Good For The Self And Good For The Environment
By Sunita Jain, Flushing, NY
According to Jainism, the course of our lives depends on our thoughts and feelings (BHAAV, abstract karma) and on our environment (NOKARMA, pseudo-karma).(1) Purity of thoughts and feelings entails nonviolence and compassion - appreciation of the equality of all living beings. AACHAARAANG states:(2) That (i.e. injury to living beings) is always harmful and injurious to oneself (i.e. the wrongdoer); it is the root cause of non-enlightenment. All living beings love their (own) life, desire (crave for) pleasures, and are averse to pain; they dislike any injury to themselves; everybody is desirous of life, and to every living being, own life is very dear. Do not injure any living being. SUTRAKRITAANG states:(3) One should treat all creatures as (counterparts of) one's own self. Note the above quotation from AACHAARAANG, which states that violence is also injurious to the individual who commits violence.
The same concept is presented in SUTRAKRITAANG as well:(4)
Earth, water, fire, wind, grass, trees and corn, the mobile beings - the oviparous and viviparous, those generated from dirt (sweat), and those generated in fluids, - all these have been declared (by the JINs) as the classes of living beings. Know and realize that they all desire happiness. By hurting these beings, one harms one's own soul, and is born again and again as one of them. In plain words, violence perpetuates the cycle of birth and death. These concepts form the basis of vegetarianism in Jainism.
The word 'vegetarian' was first used in 1842 to describe one who abstains from the use of flesh, fish and fowl as food with or without the addition of eggs and dairy products.(5) Now vegetarianism is taken with different significations in different contexts. In Jainism, it signifies a strictly vegetarian diet, involving no harm or injury to living beings either in its procurement or preparation. The Jain thinkers realized that injury to living beings can not be avoided completely. However, intentional injury to mobile (TRAS) beings (of oviparous and viviparous kinds) can be avoided. Further, injury to immobile (STHAAVAR) living beings belonging to the vegetable kingdom can be minimized. Thus Jainism propagates a vegetarian diet based on grains, milk, fruits and vegetables.
Physical and mental health is important to life. Non-vegetarian food is closely associated with physical and mental decline. UTTARAADHYAYAN SUTRA states:(6) "An individual, who does not understand reality, indulges in violence, untruth, deception, eating meat and drinking liquor, and fancies that these are beneficial for him/her.
Consequently, the individual endures severe afflictions and laments about his/her misdeeds, and, in the end, grows apprehensive of afterlife." Vegetarianism, on the other hand, is good for health and well-being of an individual. It promotes our physical, mental, social and economic welfare. Mostly, vegetarians enjoy a more healthy life than non-vegetarians. In general, a vegetarian diet is low in saturated fats and cholesterol while meat contains large amounts of unhealthy fats and cholesterol. Consequently, a meat-based diet is linked to a number of diseases such as cancers of different organs, high blood pressure, heart diseases and diabetes. About fifty years ago, autopsy was conducted on American and Korean soldiers killed during the Korean war.
It was found that over seventy-five percent of the American men examined had serious narrowing of their arteries while none of the Korean soldiers had the disease. It was concluded that the diets of the two groups had contributed to the difference. While the Americans had consumed fatty meat and eggs, the Koreans had eaten mostly beans and rice.(7) In view of these facts, vegetarianism is gaining wider acceptance these days. Peter Burwash, a formerly top ranked tennis player, writes,(8) "Having spent twenty-five years of my life as a meat-eater, I was constantly perplexed by the physical ups and downs that are a natural part of a high protein meat diet. But my energy level as a vegetarian has been so consistent that for me a low-energy day is indeed a rarity."
There are significant mental and spiritual benefits of vegetarianism.
Virtues such as nonviolence and compassion lead to peace of mind. Dr. A. N. Upadhye writes,(9) "It is only a strict vegetarian that can assure himself that he is a cultured citizen who is not living at the cost of any other life in this commonwealth of animate beings. Further, a vegetarian diet is conducive to a dispassionate and balanced mind and detached and equable attitude. It is thus the baser emotions and lower instincts are sublimated resulting in nobler virtues of universal kindness, equality and brotherhood."
