Religions of the World and Ecology Series
Jainism and Ecology Volume
Christopher Key Chapple, ed.
“Introduction”
Christopher Key Chapple
The Jain Faith in History
The Jain religion originated more than twenty-five hundred years ago in India. It developed a path of renunciation and purification designed to liberate one from the shackles of karma, allowing one to enter into a state of eternal liberation from rebirth, or kevala, which is roughly equivalent to the Buddhist concept of nirvana. The primary method of attaining this ultimate state requires a careful observance of nonviolent behavior. Jainism emphasizes nonviolence, or ahimsa, as the only true path that leads to liberation and prescribes following scrupulous rules for the protection of life in all forms.1
The origins of Jainism are somewhat difficult to trace. The tradition holds that twenty-four great teachers, or Tirthankaras, established the foundations of the Jain faith. The most recent of these teachers, Vardhamana Mahavira (also known as the Jina) most probably lived during the time of the Buddha. Recent scholarship suggests that the Buddha lived in the fourth century BCE. However, the traditional stories of Mahavira indicate that he was born into a family that followed the religious teachings of Parsvanatha, the twenty-third Tirthankara, who possibly taught during the eighth century BCE. Because virtually no archaeological ruins can be found in India for the period from 1500 to 300 BCE, exact dates cannot be determined. However, the first excavations of northern India during the Hellenistic era (ca. 300 BCE) include statues of Jain images. Furthermore, the earliest Buddhist texts discuss Jainism in some detail, suggesting that it was a well-established tradition even before the time of the Buddha.
The records of Strabo (64 BCE to 23 CE), the Greek geographer, describe two prevailing styles of religiosity in India at the time of Alexander (ca. 330 BCE), as recorded by Megasthenes (350–290 BCE): the Brahmanical traditions, later described by the Persians as “Hindu,” and the Sramanical traditions, which include Buddhism and Jainism.2 The Brahmanical traditions emphasize the Vedas, ritual, and the authority of a priestly caste. The Sramanical traditions do not accept the Vedas, advocate meditation rather than ritual, and look to monks and nuns for religious authority. Buddhism sent out missionaries from India who established Theravada Buddhism in Southeast Asia, Mahayana Buddhism in East Asia, and Vajrayana Buddhism in Central Asia. Buddhism flourished in India until the tenth century, when its influence waned.
Jainism did not establish a missionary tradition but cultivated a strong laity. Like Buddhism, it began in Northeast India but, possibly because of drought in the third century BCE, many Jains moved to the southern kingdoms of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, as well to the western parts of India now known as Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh. Eventually, two sects of Jainism arose: the Digambaras, primarily found in central and southern India, and the Svetambaras, who live primarily in western India. The two groups agree on the foundational Jain principles of karma and nonviolence. However, they differ on their biographical accounts of Mahavira, accept different texts as authentically canonical, and hold divergent views on renouncing clothing and on the potential spiritual status of women. The Svetambaras, whose name means “white clad,” contend that monks and nuns can achieve the highest levels of spirituality without renouncing their clothing. They also believe that women hold the potential to achieve the state of liberation, or kevala. The Digambaras, whose name means “sky clad,” hold that all clothing must ultimately be renounced and that, because only men are allowed to take this ultimate vow of renunciation, a woman must be reborn as a man to achieve kevala. These traditions arose in geographic isolation from one another and developed into distinct schools by the early centuries of the common era.
The Acaranga Sutra (ca. 400 BCE), a text used extensively by the Svetambaras, is the oldest surviving Jain manual, describing the rules proclaimed by Mahavira to be followed by his monks and nuns. One thinker, Umasvati, who probably lived in the fourth century CE, developed a philosophical approach to Jainism that both Svetambaras and Digambaras accept. In a text known as the Tattvartha Sutra, or Aphorisms on the Meaning of Reality, he succinctly outlines the Jain world-view, describing karma, cosmology, ethics, and the levels of spiritual attainment (gunasthana). Later philosophers, including Haribhadra (ca. 750 CE) and Hemacandra (ca. 1150 CE) of the Svetambara tradition and Jinasena (ca. 820 CE) and Virasena (ca. 800 CE) of the Digambara tradition, developed an extensive literary corpus that includes stories, epics, philosophical treatises, and poetry. During the Mogal period, Jinacandrasuri II (1541–1613), the leader of the Kharatara Gaccha (a subdivision of the Svetambara sect) achieved great influence at the court of Akbar, convincing the emperor to protect Jain pilgrimage places. Akbar even prohibited animal slaughter for one week per year under Jinacandrasuri’s urging. In contemporary times, Jain have become very influential in the areas of publishing, law, and business. They continue to work at integrating their philosophy of nonviolence into the daily life of India.
