Jain Digest 2009 03 Vol 28 No 1

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

Page 25

Voices of the Next Generation of Jains
Our Past, Our Futures
by Samir Doshi
"The current of the world has its boundaries, otherwise it could have no existence, but its purpose is not shown in the boundaries which restrain it, but in its movement, which is toward perfection. The wonder is not that there should be obstacles and sufferings in this world, but that there should be law and order, beauty and joy. goodness and love."
- Rabindranath Tagore
On visits with my father, our conversations often turn to Jain philosophy. He once asked me how Jain dharma influences my research and teaching as an ecologist. It was a question that seemed easy to answer, but hard to explain. The root of ecology comes from the Greek, oikos, meaning household, what we can refer to as our environment or surroundings. The field of ecology is the therefore the study of our environment, specifically the interaction between organisms and their surroundings.
When discussing ecology, what we really mean are relationships. In the classroom, I engage with students from a diverse array of backgrounds. Each brings his or her own unique perspective, creating a rich 'community' of relationships. Essentially, we are creating an ecology for the classroom. When we reference the Jain principle of abimsa, we look at how nonviolence towards other beings affects your relationship with yourself this is your own ecology. I see a strong passion in my students about the grave issues that the planet faces, which also have serious consequences for our society. They are able to connect environmental issues such as the lack of drinking water, soil erosion, climate change, and species extinction to social issues such as poverty, population growth, disease, and starvation. These global issues are normally attributed to a type of lifestyle -excessive, selfish, or apathetic. However, the aspect of spirituality is rarely introduced, even among students that consider themselves as being religious. These issues need to be addressed by legislation, action, and lifestyle change. Spirituality has no place in providing a solution. Does it?
The principles of Jainism offer a perspective of interconnectedness and a sense of empathy for all life. As a boy, I would go for walks with my grandfather and notice how he would always look down wherever he would walk. What if you walked into something by not looking up, I would ask. He would stop, point down to an insect, and gently respond with that is why I look down. The ant can have an effect on plants and pollinators and the rest of the food chain. Moreover, the ant has a soul that needs to be respected just as any other life form. This story presently makes me think of how the reincarnation cycle through
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death and rebirth resembles the ecological cycle of death, decomposition, and germination.
The characteristics of interconnectedness and empathy are integral to our current ecology. Environmental issues are covered well enough in the media that I won't go into detail about all the challenges we face, but I will present some of the more sobering numbers in order to put things into perspective. The world's human population has more than doubled in the past 40 years. In that time, water usage has quadrupled, currently leaving over 1.1 billion people without access to drinking water. Over 4 billion people lack any treatment of wastewater, which usually washes downstream into water used for bathing and irrigating crops. Due to deforestation, intensive agriculture, and industrialization, over 38,000 square miles of land is eroded each year leading to desertification and degradation. This translates to a loss of 100 billion tons of topsoil every year, more than 5 times the rate that soil is formed naturally. In the past 20 years, over 1 million acres of land have been devastated due to mountaintop removal mining to provide coal for energy. Scientists believe that there is a 50% chance that the global climate will increase by 3° C this century. This might not seem very drastic, but consider that the global climate was 5° C less than today during the last ice age, when a quarter of the world's lands were covered in ice. The melting of the icecaps would cause sea level rise that could submerge 1/3 of the world's population centers. Fossil fuel consumption, deforestation, and agriculture are the major contributors to climate change. Over 3 billion people live on less than $2.50 a day. The poorest 40 percent account for 5 percent of global income. All these figures will continue to deteriorate under the affects of population growth and climate change. I don't present these numbers suggesting that we have to sacrifice our happiness, but to illustrate the relationships between these issues and how to develop strategies to address them. When studying the linkages of these systems, it is exciting to realize that a single solution can have many positive consequences and impact multiple issues at the same time. In effect, these issues can also be considered opportunities, where we can attend to poverty, climate change, energy, malnutrition and a host of other issues with the same approach.
Jain dharma and our sacred texts offer many prospects that are harmonious with nature and seek to create balance. Nonetheless, I believe that Jain dharma and our Jain culture do not follow the exact same path. We can look at the literature for examples that Mahavira gave, but what can we cite recently? Shrimad Rajchandra, Gandhi, and Vinoba - all followed the principle of ahimsa and all advocated for a more holistic coexistence with our surroundings, however, they seem to be more of the exception than the rule. My classroom seems similar to our Jain culture on a smaller level. We understand that there are consequences to our actions, and that they also affect our world. We can think of individual actions, such as driving and consuming less,
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