Lessons of Ahimsa and Anekanta for Contemporary Life

Author(s): Tara Sethia
Publisher: California State Polytechnic University Pomona

Page 11

Lessons of Ahimsă and Anekānta for Contemporary Life
impact, must not act with passion or emotion, and must strive to remain detached. Such emphasis on calm and detachment, concludes Skoog, can lead to care in the military activity and avoidance of destruction of innocent lives.
Padmanabh S. Jaini examines the question of "just war" in the context of the Jain principle of ahimsā. Violence of any kind results from lack of compassion. However, Jaini points out, in Jain tradition, compassion toward others is possible only when we recognize the value of the self, “the source of all spiritual wisdom.” Therefore, ahimsā is regarded necessary for one's spiritual progress leading to mokşa. Drawing from insightful stories in the Jain scriptures, Jaini explains that although survival and occupation related violence is an option for lay Jains (unlike the mendicants who must observe total nonviolence), they must fully understand that "nothing short of hell or animal rebirth awaits those who kill or die while entertaining thoughts of violence.” This is quite in contrast to the belief that death on battlefield is equal to martyrdom, or death in a holy war is a gateway to heaven, and even to the “just war” ideology. The Jain dedication to the ahimsā and amity with all living beings, concludes Jaini, is the highest aspiration a Jain wishes to achieve. In this sense nonviolence of the self becomes a precondition of nonviolence for all.
Satish Kumar believes that the foundations for his continuing work toward nonviolence and peace in the world were laid while he was a Jain muni(monk). According to him, one of the greatest contribution of Jainism to world peace is its emphasis on human ability to practice silence, and to learn “when to speak, what to speak, and how to speak.” Wars, he suggests, start in human minds and with human speech. Jainism teaches us that nonviolence begins with the self, in one's thoughts and language, and one's own actions. A peaceful world based on respect and care for all living beings is possible only when we extend this personal nonviolence to political, social, ecological domains and translate nonviolence for self into nonviolence for all.
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