Explorations on Jainism
While Jainism may be one of the oldest and smallest religions in the world, it embodies highly contemporaneous ecological, ethical, and societal ideas which continue to have increasing strength today. Deviating from Hinduism with its reframing of the Upanishads and elevation of the role of reducing karma, it reflects a highly interconnected, systems-driven existence for all of us, but motivates a mode of behavior which stresses minimal impact upon the world and each other. This is in stark contrast to much of contemporary, and especially western consumer culture, where the notion of ‘putting a dent in the world’ is a measurement of success, and one’s own individual impact celebrated and held up as aspirational model. This can be challenging for us to reconcile. The impact of individuals and industrialists such as Henry Ford, Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg are celebrated for ‘making the world a better place’, but their impact upon the planet, but ecologically and perhaps even morally, contrasts strongly with Jain perspective.
In reducing the accumulation of wealth, lessening consumption of food, traveling less, engaging in fewer conflicts, and doing less ecological harm to the planet and other living things, the teachings of the Mahavira in Jainism seek to reduce the inventory of karma produced. And when one produces less impact, less karma, the less damage one does, the more peaceful and meditative one’s life becomes, the nearer to liberation from samsara, or moksha, one approaches. When one achieves a minimally sufficient degree of karma, often reduced through harsh ascetic practice and physical austerities in monkhood, one achieves the awakening which facilitates release from the cacophony and swirling chaos of life itself.
This is again in sharp contrast with the western notion of life achievement. In Jainism the reduction of karma, the lessening of impact, is that which frees you from the suffering of existence. Whereas the impact one has on the world, perhaps even the wealth one accumulates, and what one builds to change the lives of others, is often what we associate with the pursuit of happiness and how we in the west measure a successful life. Westernized measures of success are strongly coupled and defined by interactions of pollution, good and bad, whereas Jain thought seeks to find the calm, quiet spaces which exist outside of this, including existing deity and forms of worship.
As such, Jains practice a life of strict non-violence. They don’t take on professions which could harm others, don’t travel in cars or airplanes, often wear masks so as not to breathe in living microbes, and actively seek to not produce pollution. Diet forbids the consumption of any food grown underground, or animal products. Jainism’s notion of the greatest karma one can produce is that of children advocates against sexual relations and procreation. Again, this is challenging for us to reconcile as much of how we might think about what’s best in life comes from the notions of procreation, enjoying a good meal, and traveling the world.
However much the pandemic may have sought to slow and simplify our lives, our post-pandemic lives can easily be characterized by extreme forms of samsara. The world can often feel as if it’s accelerating as political disagreement, regional conflict, ecological collapse, and widespread extremism only increases. Every day it can feel as if the cacophony of life, especially a digital life, only grows stronger, and we often long for the simpler time as we grow older. In this, Jainism offers a highly relevant and contemporary alternative to much of what we see around us. It advocates for reducing pollution and ecological impact, the need for which is only accelerating in a culture of climate change. It advocates for a simpler, plant-based diet, which strongly aligns with what we know to lead to healthier lifestyles. And it champions the quieter, more thoughtful, more contemplative life, the liberation from samsara and the din of the real world, something many of us are even willing to pay a premium for.
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