Lessons of Ahimsa and Anekanta for Contemporary Life

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

Page 84

Anne Vallely, “Anekānta, Ahimsă and the Question of Pluralism”
“Just as in the story of Lazarus, the most significant thing about the story is that it reveals Jesus to be unlike other men,” I waffled, "He was able to perform miracles. The fact that he could do these miraculous things is evidence, for Christians, of his divine status...” “But if he was god, why would he do that miracle? Why not something more important?" one of the samanīs asked. “And why just for one wedding party?" asked another.
I knew immediately that I was on less than solid ground when I tried to explain that alcohol was not prohibited, irreligious or himsă from within the Judaeo-Christian tradition. In fact, wine plays a significant role on special occasions in both Jewish and Christian celebrations. Then, when I added my own Epicurean interpretation of the significance of a blissful life, I had all but lost my audience. From a Jain point of view, the miraculously supplying of intoxicating beverages for a wedding party hardly seemed a pious narrative worthy of passing down from one generation to another for nearly two thousand years. In fact, the more we talked about it, the more ridiculous it appeared, and eventually we succumbed to a fit of laughter.
Rather than being an instrument for the glorification of anekāntavāda, I felt I was helping to undermine it. Rather than convincing the nuns that Christianity had a corner on truth (just like Jainism), I felt I was setting it up as an example of mithyadarśana, a deluded view of reality. I sat back, half bemused, and half frustrated with my inability to evoke some appreciation of the teachings of Christianity. It was not as though I expected the nuns to be rapturous over the Biblical stories, but I knew I was not doing the tradition justice. These stories meant so much to so many people; why was I so poor an emissary? I regrouped my thoughts and took a third stab at it.
“If you think about it,” I began, “these are really stories about compassion and universal friendliness (karuņā and maitri). This is the Golden Rule - to treat others as you would have them treat you.” I continued, “Imagine the power of his actions – that a
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