YJA Convention 1996 07 San Francisco CA Second

Author(s): Young Jains of America (YJA)
Publisher: Young Jains of America YJA USA

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What are the implications of a minimally-violent diet?
The implications are staggering. A minimally-violent diet reduces the toll on earth, and all of its inhabitants, and increases the tranquility of the soul and health of the body. The risk of death from a heart attack is fifty percent for the average American man; however a Vegan man has only a four percent chance of diet. From one acre of prime land only 250 lbs. of beef is produced versus 50,000 pounds of tomatoes can be yielded, and many of us know the universal equation twelve pounds of grain = one lb of beef. Subsidized irrigation water used by animal feed growers costs the US government on the upwards of one billion dollars. 78 calories of fossil fuel is used to produce one calorie of protein from beef and the same number for soya beans is two.
With all the current knowledge about Western life, can we as Jains believing in Ahimsa be a part of such a violent situation?
The choice is yours, but it can be done, and it can be done easily. One of our aims in this panel is to show some easy steps to accomplish this, such the ease of being vegetarian/vegan and not using animal products in life. Our panelists will discuss this
ease.
Is it feasible to live the rest of our lives less violently then our current lives?
It is always feasible to live the rest of our lives less violently then our current lives. For example, monks seem to always make their diet and lifestyle stricter, and laypeople are also doing this everyday. The increase of more vegetarian/vegan support groups, along with the Internet, have also increased the ease.
If so, what can we do immediately and how can this be accomplished?
We can immediately try a meal without any animal products, visit a vegan/vegetarian restaurant, the list is endless.
Finally, it is an important note that with the release and fast exchange of information, mainly through the Internet, the ease of this radical lifestyle / compassionate diet increases greatly. For example, knowledge about the true workings of factories are widely spread. Many people know that factory farming in this and other first world countries are violent, which raises concern over slaughter houses. But when such factory farming is used in the production of non-violent items, such as milk, cheese, eggs et al. the information becomes highly disturbing and contradictory. For example, the production of milk in this country is rooted in violence. The milk cow lives to be about 20 naturally however, modern methods limit life to 4 years. The end of four years of constant milking a cow can no longer produce milk and is no longer useful to the farmer, and is sent to the slaughter house.
Some resources available are the Internet, Publications listing Vegetarian restaurants, groceries, and other places to purchase cruelty free items, and Vegetarian resource groups. With the wealth of information that exists currently is it incumbent upon us as practitioners of Jainism to show others the ease and overall benefit of practicing a more compassionate lifestyle.
The Radical Vegetarianism and Reality panel consist of Saurabh Dalal, Gaurav Kapadia, and Jill Shah, moderated by Raju Shah.
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