The Jain community has also participated in an extensive diaspora, with several tens of thousands living in various parts of the world. Jain business families settled in East Africa several decades ago. After Indian independence, some Jains settled in Great Britain, with a great influx from East Africa during the expulsion of all South Asians from Uganda under the rule of Idi Amin. In Kobe, Japan, Jains participate in the diamond trade. Jains began migrating to North America after the changes in immigration law in 1965, inspired by the Civil Rights movement. These new immigrants have built temples and organized several networks and organizations for maintaining Jain identity, including the Jaina Associations in North America (JAINA), which sponsors semiyearly conventions. These gatherings have included presentations pertaining to current issues, such as environmentalism.3
Jainism and Environmentalism
The common concerns between Jainism and environmentalism can be found in a mutual sensitivity toward living things, a recognition of the inter-connectedness of life-forms, and support of programs that educate others to respect and protect living systems. For the Jains, this approach is anchored in a cosmology that views the world in terms of a cosmic woman whose body contains countless life souls (jiva) that reincarnate repeatedly until the rare attainment of spiritual liberation (kevala). The primary means to attain freedom requires the active nonharming of living beings, which disperses the karmas that keep one bound. Jains adhere to the vows of nonviolence to purify their karma and advance toward the higher states of spiritual attainment (gunasthana). For Jain laypeople, this generally means keeping to a vegetarian diet and pursuing livelihoods deemed to inflict a minimum of harm. For Jain monks and nuns, this means the need to avoid doing harm to all forms of life, including bugs and microorganisms (nigoda).
Contemporary environmental thinkers in the developed world, particularly within the last decade of the twentieth century, have come to emphasize the interconnectedness of life as the foundation for developing an environmental ethic. On the policy level, the Endangered Species Act of the United States extends protection to even the smallest aspect of life, emphasizing the microphase as the key to ecosystem protection. Taking a different approach, Norway has developed a comprehensive approach to assess the impact of one action on the broader network of relationships within a given biome.4 Both approaches grapple with the age-old problem of how to balance the needs of the one and the many when working toward the highest good.
Drawing from her own relationships with trees, ecologist Stephanie Kaza has proposed an approach to the natural world that engenders feelings of tenderness, respect, and protection. She writes:
The relationship between person and tree, arising over and over again in many different contexts and with various individuals, is one subset of all human-nonhuman relationships… . I want to know, What does it actually mean to be in a relationship with a tree? Acknowledgment of and participation in relationships with trees, coyotes, mountains, and rivers is central to the philosophy of deep ecology… . In the course of studying mountains and rivers in depth, one sees them explode into all the phenomena that support their existence—clouds, stones, people walking, animals crawling, the earth shaking.5
By participating in the close observation of individual life processes, in this case using the tree as a starting point, one begins to see the network of relationships that enlivens all forms of consciousness. By gaining intimacy with a small part of the whole, concern for the larger ecosystem arises. Each piece, no matter how small, contributes to the whole. To disrupt the chain of life at any link can result in dire consequences, as seen in the release of radioactivity in Chernobyl, the great industrial accident in Bhopal, the depletion of the ozone layer over the polar caps, and the extinction of various species of plants and animals.
As seen in the above example from Stephanie Kaza, an important impetus for environmental activism comes from the close observance and consequent appreciation of the external world. As our ecosystem becomes impoverished, humans take notice and respond. Ultimately, this concern for nature can be seen as a form of self-preservation, as the earth is the only context for human flourishing. Similarly, according to the Acaranga Sutra, Mahavira was moved when he observed nature at close range, noticing that even the simplest piece of a meadow teems with life:
Thoroughly knowing the earth-bodies and water-bodies and fire-bodies and wind-bodies, the lichens, seeds, and sprouts, he comprehended that they are, if narrowly inspected, imbued with life… .6
In a contemporary echo of this realization, James Laidlaw records the conversion moment of a woman who subsequently decided to become a Jain nun:
the decision came one morning when she walked into the kitchen. There was a cockroach in the middle of the floor, “and I just looked at it and suddenly I thought, ‘Why should I stay in this world where there is just suffering and death and rebirth?”’7
Seeing the life and spirit of a lowly insect inspired this woman to pursue a lifelong commitment of harmlessness to all beings. Benevolence to souls other than one’s own leads to self-purification and the transcendence of worldly entanglements. The ethics of nonviolence as developed by the Jains looks simultaneously inward and outward. The only path for saving one’s own soul requires the protection of all other possible souls.
