|
Home
About think Differently About Sheep
Sentient
Sheep
Sheep
in religion and mythology
Sheep
in Art
Sheep Breeds
Liberate our Sheep
Vegetarianism/veganism
Animal Rights
Factory Farming
Animal Rights and Why they Matter
Sentience in Farm Animals
Why Animals matter:
A Religious and Philosophical perspective
Vegan Rambles
Farm Animal Facts
Photograph Gallery
Art
Gallery
Clipart
Quotations
Portrait Gallery: Animals do Not
all Look the Same
Links
Contact
|
Return to Why Animals Matter: A
Religious/Philosophical Perspective
Why
Animals Matter: Jainism Quotations
For ease of reading all quotations appear in a
Purple Font
Please note: External links will open into a new window
Page Three
Ahimsa and Animal rights
The practice of Ahimsa is the true essence of Jainism.
Jain doctrine teaches that the universe is filled with
an abundance of life and that each being without
exception is of importance and that any injury even
accidental caused to any being effects the order of the
entire world.
Jains should be non-violent toward all other living
beings, including their own selves, this not only
by deed but also in thought and word.
Jains
take painstaking effort to preserve the life and
wellbeing of all creatures. Moreover one should love
every living being with no discrimination because all creatures are considered
to have the potential for divinity no matter in what
form they exist and all have the same potential to be
liberated from the cycle of rebirth and achieve
enlightenment and eternal bliss. Jains teach that we
should love and protect any animal even if it is ill
disposed to us.
Nonetheless a Jain practitioner is allowed to
protect himself from attack with intent to harm.
In Jainism even the smallest being is a jiva, a Jiva is
the immortal essence that survives the physical death of
any living being be it a plant or animal, Jivas should
not be hurt and given protection. Again rather like
Buddhism Jainism teaches that all beings wish to live,
all desire happiness and wish to avoid misery and
suffering and none wish to die. For
all living beings the essence or soul if you like is the
same whether it is a plant or an animal including a human
being and moreover the soul may take any
form, an elephant, a goat, an ant, a bee, a fish, a
human.
Life exists everywhere, in the earth, water, fire and air and
vegetables. And It is because of the ubiquitous profusion of
life that a follower of Jainism
will have to take extreme caution as mentioned
earlier, such as for example whilst walking look where
they tread and walk only barefoot to avoid killing
tiny creatures and not walk out at night when it would be
difficult to see insects and other small beings and also avoid nocturnal meals.
Some of the more strict rules though as already
mentioned apply only to
monks and nuns.
Jains are admonished to avoid negative states of being
such as anger, pride, jealously, deceit, greed,
attachment, aversion all of which are hindrances to spiritual
advancement.
An
eloquent description of the obligations of a Jain
monastic or lay person is expressed in the quotation
below, A Treatise On Jainism
By - Shri Jayatilal S. Sanghvi :
Anger, pride, deceit, greed, attachment, aversion all
these are our terrible
foes. One should be away from them.
Avoid nocturnal meals, look the ground you tread upon
lest any injury may be
done to any living being, filter water and other liquids
and then use them.
Do not speak ill of anybody, nor feel jealous.
Avoid strives and quarrels.
Maintain mutual good-will and do not do evil to anybody.
Be delighted at the,
sight of virtuous. Be desirous of allaying the
sufferings of the unhappy. Be
friendly towards all living beings. By giving pain
to others, one will have
to experience bitter fruits. Therefore, one
desiring happiness should make
others happy. Inculcate the spirit of equanimity
towards others. Be
charitable, try to uplift the poor and the afflicted,
observe the best moral
standards in your conduct i.e. make your character
an ideal one, practice
austerities to the best of your abilities and lead a
life of the pure and
noble thinking. This is the principal message of
the Jain Religion. The
details will be found in the following pages.
It is extremely difficult to get this human existence.
One should therefore
shake off idleness and indolence, instill and practice
religion and, thereby,
enjoy the endless and unobstructed happiness of the
final beatitude.
To
read the full treatise:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/jai/treatise.txt
There are on earth approximately 8.4 million species.
This defies credibility and it is difficult to envision
so many beings . Humans are only one species amongst many and
according to Jain belief humans have no more rights than
any of the myriad creatures with whom we share this
world. All beings both human and non human have an equal
right to life, there is no discrimination. Humans have no
right to subdue other beings, and do not have dominion
over any creature. However unlike other beings Jains
believe that human beings have an obligation to practice
non violence and to care for other creatures
This concept is well illustrated in a Jain
story concerning Parshwanath
the twenty third
Tirthankara and his compassion for animals
One story best
expresses the Jain attitude toward animals. Once
Parshwanath, a young prince, arriving as a
bridegroom with his marriage entourage to the house
of his bride, saw near the house an enclosure of
animals, tightly packed, waiting to be slaughtered.
