Lessons of Ahimsa and Anekanta for Contemporary Life

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

Page 38

Kim Skoog, “Jaina Response to Terrorism”
regardless of what good it is perceived to bring about. Further, in the long history of terrorism it has seldom, if ever, brought about the ends that it was employed to achieve. The Utilitarian attempt to stack up the lives of living sentient beings in some sort of mathematical equation is the most atrocious perversion imaginable against the basic sanctity of all life. The scale of violence and suffering in terrorism is such an immense evil that no good consequences can outweigh it. Even if one were to generate a cost-benefit analysis, it is hard to see how the alleged benefits to the perceived "oppressed people” can be weighed in favor of terrorist activities, over the resulting suffering in rest of world. The collective misery, fear, costs, loss of general well-being and happiness of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people directly or indirectly victimized, outweighs the intended “newly gained” happiness of the "oppressed people.” This sort of analysis fails to recognize the inherent value in each and every life, whereby no one life or group of lives can negate the value and sanctity of another life, let alone justify the deaths of thousands of innocent persons.
In response to the Relativist argument, a Jaina analysis would focus not on which side is right or wrong, who is hero or villain, but rather on the character, purpose, means, and goal of both the undertaker of violence (hiņsaka) and the act of violence itself (hiņsā). If the act intentionally brings about the suffering and/or death of one or more innocent (noncombatant) persons, then it is wrong regardless of the nationality or identity of the agent and the purpose and means used to bring about the action. As noted above, it is not obvious that previous acts of terror have exhausted all other means to resolve the "alleged injustice or oppression" before unleashing their heinous acts of mass destruction. If one has properly subdued one's passions and emotions, then a Jaina mediator could objectively determine what injustices (if any at all) have been committed or continue to be committed and propose appropriate remedies to resolve the tensions and return society back to a stable condition. If violent
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