Jainism offers a worldview that in many ways seems readily compatible with core values associated with environmental activism. While both uphold the protection of life, the underlying motives governing the Jain faith and those governing environmental activism do differ. First, as various authors in this book will point out, the telos or goal of Jainism lies beyond all worldly concerns. The Jain observances of nonviolence, for instance, are not ultimately performed for the sake of protecting the individual uniqueness of any given life-form for its own sake. The reason for the protection of life is for self-benefit, stemming from a desire to avoid accruing a karmic debt that will result in later retribution against oneself. The result may be the same; a life might be spared. However, this is a by-product of a desire to protect and purify oneself through the avoidance of doing harm. In the case of some environmental activists, aggressive, direct action might be undertaken to interfere with and stop the destruction of a natural habitat in a way that might be seen as violent, such as the monkey-wrenching techniques used by EarthFirst!8 This would not be acceptable to a Jain.
In this volume the following questions will be posed: How does traditional Jain cosmology, and its consequent ethics, view the natural world? Is this worldview compatible with contemporary ecological theory? How might a Jain ethical system respond to the challenges of making decisions regarding such issues as the development of dams, the proliferation of automobiles, overcrowding due to overpopulation, and the protection of individual animal species? Can there be a Jain environmental activism that stems from a traditional concern for self-purification that simultaneously responds to the contemporary dilemma of ecosystem degradation?
In the chapters that follow, this topic will be pursued from a variety of perspectives. The voices included in this volume reflect a wide spectrum of approaches. Several scholars born and trained in the West take a critical look at the real prospects for Jain advocacy of environmental protection. Jain scholars from India, on the other hand, see actual solutions in Jain philosophy for correcting ecological imbalances through a reconsideration of lifestyle and active application of ahimsa. Perhaps the closest analogue to environmental activism within historical Jainism can be found in the tradition of animal protection, as found in the many hundreds, if not thousands, of shelters, or pinjrapoles, located in and near Jain communities in western India.9 Modern initiatives, some of which are mentioned in this book, include tree-planting prgrams at pilgrimage sites. Dr. Michael Fox of the Humane Society and the Center for Respect of Life and Environment has re-energized an animal shelter inspired by Jain values in South India.10 By combining the ancient practice of animal protection with considered reflections on how traditional Jain observances of non-violence might counter the excesses of the modern, industrialized, consumer-oriented lifestyle, the Jain faith might provide a new voice for the development of ecofriendly behaviors.
Overview of the Volume
The book has been divided into four sections, followed by an appendix and a bibliography. The first section examines Jain theories about the nature of the universe, which then provide the context for developing an ecological interpretation of the tradition. The second section raises some challenges to the possibility of developing an ecofriendly Jain ethic. The third section, written by Jain practitioners, asserts that Jainism, with its emphasis on nonviolence (ahimsa), is inherently sensitive to and practically responsive to environmental needs. The fourth section discusses the adaptation of ecological ideas among select members of the contemporary Jain community, largely among its diaspora adherents.
In the first chapter, Nathmal Tatia, who passed away shortly after the conference on Jainism and ecology took place in the summer of 1998, suggests that virtually all the religious traditions of the world “contain aspects that are not anthropocentric” and then introduces key aspects of Jain philosophy. Noting that neither Jainism nor Buddhism contains a creating or controlling God, he emphasizes compassion as the key for the protection of life. Tatia suggests that the Jain advocacy of vegetarianism and protection of animals provide a possible remedy for the current ecological crisis. He provides a synoptic view of how the application of traditional Jain ethics can help one enact environmentalist values.
Philosopher John Koller probes the Jain theory of many-sidedness (anekanta) as an antidote to the one-theory approach that drives the development machine and has led to environmental degradation. Jains traditionally seek to understand any situation from as many angles as possible, as exemplified in the famous story of the six blind men and the elephant. One feels the tail and “sees” a snake. Another feels the ear and “sees” a fan, and so forth. Each can claim a “truth,” but no one, at least before the experience of kevala, can claim to see totality. By utilizing a multiple-perspective approach to environmental issues, Koller suggests that Jains will be better equipped to cope with such ethical dilemmas as the use and abuse of trees and oceans.
Kristi Wiley begins her chapter with an assessment of the discipline of environmental ethics as it has evolved in Western academia. Noting the shift from anthropocentrism to biocentrism, Wiley sees some commonalities between the moral considerations of Jainism and systems ecologists. Her careful interpretation of indigenous Jain biology and elemental theory lists in detail the karmic effects of negative interactions with one’s environment. She makes the important distinction between beings with consciousness (samjni) and those without consciousness (asamjni), which provides some basis for using plants and the elements as resources for human sustenance. Wiley also emphasizes the central role played by the nuns and monks who serve as the conscience of the Jain tradition, advocating protection for even those beings who lack awareness, such as plants and the living bodies contained within earth, water, fire, and air.
