Jainism is an inspirational movement for reduction of suffering in the world. As one of the oldest religions in the world, it promotes the idea of non-violence. In fact, even though Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism promote non-violence, it's has the most sophisticated and nuanced views among all religions. For Jains, the most important principle is that of non-violence or _ahimsa_. They believe that _karma_ particles are pervasive around us and according to our deeds, good or bad karma particles get attached to our body. At the end of life, according to our accumulated karma, either we're born as a "higher" or a "lower" life. The highest life is that of a god, but when accumulated karma of a god is spent, s/he is reborn again as a human or an animal. "The motto of Jainism – __[Parasparopagraho jīvānām](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasparopagraho_Jivanam "Parasparopagraho Jivanam")__, translated as: **all life is inter-related and it is the duty of souls to assist each other**- also provides a rational approach of Jains towards Ahimsa" (via [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahimsa_in_Jainism), all other quotes on the page are fromt he same page) #### Degree of suffering a life is capable of depends on its level Jains categorize all things in the world into two categories: 1. Living things 2. Non-living things Jains consider living things to be omnipresent in the world. They're all across us (literally since bacteria, and fungul spores are spread in the air and are present in our bodies). The living things in turn are categorized into one of the five levels (according to number of senses and life faculties it has). Here are the five levels of life (via Wikipedia): - "The one-sensed lives possess four essentials – sense organ of touch, strength of body or energy, respiration, and life-duration. - The two-sensed beings have six, namely the sense of taste and the organ of speech in addition to the former four. - The three-sensed beings have seven with the addition of the sense of smell. - The four-sensed beings have eight with the addition of the sense of sight. - The five- sensed beings without mind have nine life-principles with the addition of the sense of hearing. Those endowed with mind are said to have ten vitalities with the addition of the mind."  For Jains, higher **the level of a being in the categorization above, the more capable of suffering it is**, and the more bad karma you'll attract if you harm it. I find it interesting that the categorization above gives a particular instance of [[Measures of suffering]]. Since Jains aim to minimize suffering, **most of them are strict vegetarians**. They consume milk or milk products if they know the cow hasn't been subjected to any form of suffering. Since **Jains consider even plants and trees as capable of suffering, they aim to minimize suffering for them too**. This principle is practically implemented via following guidelines: - No flowers are to be offered in Jain temples since plucking flower causes unnecessary harm - No eating of a vegetable that grows under the soil (such as onions or garlic) as plucking these vegetables kills a lot of bacteria, worms and other insects. (This is a beautiful example of caring about second order consequences) #### Justification of non-violence > According to the Jain Philosophy, violence refers primarily to injuring one's own self – behaviour which inhibits the soul's own ability to attain moksha (liberation from the cycle of births and deaths). At the same time it also implies violence to others because it is this tendency to harm others that ultimately harms one's own soul "According to Jainism, **protection of life, also known as _abhayadānam_, is the supreme charity** that a person can make." Non-violence in Jainism is primarily self-centered. The idea is that one shouldn't cause violence to others because it is always accompanied to violence towards one's soul. Non-violence is not primarily about compassion for Jains, it emerges out of the principle of avoiding self harm. Hence, it's interesting to note that Jainism doesn't advocate actively interfering in the world to reduce suffering of other beings. Rather, **avoiding** harm to others as much as possible. #### What is harm for Jains? "There are five specific transgressions of Ahinsa principle in Jain scriptures - Binding of animals, beating, mutilating limbs, overloading, withholding food and drink" For Jains, harm is not just limited to physical harm but also mental or psychological harm. This is why acts like slander, lying, thinking ill of someone and anger attract bad karma for Jains. Even self-indulgence is a form of violence for Jains, so they advocate abstience from excesses and living simply. Non-violence for Jains must be observed in all aspects of life (and not just eating). For example, Jains are advice to take care while: 1. "walking, so as not to injure any living being; 2. speech, so as not to cause pain to any one by offensive, disagreeable language, or by a careless use of words having a tendency to incite others to violent deeds; 3. eating, so as not to cause injury to any living being; 4. handling things — the water gourd, books and the feather whisk, with which there is a great danger of injury to small insects; and 5. evacuation and disposal of faeces, urine, and the like." This translates into: - Jains sweep the floor to make sure there are no insects where they're sitting - Jain monks keep a cloth on their mouth to avoid taking in any insects. - "Use of leather is kept to a minimum and must in any event be from naturally dead animals." - "Food is usually eaten during the day unless unavoidable, since there is too much danger of injuring insects in cooking at night." ### Jainism is a form of virtue ethics In Western philosophy, ethics is broadly categorized into two: 1. **Consequentialism** that says consequences of actions determine how good or bad they are 2. **Deontological or virtue ethics** that says the intentions of actions determine how good or bad they are **Jainism falls into second category as according to it whether violence happened or not depends on carelessness**. A careless (in actions) Jain is considered violent even if no injury happened to anyone. And a careful Jain is considered non-violent if some intentional violence may have taken place due to his actions. In fact, their main text defines "_hiṃsā_ or violence simply as _removal of life by careless activity of mind, body and speech._ Thus action in Jainism came to be regarded as truly violent only when accompanied by carelessness." #### Exceptions to non-violence Violence done in self-defense or a judge giving punishment to criminal is justified for Jains.