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15th Biennial JAINA Convention 2009
Ecology - The Jain Way
of being a profound statement of awareness, its recitation can become an empty ritual in a foreign language.
Part of the genius of the Jain tradition over the centuries has been the ability of Jains to adapt to new cultural and linguistic settings. I would like to make a friendly proposal that both the language and the performance of Sat Lakh could be adapted to a form that would be more meaningful for Jains outside of India. This could also help Jains advance their program of becoming a more compassionately aware religious community
. How does our Meeting learn about
environmental concerns and then act in the community on its concerns? How am I helping to develop a social, economic, and political system which will nurture an environment which sustains and
enriches life for all? . Am I aware of the place of water, air, and soil
in my life? Do I consider with care the necessity of purchasing substances hazardous to the environment? Do I act as a faithful steward of the environment in the use and disposal of such hazardous substances?
Jains in North America might want to consider The Quaker Queries, I propose, might provide a borrowing a practice from the Religious Society of model for adapting Sat Lakh and other elements Friends (more commonly known as the Quakers). of Pratikraman to a new context. The Friends are a small Christian denomination that, like the Jains, places a high emphasis on . How in body, speech or mind have I caused non-violence. While there are only several harm to the 700,000 species of earth bodies? hundred-thousand Friends in the world, in the . How in body, speech or mind have I caused past several centuries they have had an influence harm to the 700,000 species of water bodies? for justice far beyond their small numbers.
How in body, speech or mind have I caused
harm to the 400,000 species of five-sensed Since the time of George Fox, the British Friend plant and animal bodies? who founded the Society in the seventeenth . How does our Sangh learn about century, Friends have regularly assessed their environmental concerns and then act in the spiritual state through the regular use of 'queries.' community on its concerns? These are questions that guide a Friend in a . How am I as a Jain helping to develop a social, process of self-reflection, by which a person economic, and political system which will reflects on the Quaker ideals and how better to let nurture an environment which sustains and them guide his or her life. In recognition of the enriches life for all 8,400,000 forms of fact that social and cultural contexts change, the existence? content of the Queries has also changed over the years, and each regional Yearly Meeting develops I expect that it would be an exercise in which its own set of Queries depending on its specific many North American Jains would be excited to circumstances. In recent decades each Yearly participate. Such a text could also provide Meeting has included a number of Queries that guidelines for each Sangh as Jains continue to are concerned with environmental issues. For integrate ecology and compassionate living the example, among the Queries of the Philadelphia Jain way.' Yearly Meeting are the following: (www.pym.org/publish/fnp/10 queries.php)
Are the decisions of the Meeting and its committees relating to the uses of property, goods, services, and energy made with sensitivity toward the environmental impact of these choices?
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