The second section poses challenges to the conventional assumption that Jainism by its very nature contains all the precepts of environmentalism. It begins with an essay by John Cort, who suggests that a great deal of work needs to be accomplished before the Jain tradition can honestly claim to be ecofriendly. Noting that the environmental crisis is a recent development, he suggests that environmental thought and activism might help inform how Jains define and realize their commitment to ahimsa. In particular, he discusses the Jain “value of wellbeing” as providing a counterbalance to the Jain emphasis on liberation, noting that “Jain ethics … are highly context-sensitive” and hence adaptable according to time and place. He compares and contrasts ecofeminism and the role of women in Jainism, and suggests that social ecology must be taken into consideration, noting that the project to reforest Jain pilgrimage sites has had a negative effect on low-caste herders whose livestock have become restricted from foraging. Acknowledging the long history of Jainism as a social catalyst, Cort looks forward to the development of a “distinctive Jain environmental ethic.”
Paul Dundas suggests that in the history of Jainism some attitudes toward nature may have been less than ecofriendly. He describes the dualistic and pluralistic nature of Jain philosophy, which divides the world into living and nonliving entities, with each living entity (jiva) responsible for its own fate. Dundas states that within this worldview nature in and of itself has no “autonomous value.” Value lies in the human application of nonviolence to attain, as noted earlier in this introduction, the release of all karma and the eventual severance from all materiality, including “nature.” To apply purely monastic values to the issue of ecological degradation simply does not work, argues Dundas, citing various ethical tales about elephant-eating ascetics, brutal horse tamers, and well diggers, each of which seems to contain, at best, an ambiguous environmental ethic. He cautions that one must exert care in attempting to match a “traditional soteriological path” to “fit the requirements of a modern, ultimately secular, Western-driven agenda.”
My own chapter suggests that the Jain community could benefit from examining its worldview and ethics in light of some contemporary theorists in the area of religion and ecology, specifically Brian Swimme, Thomas Berry, and David Abram. Each of these three has highlighted the dynamic aspects of living processes, displaying a sen-sitivity to life somewhat similar to that found in Jainism. David Abram has emphasized in particular the role of the senses in determining and defining reality, taking an approach comparable to the empiricism emphasized in Umasvati’s Tattvartha Sutra, the Buddhist Abhidharma schools, and the Hindu schools of Samkhya and Yoga. The Jain worldview that sees the universe, from earth-bodies to human beings, as suffused with life accords with the thought of Thomas Berry, who has stated that the world is a “communion of subjects, not a collection of objects.” Furthermore, the Jain assertion that even the earth itself feels our presence is strikingly resonant with the observations of Brian Swimme. The pan-psychic vision of Jainism is compared and contrasted with contemporary Western scientific and philosophical insights, with the suggestion that these two fields be brought into closer dialogue with one another.
Padmanabh S. Jaini, one of the world’s leading scholars of Jainism, summarizes fundamental Jain teachings and then seeks to explore how Jainism might respond to key issues of development and economics. The current drive toward industrialization and consumerism in India violates many essential Jain precepts, particularly non-possession (aparigraha). By examining traditional lifestyles and occupations, as well as Jain attitudes toward wealth in general, Jaini suggests that a balanced approach to development can be pursued.
In the third section of the book, Jain practitioners suggest that Jainism already has developed a working environmental ethics. As such, this section represents an emic, or insider’s, view of Jainism. It includes three essays that might fit more within the genre of a sermon than an academic paper, but which nonetheless make an important contribution to this emerging discourse. These chapters point to new directions to be taken within the practice of Jainism, grounded in the earlier tradition.
Sadhvi Shilapi, a prominent Jain nun, raises up the voice of Mahavira, the great Jain Tirthankara of twenty-five hundred years ago, to suggest how Jains can and should respond to the problems of industrialization, population growth, and human exploitation of nonhuman life-forms. Quoting from the Acaranga Sutra, the oldest text of the Svetambara Jain tradition, she suggests that Mahavira’s sensitivity to plants and the elements themselves can serve to inform the Jain response to resource limitations. She also emphasizes the need for tree planting in rural areas of India, an initiative taken by her own religious community, Veerayatan, in Bihar.
Bhagchandra Jain consults a wide range of Jain literature from both the Svetambara and Digambara schools to compile a masterful argument for the respect of all life-forms. He notes the extensive literature within Jainism devoted to forest protection and emphasizes the ecological aspects of behavior recommended for Jain laypersons.