In view of the increasing population of the planet, especially in the developing countries, it is imperative to conserve and efficiently use the natural resources such as land and water. Vegetarianism is extremely essential for this purpose. A few years after India's independence, in a discussion with Pandit Jhamman Lal Jain, a problem of increasing population and hunger around the world was raised.(10) The insightful scholar mentioned the rampant non-vegetarianism in America as the major factor in aggravating the problem. Dr. D. C. Jain of the Animal Welfare Society of India writes,(11) "Vegetarianism is the greatest tool in the preservation of the environment. Water pollution, soil erosion, shortage of energy resources and the rapid destruction of forests are some of the problems which are part of environmental aspects of our diet. The availability of food depends upon the plant resources and the livestock. Livestock agriculture requires a greater investment of natural resources than the plant food agricultural resources. Land, energy and water requirement for livestock agriculture is about 10 to 1000 times greater than those necessary to produce an equivalent amount of plant food." The nutritional return per acre, published by the US Department of Agriculture, reveals that oats produced in an acre of land contain 110 kilograms of protein and provide 2760 kcal, while the beef produced in an acre contains only 14 kilograms of protein and provides only 110 kcal.(12) Over half the water consumed in the United States is used in livestock industry.(13) A pound of wheat contains more calories than a pound of beef but the beef requires 40 to 50 times more water.
The meat industry also uses a very significant quantity of oil, another important natural resource, to power the meat processing equipment, to store meat in refrigerators and to transport it. Waste from the meat industry is a serious cause of pollution of rivers, lakes and streams.
To summarize, vegetarianism is beneficial to individuals for health and spiritual reasons. A vegetarian diet also entails an efficient use the natural resources. For example, in India, vegetarianism can sustain about ten times more people than the existing population.(14)
Production of plant food places minimal strain on the environment. Thus vegetarianism is good for the self and good for the environment.
Footnotes:
1. For details, please see 'Scriptural View of the Jain Theory of Karma', Studies In Jainism: Reader 2, published by Jain Study Circle, New York, 1997, pages 121-126.
2. TAM SE AHIYAAE TAM SE ABOHIAE |AACHAARAANG I.1.2 |
SAVVE PAANA PIYAUYA SUHASAAYA DUKKHAPADIKOOLA APPIYAVAHA PIYAJEEVINO
JEEVIUKAAMA SAVVESIM JEEVIYAM PIYAM |AACHAARAANG I. 2.3 |
NAAIVAAIJJA KIMCHAN |AACHAARAANG I. 2.4 |
3. AAYAATULE PAYAASU |SUTRAKRITAANG I. 11.3 |
4. PUDHAVI YA AAU AGANI YA VAAU TANARUKKHABEEYA YA TASA YA PAANA |
JE ANDAYA JE YA JARAAU PAANA SAMSEYAYA JE RASAYAABHIYAANA ||
AEAAIM KAAYAAIM PAVEIYAAIM AEAESU JAANE PADILEH SAAYAM |
AEAEN KAAEN YA AAYADANDE AEAESU YA VIPPARIYAASUVINTI
| SUTRAKRITAANG I. 7. 1, 2 |
5. 'Vegetarianism - A Way of Life' by J. M. Jussawala, published in Medieval Jainism: Culture and Environment, Ashish Publishing House, New Delhi, 1990, page 113.
6. HIMSE BAALE MUSAABAAI MAAILLE PISUNE SADHE |
BHUNJAMAANE SURAM MANSAM SEYEMEYANTI MANNAI | 5-9 |
TAO PUTTHO AAYANKENAM GILAANO PARITAPPAI |
PABHEEO PARALOGASSA KAMMAANUPPEHI APPANO | 5-11 |
7. The Case for Vegetarianism by Tej and Tarang Sheth, Amrit Publishing, Toronto, 1991, page 13.
8. Vegetarian Primer by Peter Burwash and John Tullis, Atheneum, New York 1983.
9. 'Jainism and Vegetarianism' by A. N. Upadhye, published in Medieval Jainism: Culture and Environment, Ashish Publishing House, New Delhi, 1990, page 112.
11. 'Vegetarianism and its Role in Environmental Preservation' by D. C. Jain, published in Medieval Jainism: Culture and Environment, Ashish Publishing House, New Delhi, 1990, page 121.
13. The Case for Vegetarianism by Tej and Tarang Sheth, Amrit Publishing, Toronto, 1991, page 28.
14. 'Vegetarianism and its Role in Environmental Preservation' by D. C. Jain, published in Medieval Jainism: Culture and Environment, Ashish Publishing House, New Delhi, 1990, page 126.