Contemporary Jain Way of Compassionate and Ethical Living
Pravin K Shah
Raleigh, NC USA
1.0 Jain Ethics and Compassion
Main
Theme of Lord Mahävir’s Teaching:
- Ahimsa (Non-violence) is respect
for the life of all living beings.
- Aparigraha (Non-possession /
Non-possessiveness) stems from respect for other lives as well as the
environment.
- Anekäntaväda (Non–one-sidedness/
Open Mindedness) is respect for the views of others because the expression
of truth is relative and hence it has many sides.
Lord
Mahävir made the following profound statements of all times:
- “All lives are bound together by
mutual support and interdependence”. This is an ancient Jain scriptural
aphorism of Tattvärtha sutra.
- “One who neglects or disregards
the existence of earth, air, fire, water and vegetation, disregards one’s
own existence” (Ächäränga sutra).
- “We harm and kill other lives
because of our greed and possessiveness” (Shrävakächär).
Since
all lives are interconnected, one should realize that “if we harm ONE we
harm ALL Living Beings” and “Greed, Possession and Possessiveness are the
primary causes of all violence as well as imbalance in the environment”.
These
ancient statements form the basis of the modern science of ecology and are
refreshingly contemporary in their promises.
Lord
Mahävir’s entire life was full of compassion.
After attaining Kevaljnän, he travelled barefoot for 30 years to deliver
the message of true compassion directly to the common people. He lived in perfect harmony with nature
throughout his life and provided utmost respect for the environment.
He
stated that earth, water, fire, air, and vegetation which constitute the five
basic elements of our environment, possess life. They possess one sense which
is the sense of touch.
Animals
and human beings possess five senses and a mind. The five senses are: touch,
taste, smell, sight, and hearing. Human
beings are also blessed with advanced developed thinking as compared to animals. Hence they also have the responsibility for
achieving oneness and harmony among all living beings, including the
environment, through compassionate living and disciplined conduct and
behavior.
2.0 Survival of Human Life and Ethical Living
It is not possible to sustain human life with absolute
non-violence and absolute non-possession. To sustain a human life one needs
to eat plant base food which is a life by itself according to Jainism. Also
one may need minimum, clothes and shelter. Hence the
destruction of some form of life and limited possession are essential for human
survival.
The goal of Jainism is to minimize the violence and negative
impact of our existence to other living beings and the environment.
In his book “Jain Darshan” Muni Shri Nyayvijaji
explains very clearly the following definition of minimum violence which is to
be used only for our existence/survival. This guideline applies to laypeople (Shravak
and Shravika) only. Monks and nuns have
to practice total non-violence.
Definition of Minimum Violence
- Jainism believes that violence is
proportional to the number of senses a living being possesses. For our survival, if we hurt or kill
even a single five sense living being it is considered higher violence
compared to millions of one sense living beings.
- A human being possesses all five
senses and a very developed mind and hence to hurt, to exploit (slavery,
child labor etc.), or kill any human being for our survival results in the
highest form of a violent act.
- An animal also possesses all five
senses but a less developed mind and hence to hurt, to exploit, or kill
any animal for our survival results in the 2nd highest violent
act.
- Similarly killing, exploiting, or
hurting a living being with four, three, and two senses results in a lesser
violent act.
- Since a human life can survive by
consuming and using only one sense living beings (fruits, vegetables, air,
water, earth, fire etc.), Jainism prohibits the destruction and
exploitation of higher sense living beings for our survival.
Also the
modern science quantified that, the killing or exploiting of higher (five,
four, three etc.) sensed living beings has a much greater negative impact on
the environment.
Hence, Jainism advocates strict vegetarianism and is against
raising animals for food for ethical, spiritual, as well as environmental
reasons.
To
read/download Muni Shri Nyayvijaji’s original article in Gujarati and its Hindi
and English translation go to this link:
http://www.jainelibrary.org/$Muni_Nyayvijayji_on_Himsa_and_Suvival/.index.php
3.0 Universal Law of Mother Nature
The
following law of Mother Nature is true for mothers of human as well as for
animal under natural healthy environment.
·
No mother (cow and human) produces milk unless she delivers a baby.
·
After the birth of a calf, the cow starts to produce milk only
to feed her calf. She also produces just
enough milk that is needed for her calf under natural healthy environment (same
as human).
·
The cow slowly stops producing milk after her calf reaches a
weaning age (same as human).
·
Nature has not made any provision for mother cows to produce
more milk than the need of their calves under natural healthy environment.
However until a calf reaches to a
weaning age:
If a mother cow becomes sick then she
produces less milk. In this case her calf needs to feed substitute milk product
for her proper growth.