Shocked by the cry of the animals, the prince
enquired, “Why are those animals being kept in such
cruel conditions?” His aides replied, “They are for
the feast of the wedding party.”The young prince was overwhelmed with compassion.
Arriving at the wedding chamber, he spoke with the
father of the princess. “Immediately and
unconditionally all those animals enclosed to be
slaughtered for the marriage feast must be freed,”
he said. “Why?” responded the father. “The lives of
animals are there for the pleasure of humans.
Animals are our slaves and our meat. How can there
be any feast without the flesh?!”
Prince Parshwanath was puzzled. He could not
believe what he had just heard. He exclaimed,
“Animals have souls, they have consciousness, they
are our kith and kin, they are our ancestors. They
wish to live as much as we do; they have feelings
and emotions. They have love and passion; they fear
death as much as we do. Their instinct for life is
no less than ours. Their right to live is as
fundamental as our own. I cannot marry, I cannot
love and I cannot enjoy life if animals are enslaved
and killed.” Without further ado he rejected the
plans for his marriage, he discarded the comfortable
life of a prince, and he responded to his inner
calling to go out and awaken the sleepy masses who
had been conditioned to think selfishly and kill
animals for their pleasure and comfort.
Story extract from the article Jain Religion by Satish
Kumar
It is well worth reading the rest of this article
Resurgence magazine
For Jains all life is sacred every being has the right
to life, no living being need have fear from anyone who
has taken the vow of ahimsa. According to Jainism, the
protection of life, also known as abhayadānam, is the
supreme charity that a person can make.
In keeping with the principle of Ahimsa
therefore Jains care for animals in
sanctuaries where even the sickest and
most deformed creatures receive protection
and care. In Jainism there is no room
for the virtually world wide assumption
that man takes precedence over other
beings.
Jains subscribe to the sanctuary
movement. Although Jains believe that
animals should live their lives free
from the detrimental interference of
human beings, Jains consider that they
should help animals who are injured or
ill or otherwise cannot care for
themselves.
Throughout India Jains run animal
shelters, Delhi has a bird hospital run
by Jains. Every city and town in
Bundelkhand , a region in central India
an ancient centre of Jainism, has animal
shelters run by Jains where all manner
of animals are sheltered even though the
shelter is generally known as a Gaushala
("sacred cow").
You will find that in every village and
major city throughout India animal
sanctuaries known as known as
panjorapors care for stray, injured sick
or old animals of all
kinds such as birds, camels, water
buffalo, cows, in a loving environment and visited
at least once a week by veterinarians.
When healed, wild animals are returned to
their natural environment. Jains though
care also for chronically sick or old
animals indefinitely if they are unable to
care for themselves until they die a
natural death, there is no place in
Jainism for the termination of the life
of any creature for any reason and the
euthanasia of any being is prohibited as
it is an act of violence. Naturally in
Jain belief hunting is banned, it is
considered wrong to kill ferocious
carnivores animals which kill other
animals, a reason often given to justify
hunting. Another erroneous excuse put
forward to justify the killing of
carnivorous animals is that because they
kill so many other creatures they
accumulate negative karma and that
killing them is an act of mercy. It is
amazing the excuses people may find to
kill or harm animals, but in Jianism
there can be found no excuse whatsoever.
Killing can never be an act of mercy in
any guise and remains always an act of
violence,
The goal of Jainism is one of non
interference with the rights of animals
to live out their natural lives.
Jains the world over practice active
compassion towards animals and either
run or fund animal sanctuaries.
For
example Manchester's Jain community
funds animal sanctuaries.
Jainism believes in the equality
of all souls and reverence for life in its totality. It
accords significance to the minutest living organisms.
Animal welfare, vegetarianism and care of the
environment are very much at the heart of Jain beliefs.
Relative pluralism has made Jains tolerant towards other
faiths. Jainism does not believe in active conversion,
but accepts a person, irrespective of caste, creed,
colour or gender, as Jain, who follows the Jain way of
life.
Quoted from
http://www.jaincentre.com/jainfrm.htm
Next:
Page Four
Jainism in the Modern World
Important please note:
I
am not an animal expert of any kind just your average
person who loves animals, all animals, and feels deeply
about the plight of many of our fellow creatures.
Neither am I a writer, or any other expert. Therefore
please keep in mind that the information included in
this website has been researched to the best of my
ability and any misinformation is quite by accident but
of course possible.
Copyright, accreditations and
other matters, please read |
