Jaina Response to Terrorism

Author(s): Kim Scoog
Publisher: Z_Lessons_of_Ahimsa_and_Anekanta_for_Contemporary_Life_014006.pdf

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Lessons of Ahimsa and Anekānta for Contemporary Life
"fight” against warriors on a battlefield, to a “fight” against ignorance and passions that impede liberation and cause bondage. The valor, courage, dedication, strength, bravery, forcefulness, hardships, and pain that once characterized the great "warrior" kșatriya, now denotes the praised “mendicant” ksatriya who conquerors the causes of suffering and transmigration through great fortitude, misery, and adversity on the part of the "spiritual warrior.” Consider the following passages which typify this shift in focus from the mundane and violent to the sublime and tranquil.
A man who conquers nobody but himself is the greater victor than one who conquers thousands and thousands of valiant enemies. (Uttaradhyayna Sutra), IX.35' Fight with your own self; why fight with external enemies? He who conquers himself through himself attains happiness.
(Acaranga Satra, II.171.77) 19 These passages emphasize not only that there has been a shift in the object of conquest for the warrior, but that the new way is significantly better and more praiseworthy, providing better "spoils" of the victory. One need only consider that Sanskrit verb root of the most revered and central Jaina title "jina," is "ji," (to conquer), to see the deep link between the former role of the ksatriya and the new purpose and direction it has taken within Jainism, i.e., "victor over attachment, passions, etc."
Jaina thinkers did not articulate a Just War theory as is found within the western tradition. However, many of the elements found in these western accounts are implicitly contained within Jaina thought in terms of general directives about war. As noted above, when war is to be engaged in, Jaina soldiers are never to be the aggressor and are to respond reactively in a selfdefense, and to protect innocent life, the Jaina teachings, and the Jaina way of life. Jaina tradition also prohibits violence against
18. Uttaradhyaynasätra, IX.35 in Nyāyavijayaji (trans.), p. 436.
19. Ācārangasutra. 11.11.77 in Nyāyavijayaji (trans.), p. 437.
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