JAINA Convention 2009 07 Los Angeles

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

Page 99

15th Biennial JAINA Convention 2009
request small portions of whatever food the family offers, no matter the taste. (This is to make sure that no extra dish was made for the Sadhuji or Sadhviji, to further ensure that not even a single unnecessary drop of water was used to wash an 'extra pot' to make food for the Sadhus or Sadhvijis, to prevent them from harming even water, a one-sensed being). Their lifestyle is a perfect example of economic and environmental planning at its best. To live one's entire life with such a minimal negative impact is virtually unheard of, and it is here that we can truly see an apparent parallel between non-violent living and green living.
Jainism also has a positive impact on the health and social realms. It is widely known that being vegetarian is much better for one's health than a carnivorous or omnivorous diet. The elimination of rooted vegetables from our diet, which we are supposed to do as Jains anyway, is also much better for our health. There is less research on this, but many Homeopathic and Allopathic philosophies support this, and different (non-Jain based) health treatment centers in India have already recognized this and prohibit their patients from consuming the root vegetables. In addition to this, Jainism advises strict regulation of our non-religious activities, which include our favorite time wasters - TV, computers, magazines, gossiping with friends, or whatever else many of us use to 'decompress.' Most of these activities are highly sedentary and are linked to an increase in the consumption of unhealthy foods, and especially mental stress if we are not careful.
We know that stress is a serious trigger, if not the root cause, of many of our major illnesses today. We are overworked, constantly concerned about 'securing our future' or our friends and family, and often complain about the daily stresses of life and about not having much time for ourselves. We all know that it is nearly impossible to free ourselves from these stresses, and the people who have freed themselves have done so not by wealth or by power, but by developing a coping system as well as an understanding of life and their roles. Jainism can play a key role in developing this in ourselves. Graduating from the School of Social Ecology at my university, I am all too familiar with the impact of our reactions to our environment on ourselves as well as each other. A number of studies show that people today tend to blame their surroundings for their problems. How often
do we blame traffic for being late, when we know we should have left five minutes earlier, or blame others for 'making us angry' when we probably countered their yelling with an equal tone? We make it a habit of attributing all of our misfortunes to our environment, deeming ourselves helpless victims of circumstance and thus stripping ourselves of the steering wheel in our own lives. (Of course, when it comes to the good outcomes in life, we jump to take credit for it, attributing it to our own hard work, brilliance, planning, etc.) However, the Jain religion explains that we are responsible for our own karmas, and explains that we cannot control our circumstances, or the fruition of our past karmas, but we can and must control our reactions to those circumstances; and this is a good lesson for any person - Jain or not. Also, we tend to drown ourselves in the frivolous details of our daily lives which turn out to be insignificant later. Things like constantly striving to pioneer the latest trends, or the time spent thinking about what we are going to eat that day, anticipating it, consuming it, and then thinking about it later for each meal, or going out of our way to cut off the driver in the beat up car who cut us off earlier and then, discussing it with each person we meet that day. And on top of that, we constantly pursue worldly pleasures which turn out to be temporary and leave us feeling dissatisfied again, briefly after a minor peak in joy. All of these things complicate our mind, bring us to highs and lows, and then leave us too emotionally and sometimes physically exhausted to engage in activities that truly bring us peace. Instead, after just a brief refresher of almost any Jain topic, and we find it easier to regain a logical perspective, free ourselves from the ups and downs and the useless attachments, and go towards being a more compassionate, peaceful person, harmonizing with the environment and with those around us. If all of us could truly learn to disengage even a little from the attachments, and to cut ourselves off from pointless anger, pride, deceit, and greed, we would all be in better health, a better mental state, and a significantly better environment. And the better we get along with each other, the better off each of us truly is.
Ecology - The Jain Way
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Thus, by each step towards a Jain way of living, we make a major impact on our souls and our bodies. And combined, our efforts can contribute to one of the deepest positive ecological impacts in history.