Article: Non-violence

Pārśva frees the snake
Image by Wellcome Trust Library © Wellcome Library, London

The 24 Jinas exemplify religious conduct, including non-violent behaviour, in the accounts of their lives. Examples from the biographies of two of the most popular Jinas demonstrate that Jains should not just avoid doing harm themselves but also actively stop violence towards other living beings.

The most famous such example is Neminātha or Lord Nemi, the 22nd Jina. The young man reluctantly agrees to marry Princess Rājīmati, even though he is dissatisfied with secular life. On his way to his wedding, Nemi sees distressed animals crowded in pens and is horrified to learn they are to be slaughtered for his wedding feast. The prince immediately turns back, calling off the wedding, and decides to be initiated as a mendicant instead of marrying and causing so much pain and death.

The second instance is found in the life story of the 23rd Jina, Pārśvanātha or Lord Pārśva. While watching an ascetic perform the penance of the five fires, Prince Pārśva becomes aware of a snake trapped in a burning log. As a spiritually advanced person, the prince has clairvoyant powers and thus knows the snake’s pain and fear. The prince asks his servant to split open the wood and free the snake.

Nuns walk down the street
Image by Eric Parker © CC BY-NC 2.0

Jainism states that becoming a mendicant is the best path to liberation. Jain monks and nuns withdraw from life in the world and make religious duties and renunciation the centre of their lives. Mendicancy therefore reduces the amount of karma generated from activities related to living and burns off accrued karmas through asceticism.

Lay people who decide to become mendicants take a vow of non-violence as the first of their five māha-vratas, the vows that all monks and nuns take as part of their initiation. As key elements in becoming a monk or nun, the māha-vratas are ‘absolute’ and must be observed at all times. All the māha-vratas or mendicant vows are threefold, because Jain principles can be broken in three ways. Thus mendicants promise to observe their vow of non-violence in thought, word and deed.

Many of the rules that order the mendicant life relate to avoiding carelessness, which may cause unforeseen injury to living beings. This is especially the case with the sub-microscopic nigodas and the tiny one-sensed life-forms – ekendriyas – that cannot be seen with the naked eye and live throughout the universe. For example, mendicants do not use water unnecessarily and drink only water that has been properly boiled to minimise harm to water-bodied beings. Another example of minimising accidental violence is the monastic broom – rajoharaṇa – which all mendicants carry. They use their brooms to gently sweep surfaces before they sit or lie down, so that they do not harm invisible life-forms in error. The most noticeable instance of trying to stop accidentally hurting ekendriyas is the mouth-cloth worn by mendicants in two sects in the Śvetāmbara tradition – the mukhavastrikā or muṃhpatti. This was a practice that deeply struck European travellers from the 16th century onwards. Monks and nuns in the Terāpanth and Sthānaka-vāsin sects wear mouth-cloths all the time to avoid harming air-bodied beings by breathing and speaking.

However, the best known-example of the practise of non-violence – ahiṃsā – among monks and nuns is the daily or twice-daily ceremony of alms-gathering. Monks and nuns are forbidden from obtaining and cooking food because of the level of violence required, and must seek alms from lay Jains. Even though inadvertent violence is accepted as part of everyday life for householders, lay Jains can gain good karma by offering alms correctly to mendicants.

Ahiṃsā symbol
Image by Elembis © public domain

The vows of Jain mendicants and lay people begin with ahiṃsā, which is the first of the five ‘fundamental vows’. Set out by Māhavīra, the last Jina of the present age, these vows underscore the main moral principles of the Jain faith and keeping them is thus intended to promote spiritual progress. Formal, public vows are key parts of religious practice but private resolutions may be just as binding and challenging.

The vow of non-harm has three elements. The person making the vow promises not to:

• hurt other living beings with body, mind or speech – kṛta
• cause harm to others – kārita
• approve of harmful actions – anumodana.

For Jain monks and nuns, the vow of non-violence is lifelong and ‘absolute’. They follow strict rules designed to help them observe this vow and their other vows and duties.

Lay people can take the ‘lesser vows’ – aṇu-vratas – which they can observe during their lives as householders, while carrying out duties to family and community. Jain texts have always accepted that the lay lifestyle involves some degree of violence, because lay people require food, clothing, housing, work and so on, and must do all kinds of activity just to live. The lay vow of non-violence is much more restricted than the mendicant version, and only applies to harming beings with two or more senses. In addition, many lay Jains try to minimise their direct and indirect involvement in violence, for example by avoiding jobs and activities that entail great harm, such as mining.

Jain thought recognises degrees of non-violence and the texts allow lay people to commit accidental – or even deliberate – violence if greater harm will come from not doing so. An example would be someone deliberately committing violent acts to protect others from violence, which is accepted as the lesser of two evils.

Chapattis
Image by Pearl Pirie © CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

All Jains uphold the principle of non-violence – ahiṃsā – by being vegetarian. Since Jains believe that all life forms, including plants, contain soul – jīva – they accept that killing embodied souls just to eat is inevitable to some degree. Despite this, they minimise violence by following a strict vegetarian or vegan diet according to religious guidance. The purity of food is a key concern for mendicants in particular, but is important for all Jains. However, lists of forbidden foods in scripture and other texts vary by sect.

Jains must never eat any kinds of meat and fish, including the flesh of any animal that has died of natural causes. Fermented, decaying or moist foods, such as alcohol, are forbidden because they are breeding grounds for nigodas. Eggs and honey are not permitted. Certain fruits and vegetables that contain many seeds, and thus potential souls, are not allowed. Examples of such fruits are pomegranates and aubergines. Root vegetables and bulbs, such as carrots, garlic, onions and potatoes, are prohibited because they contain numerous souls. Every piece of a divided root or bulb can grow a new plant, which demonstrates that each root or bulb holds many souls.

In addition, Jains are not supposed to cook or eat after sunset – rātri-bhojana – because of the potential harm to other beings. For example, in the dark insects are attracted to cooking fires and may die in the flames.

Although dairy products are not forbidden in the traditional writings, veganism is spreading among contemporary Jains. Vegans avoid all kinds of food and drink from animals, such as milk and yoghurt. For Jain vegans, this is probably because of concerns about the treatment of cows in the dairy farming industry. Similar motives apply to eating organic foods, which are produced on farms without chemical pesticides and herbicides.

Some contemporary Jains always follow all the rules laid out in the writings of their sect, sometimes at great personal inconvenience. Some lay people observe the rules as much as is practicable in everyday life while others do so only on certain days or during festivals.

Jain mendicants must always stick to the stricter rules on their diets. They must carefully check all the meals offered to them as alms to ensure that it does not contain forbidden foods. Lay people are not supposed to prepare special food for monks and nuns, offering merely the food they would eat themselves. This means that, if the food is suitable for mendicants, lay Jains will therefore observe strict dietary rules themselves.

Bird hospital
Image by batschmidt © CC BY-NC 2.0

Actively practising the principle of ahiṃsā – non-harm – means that Jains are well known in India for establishing hospitals for injured, ill and old birds and animals. These are known as panjrapols or pinjrapols.

There is a long history across the subcontinent of the Jain community’s activities in animal welfare. Most Indian cities with Jain populations have an animal hospital or sanctuary funded by donations from local Jain organisations and individuals and from visitors. In these hospitals sick or injured animals, both pets and from the wild, are cared for, and old animals are looked after until they die.