If her calf becomes sick before
weaning age, then temporarily she (the calf) consumes less milk. In this case:
Mother cow has left over milk in her
udder. We need to remove the leftover
milk so that she can continually produce the same quantity of milk. This way
there will be enough milk when the calf recovers from the sickness.
If the leftover milk is not removed
then on the next day mother cow will produce less milk and there will not be
enough milk for the calf when she recovers from her sickness.
In
conclusion from Jain principle point view, we can safely say that any drop of milk that
we drink or we use in dairy products is considered stolen from the mother cow that
was meant for her baby calf under normal healthy environment.
Any
other reasons that we hear (we use excess milk of mother cow) from our
religious leaders or from other sources are totally incorrect under natural healthy
environment.
4.0 Justification of Dairy Product Consumptions in
the Past
All
Jains believe in vegetarianism and most Jains are vegetarians. However, a majority of Jains consume dairy
products because animals are not directly killed during the milking operation
and ancient Jain literature indicates the milk was consumed by our religious
leaders including Lord Mahavir and other Tirthankars.
Hence most
Jains and leaders believe that the dairy consumption is not in violation of
the fundamental principle of Ahimsa and non-stealing. Somehow they conveniently
ignore the basic laws of Mother Nature.
After
the investigation of history of the Indian literature and culture, we can
easily conclude the following reasons for the usage of dairy products in the
past.
In
olden times:
·
The
agricultural industry was not developed.
India was not producing enough crops to feed the entire human
population. (Even about 65 years ago India was heavily importing grains and
other foods from America under the PL480 program and distributing it to common
people through the ration system. I use
to stand in line to receive some grains from rationing).
·
The
cow’s milk provided additional food. The
male calf (bull) was used to farm the land.
The cow’s dried dung was used for fire, to cook the family meal and its
urine used for medicine. Hence the
usage of cow and their milk was essential for the survival of the large human
population in India.
·
Since
people were using a small portion of cow’s milk (that was meant for her calf)
for their survival they treated the cows as a member of the family (mother cow). After the delivery of a baby calf, they
allowed the calf to consume entire mother’s milk for about two weeks. Then they use a small portion of the total milk
for their food. The majority of milk was
consumed by the baby calves. They took care
of cows with very minimum violence. Cows
were useful not only for their milk but also for farming, for their dung and
for their urine.
My
grandmother (about 65 years ago) knew that cow’s milk was for her baby calf and
she allowed her calf to consume milk from 3 udders and only one udder of milk was
consumed by the family. She indicated that
the baby calf would have consumed all the milk if she would have allowed her. Even though my grandmother was not educated
but she understood the basic laws of Mother Nature very well.
5.0 Contemporary Dairy Product
Today the
output of modern agricultural production of the world is such that it can feed
the world population several times over. Also heavy machinery replaced the bulls for
farming, modern medicine replaced the usage of cow’s urine, and natural gas and
electricity replaced the usage of cow dung.
Agriculturally India is independent.
Hence there is no need to consume dairy products and to raise cows and
to torture them for our survival.
5.1 Contemporary Dairy Industry
In
recent times, the demand of dairy products has increased significantly after
the invention of refrigeration and improved packaging technology. To meet the increased demand, the dairy
industry is commercialized. The dairy
cows are now treated as milk producing machines, which inflict terrible
pain. To maximize profit, animals are raised on a mass scale.
Raising
large numbers of animals for food also creates an environmental imbalance
because it involves a significantly greater use of natural resources than for
the equivalent amount of plant food. The
cruelty to animals and the impact on the environment by this industry are
unimaginable.
The
following list summarizes some of the violence (Himsa) inflicted on animals
used in the production of dairy products. These problems exist in large factory
farms in western countries as well as in the small dairy farms of India or
anywhere else in the world. I have visited several dairy farms in USA and many
small dairy farms in India and observed the following practices.
·
To
receive continuous supply of milk, the cows are kept pregnant all the time.
They are subject to artificial insemination or some other practices that ensure
the maximum production of milk.
Artificial insemination is done within three months after delivery. In its
natural course, a cow would get pregnant after her calf is weaned.
·
Approximately
95% of male and 65% of female baby calves are sold to the veal or beef
industry, where they are slaughtered between six months to three years of age.
Sometimes, the farmers let the male calves die of hunger as practiced in
several villages of India (I have observed this practice in our holy city of
Palitana).
·
Milk
producing cows are sold to slaughterhouses at five to six years of age when
their milk production yield drops more than 30% naturally, due to old age. This
is also true in India more than 90% of the time. Even though the life
expectancy of a dairy cow is 15 to 20 years.
