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beings that constitute the Eco-system also do a lot of good.
Jainism tackles these issues on two levels -- spiritual as well as practical. Spiritually, it advocates that protection of all the six categories of living beings and that leading a life of minimal interference in the natural existence is soul purifying because it does not incur any sin and helps one in achieving separation from the earlier bonded karma. Practically, the Jaina injunctions for the clergy as well as the laity are such as to inhibit them from any interference in the Eco-system of the nature. Jaina Vows And Environmental Protection -
As far as the Jaina clergy is concerned, their vows of complete non-violence, complete adherence to truth, nonstealing, sexual abstinence and non--possession are so stringent that that their way of life does not militate with the ecological balance in any way. From the non-violence point of view, they do not kill hurt or torment any living being, do not eat meat, do not trample or pluck vegetation, do not use anything that may be live and thereby may have a chance to hurt it. For them to pollute, disturb, hurt or destroy anything in the nature is to commit violence towards the creatures that constitute it and, therefore, they walk, talk, eat, sit, stand and lie down after taking care that they do not hurt any living being in the process. Their observance of complete and absolute non-violence ensures that they do not interfere with the ecological balance but promote its protection They faithfully abide by the dictates of their holy canons that maintain that all life is equal and to hurt or kill any living being of the lowest denomination such as that from the vegetable kingdom or from the microscopic variety is also sinful. So much so that the Jaina monks and nuns do not eat raw vegetables, drink untreated water, or tread upon wet patches or cross over puddles or rivers unless there is no other way to go across. Also, they do not enter rivers or pools or lakes for bathing. Their vows of celibacy non-possession, five-way vigilance and three-way
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