Jain Spirit 2001 12 No 09

Author(s): Jain Spirit UK
Publisher: UK Young Jains

Page 34

LIFESTYLE
OPEN DOORS
WAS RAISED AS A CATHOLIC IN THE AMERICAN MIDWEST. There were many things that I had to accept just because it was the right Catholic way. Yet, even as a young child of six or seven I found myself plagued by certain disparities between what the Church held to be true and what felt true in my heart.
Brad Pouleson encourages Jains to share their tradition with one and all
I can recall with clarity how my playmates would stumble upon an anthill and take it upon themselves to utterly destroy it and all its residents for no other reason than the perverse pleasure of feeling domination gave them. Finding myself overcome by a visceral feeling of anguish I would desperately try to intervene and save the countless insect lives being lost. How was it, I wondered, that these children could perpetrate such an act? Had they not been told of God's teaching "thou shalt not kill"? The answer lies, I believe, in the unfortunate reality that in Christianity, as in other theistic religions, this grand law is only inclusive of human life. Other life forms are not thought to possess souls. How else can one explain the blatant taking of animal life for food and pleasure? The idea that not all life forms possess a soul seemed as incomprehensible to me as a child as it does now. It has long been apparent to me that man differs from other living creatures only in degree and not in kind. How then could we claim such ultimate dominion?
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Such questions and debates followed me well into my adulthood. I longed for a more universal and inclusive philosophy that could satisfy my objections and need for rationality. Such a philosophy I eventually found in Jainism.
I had my introduction to this intriguing religion while still in college when I met my wife, herself a Jain from Uttar Pradesh. Initially I knew of her religion little other than it was atheistic and espoused vegetarianism. However, as our relationship grew so did my exposure to Jainism and its
"I longed for a more universal and inclusive
philosophy than catholicism.
Jain Spirit December 2001 February 2002
remarkable philosophy of non-violence and self-reliance. Through books and long evening talks with my wife and her family I was brought into a worldview that had not only asked the very same questions that had plagued me but codified the answers as well. Before me stood an enormous body of systematised thought based on rational perception of the universe. From its elaborate theory of karma to its classification of living organisms according to senses, Jain philosophy represented a whole new way of looking at the world. Apart from being a religion inclusive of all life everywhere, the idea of ahimsa was extended to a degree I had not previously imagined.
However, perhaps the most powerful idea contained in Jainism for me was that of self-reliance. This concept is rooted in Jain karmic philosophy whereby all deeds have their consequences (aashrava/bandha) and it is within a soul's power to avoid wrong actions (samvara) and atone for one's deeds (nirjara). Unlike theistic religions whereby one is dependant upon the benevolence of a higher being, in Jainism one must rely on oneself in order to attain moksha. There is no shifting of the blame nor any prayers to be recited in order to make amends for past transgressions. Only the self remains. And yet it is this very same seemingly austere approach that I found liberating. I alone am responsible for how I live my life and hence I alone can lead myself to liberation. In Jainism this ability of the soul is referred to as bhavyatva and it stands as a call to spiritual action for those who listen.
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But who is listening? And who is doing the talking? Living in the United States I had reached my mid-twenties before I had even heard of Jainism and its messages of non-violence and self-reliance and then only due to the
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