utters, "Good Morning." The
Jainism World of Non-Violence
TCCOP volunteers, staff, and residents look on in amazement that Orlando spoke after so many years. TCCOP of Anekant Community Center (ACC) is active through Jain Center of Southern California. The group of volunteers assists local community members, homeless shelters and schools through the following activities:
Meals - Provides weekly breakfast and monthly Lunches and Dinner to Homeless people in Southern California
Service - volunteers help and spend time with senior and community members who are sick in the hospitals, senior homes and/or Hospice.
Organize Drives - collect and distribute school supplies, toys, gently used clothing, non-perishable food items with local charities
Maria, General Manager, of a large multi-national corporation often travels internationally to attend meetings and conferences. She plans to travel
to India. Her company sponsors twenty schools including schools for orphans. She had heard the children at these schools needed pencils. She had a conversation with her children about buying pencils for and distributing them herself at the schools. Her children noticed that in their room, there were many packs of pencils, markers and crayons which were still unopened. They decided to donate these to the children. Maria's children also started collections at their school. The word also spread through the offices of Maria's division and employees started bringing not only pencils but other school supplies. Before the end of the week, there were piles of pencils, markers, crayons, paper, and other school supplies outside of Maria's office. While on her flight to India, Maria felt truly humbled and inspired by the generosity of her children, their classmates and her colleagues. This conversation with her kids initiated a nationwide effort that resulted in 6 suitcases and 6 boxes of contributed
school supplies...literally hundreds of pounds.
What do these stories of food, shoes and pencils have in common? These are simple examples of ahimsa. In very simple terms, Ahimsa is DO NO HARM (dukh)...do no harm to any living being by your thoughts, speech or body/actions. If you are able to, provide happiness (sukh), friendship and practice compassion.
Why practice compassion?
"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion." - Dalai Lama
"Compassion to others is compassion to one's self." - Bhagwan Mahavira
Compassion, a pillar of Jain religion, is the basis for ahimsa, a core virtue. Compassion is an emotion that we feel in response to the suffering of others that motivates a desire to help. The etymology of "compassion" in Latin, meaning "co-suffering," it is more than empathy; it is a desire to alleviate or reduce another's suffering. It is not pity but to understand the pain and unhappiness that others are experiencing. We are ingrained to have compassion to all living beings, whether a friend, a foe or a stranger. It is one of the few practices that will bring immediate and long term happiness to our lives.
There are physical, emotional and spiritual benefits of practicing compassion. There are scientific studies that suggest there are physical benefits to practicing compassion - people who practice it produce more DHEA, a hormone that counteracts the aging process, and less cortisol, the "stress hormone." The main benefit is that compassion helps you to be happier, and brings others around you to be more happy. If we agree that it is a common aim of each of us to strive to be happy, then compassion is one of the main tools for achieving that happiness. It is therefore important that we cultivate compassion in our lives and practice compassion every day.
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