·
Hormones and antibiotics are fed or injected daily to
increase the milk yield (except – in organic dairy farms). Almost all small dairies in India use hormones
and antibiotics.
Because
the cows are kept continually pregnant and are fed or injected daily with
hormones and antibiotics, they are forced to produce about three to six
times more milk than what they would produce normally and naturally for
their baby calves. In this way, the
dairy farmers try to meet the growing demand of dairy products without
increasing the number of cows.
To produce
very large quantity of milk in a day, the cow’s body needs to work very hard.
After about five years (3 deliveries) of this intense stress, the cow’s body
breaks down and her milk production yield drops significantly. At this time she
is sent to a slaughterhouse legally in the western world and illegally in most
states in India. There are many illegal slaughterhouses in India. I have
visited a few of them in Ahmedabad and other places. Less than 0.1% of cows
end-up in the cow shelter places called “Panjarapole” in India.
5.2 Organic Dairy Farm:
An organic
dairy farm is generally smaller than a huge factory-style farm. It does not use
antibiotics, pesticides, and hormones on the cows. They do not add any milk
additives into the milk. However, these farms also keep the cows continually
pregnant, sell approximately 80% of calves to the veal or beef industry, and the
cows are sold to a slaughterhouse after five or six years of life. Therefore,
organic milk is almost as cruel as regular milk.
6.0 Ecological Impact of the Dairy and Meat Industry
The
following data summarizes the magnitude of cruelty and the impact on the
environment. This data is taken from USDA.
Waste
Released in the Environment
The following table lists USDA (USA
Gov. agency) slaughter statistics – Animals killed in 2008 year in USA.
Animal
|
Slaughtered in 2008 Year
|
Slaughtered/Day in 2008 year
|
35,507,500
|
97,281
|
|
Pigs:
|
116,558,900
|
319,339
|
Chickens:
|
9,075,261,000
|
24,863,729
|
Layer hens:
|
69,683,000
|
190,912
|
Broiler chickens:
|
9,005,578,000
|
24,672,816
|
Turkeys:
|
271,245,000
|
743,137
|
In USA alone 400, 000 cows and pigs,
and 50 million chicken and turkeys are slaughtered daily. Waste released into the environment
by the US meat and dairy industry is 230,000 pounds per second,
polluting our land, air and water systems.
Greenhouse
Effect
The world's 1.3 billion cows annually produce
100 million tons of methane, which is a powerful greenhouse gas and traps 25
times as much solar heat as carbon dioxide.
Water
Consumption
Livestock (cattle, calves, hogs or
pigs) production accounts for more than half of all the water consumed in USA.
To produce one pound of meat, an average of 2,500 gallons of water is used,
while one pound of potatoes, wheat or rice requires an average of 50 to 250
gallons of water.
Land
Usage
A third of the surface of North
America is devoted to grazing. Half of American croplands grow livestock feed
for the dairy and meat industries. In USA, this represents 220 million acres of
land, in Brazil 25 million acres, and half of the forests in Central America
have been deforested for livestock production.
Impact
on Health
The past 25 to 50 years of medical
study indicate that consumption of meat and dairy products is associated with
the major causes of disease and death among middle and upper class people
around the world: heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer, prostate cancer, and
even fractures.
“Not only meat, but also dairy foods,
contribute to the high fat and cholesterol diets which are major causes for
heart disease and type2 diabetes”. “Dairy
foods are linked to prostate cancer and the development of type 1 diabetes”.
Some medical studies have observed
that as milk consumption increases, fractures actually increase, which shows,
contrary to advertising, that consuming calcium in milk does not protect
people.
7.0 Ecological Impact of Styrofoam and Plastics
Materials
Problems with
Styrofoam
Styrofoam has become such an accepted
everyday product that people often don't stop to realize that it is made from
polystyrene which is a petroleum-based plastic.
It gained popularity because it is
lightweight, offers good insulation properties that keep products cold or hot,
and keeps things safe during the shipping process without adding weight. While
there are some positive aspects of the material, the years have shown that
Styrofoam also has harmful effects.
It is Non-Biodegradable,
appears to last forever and it is resistant to photolysis.
It can be recycled but it is not cost
effective and hence most of the recycling centers do not accept Styrofoam.
The EPA (Environmental Protection
Agency) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer have established
styrene as a possible human carcinogen.
When Styrofoam containers are used for
food, chemicals can leach into the food, affecting human health and the
reproductive systems.
Problems with
Plastics
We live in a very plastic world. Items like plastic packaging and bottles end
up in many trash sites as well as in forests, creeks, rivers, seas, and oceans
around the world.
