Lessons of Ahimsa and Anekanta for Contemporary Life

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

Page 34

Kim Skoog, “Jaina Response to Terrorism”
tyrants, rioters and the wicked enemies through brave counterattack and confrontation. For the internal non-violence of the form of keeping the mind calm and unagitated, this strength is as much needed as for the external nonviolence of the form of protecting the people. ... It is the ksatriyas (members of the warrior class/caste) who have taught nonviolence, and those who follow their teachings are the brave men of heroic character.... Where there is weakness and feeling of fear, the practice of non-violence is utterly impossible...!
In this moving passage we see expressed the kind of intense self-sacrifice that could explain why a Jaina lay-person would forgo or jeopardize his own immediate spiritual advancement so as to protect and serve those in distress. It is hard to envision a nobler act of courage and compassion, reflecting the same kind of unswerving love that leads a Bodhisattva to postpone his final liberation till all other sentient beings are brought to salvation. Truly this is the fullest expression of the Jaina ideal of ahimsă, where one respects and cares for other living beings so much that one is willing to delay one's own spiritual liberation in an effort to protect others from harm. Although Nyāyavijayají does not advocate violence in the above passage, his reference in this passage to the ksatriya caste demonstrates his recognition of the predominance of the this caste within the Jaina community and leaders. For example, all the Tirthańkaras were drawn from ksatriya (warrior) caste. The Jaina tradition, therefore, could hardly deny this obligation of the individual to defend society from aggression and helps explain the "ease" with which a tradition founded on the practice of extreme nonviolence, could readily allow participation in military campaigns. However, as is well noted in Jaina scholarship," there was a concerted effort as time progressed to "internalize” the elements of soldiering from a
16. Ibid. p. 112.
17. See Dundas, The Jainis, op. cit., p. 102; Jaini, The Jaina Path, op. cit., p. 67ff; Nyāyavijayaji, Jaina Philosophy, op. cit., p. 239.
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