While some of these items are
recycled, the growth of plastic consumption and its improper disposal currently
outpace efforts to recycle. Also to
recycle plastic requires abundant amounts of energy.
Plastic is not
biodegradable, but photodegradable. And in reality, most plastic does not ever
disappear, but becomes long lasting "plastic dust" and readily soaks
up and continually releases toxins that then contaminate soil and water, as
well as harming animals that ingest plastic fragments.
Plastic is very dangerous to aquatic
life. Every square mile of ocean has
46,000 pieces of plastic floating in it. That is why over
a million sea birds, whales, seals, dolphins, sea turtles, and so on die from
plastic debris that ends up in our oceans and seas. The impact of plastic pollution in our oceans
and ecosystems creates chaos for the environment.
The production of plastic in
the U.S. alone uses 331 billion barrels of petroleum.
Petroleum production and its use play a harmful role in polluting the
environment and also contaminate the water and air.
8.0 Conclusion
The
Jain Way of Life is very ethical and compassionate and it also respects and
honors the Earth and the Environment.
Our
scriptures strongly suggest that we need to live an ethical and compassionate life
based on the time, place and the environment that we live in.
In his
book “Harmony-Of-All-Religions” (www.jaineLibrary.org Sr # 007668) Maharshri Santsevi
Maharaj summarizes Lord Mahavir’s teachings beautifully in the words of Lord
Mahavir as follows:
“Whatever I say, you
must test this with your own reasoning and verify it through your own
experience.
Do not accept what I say
blindly by faith alone until it passes the litmus test of intellection.
Otherwise, it will never be yours.
If you accept what I
teach on the basis of the sacred texts, or from my convincing reasoning, or
even because of my radiant personality, but not by testing with your own
reasoning, then in the end this will create only darkness (ignorance) in you
and not light.”
Lord Mahavir
The cows
are slaughtered immediately during meat production, while during commercial milk
production cycle the cows are tortured and forced them to produce 3 to 6 times
more milk for 5 years and then slaughtered even though their life expectancy is
around 20 years. This indicates that the cruelty in the production of milk
is as bad as the cruelty associated with the production of meat.
From an
environmental point of view, all animal based products such as milk, leather,
silk, and wool cause significant harm to the environment relative to plant based
products. Various studies indicate that the degradation is 7 to 10 times
higher.
Both the
Shvetämbar and Digambar sects use milk and milk products in temple rituals.
This is an ancient tradition. Our scriptures indicate that no past tradition is
to be followed blindly. The highest Jain principle of nonviolence (exploiting,
hurting, or killing of five sensed animals) should not be compromised under
today’s environment.
Milk
and other products represent certain religious significance in Jain rituals.
However, the product we use in the rituals must be of a non-violent source.
The
mechanical performance of a ritual is not a religion.
The intention of our rituals is to inspire us to grow spiritually. The
net outcome of the rituals should result in the reduction of our ego, greed,
anger, lust, and attachments. Milk, other
dairy products, plastics, Styrofoam, silk, and wool which involve such extreme
cruelty, cannot help us to grow spiritually.
We should reevaluate the usage of dairy products (ghee for ärati, milk
and sweets for pujä etc.) in the temple rituals under the new technological
environment.
In our
rituals, we should substitute the regular milk with simple water or soya milk
or almond milk, vegetable oil for ghee which is used in deevo or lamp, dry nuts
for various types for sweets, and we should serve only plant base pure
vegetarian (vegan) healthy meals during any religious function.
Almost
all Jain youth (YJA and YJP youth) of North America accept the fact that
extreme cruelty to cows exists in the dairy industry and that the usage of
dairy products in religious functions grossly violates our basic principles of
Ahimsa, non-stealing, and compassion. Our
youth will greatly appreciate if we make the above changes in our rituals.
The New
York Times reports that - mostly for ethical reasons, more than six million
Americans are vegan. This is about 2% of the population. About 10% to 15% of
Jain youths are vegan (strictly vegetarian) but not even 0.5% of Jain adults in
North America are vegan. This indicates that our youth are more knowledgeable and
spiritual than Jain scholars and adults with regards to the cruelty caused by
dairy industries.
In
conclusion we can safely say that more than 98% of milk production worldwide inflicts
pain and sufferings to cows and slaughters them after 5 years of their
productive life.
Please reflect upon the “Laws of Mother Nature” and decide for
yourself whether to consume or not to consume milk and other dairy products.
I sincerely apologize to the people
whose feelings are hurt because of this article.
Michchhämi Dukkadam,
Pravin K. Shah
919-859-4994