Satish Kumar, founder and educational director of Schumacher College in England, relates the concept of ecology to the simple lifestyle observed by his own mother, which included strict vegetarianism, pilgrimages to sacred mountains, constant observance of barefootedness, minimalization of possessions, conservation of water, and close adherence to an ethical code grounded in nonviolence.
In the concluding section, Anne Vallely examines the tensions between traditional and contemporary Jainism, particularly in its current globalized form. She notes the trend by some Jains to identify themselves as ecofriendly. She then examines what she terms to be a newly emerging sociocentric ecological worldview within the Jain community. Diaspora Jains, particularly in North America, have brought about a distinctive form of Jainism that emphasizes “the values of vegetarianism, animal welfare, meditation, and active promotion of interfaith activities.” Though the inspiration of each of these can be seen as having its roots in Jain thought and practice, they are being played out in a far more public arena than that traditionally observed by the inward Jain ascetics.
The volume concludes with an appendix, The Jain Declaration on Nature, prepared by L. M. Singhvi, a member of the Indian Parliament and former high commissioner from India to the United Kingdom. This was originally published as a small booklet in 1992. This document has helped stimulate the discussion of environmental values in the Jain community worldwide and serves as an example of what Anne Vallely refers to as the newly emerging sociocentric expression of Jainism.
Contemporary Theorists of Jain Ecology
The interface between Jainism and ecology remains a complex issue, and it is important to recognize some of the pioneers in this emerging discussion. Though he was not able to participate in the Harvard conference, the work and commitment of Michael Tobias must be acknowledged. Tobias, who received his doctorate in the history of consciousness, has worked for several decades as a writer and filmmaker dedicated to environmental causes. In 1988 he released the film “Ahimsa,” which elegantly portrays several Jain leaders and extols the religion as the great champion of animal rights and nonviolent living. He wrote a book titled Life Force: The World of Jainism that serves as a written companion to the film, and he contributed the chapter on Jainism to Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim’s Worldviews and Ecology.11 Though not trained as a scholar of Jainism, Tobias nonetheless recognized a commonality between his own environmental interests and the Jain worldview. He remains a sought-after speaker within the extensive network of Jain conferences and proclaims himself to be a Jain.
The work of Satish Kumar, both with his journal Resurgence and the curriculum that he has developed at Schumacher College, indicates his willingness to blend together social activism and a Jain-inspired commitment to nonviolence. Kumar left the life of a traditional Jain monk to join the land redistribution movement of Vinobha Bhave (1895–1982), and later journeyed as a peace activist on foot from Delhi to Moscow to Paris in an attempt to stop nuclear proliferation in the 1960s.12 He has most recently joined forces with Dr. Atul K. Shah to produce the journal Jain Spirit: Advancing Jainism into the Future, which is published six times each year and distributed internationally. Each issue includes articles and photo essays that reinforce an eco-friendly view. Most of the articles in the “Environment” section of the magazine are by environmental activists such as David Ehrenfield, Joyce D’Silva, and Donella Meadows and serve more to educate Jains about contemporary trends in the field of ecology than to articulate a distinctly Jain vision of environmentalism. Kumar has attempted a synthesis of spirituality and activism, inspired in part by his childhood and young adult years as a monk in Acarya Tulsi’s Svetambaras Terapanthi movement, which includes ten special vows that were formulated in 1949, including “I will always be alert to keeping the environment pollution-free.”
The Advent of Jain Environmentalism
As Anne Vallely notes in her chapter, some modern Jains, particularly in North America, see involvement with environmental causes and animal rights activism as a logical extension of their faith. However, how authentic is this tradition? Is it, as Vallely suggests, a revision of asceticism? Can the observance and advocacy of vegetarianism and ecological sensitivity substitute as a new form of asceticism? Can Jainism truly survive without the living presence of monks and nuns to chide and inspire the more worldly lay community?
In the modern diaspora context, traditional monasticism, rigorously practiced by monks and nuns in India, has not taken root, nor does it seem to be a likely option, given the relatively small numbers of Jains living outside India and the logistical difficulties of providing the donor support sanctioned by the Jain lay community. However, some Jain monastics (and former Jain monastics), such as Muni Sri Chitrabhanu, Acharya Sushil Kumar, Sadhvi Shilapi, and Satish Kumar, have helped promulgate Jain teachings outside of India, and many nuns in training (samanis) from the Terapanthi community have lectured throughout the world. Numerous lay Jains participate in regular practices of fasting and other austerities, particularly the Paryusana fast observed in late August. The many Jain centers and temples throughout North America and the United Kingdom have developed extensive weekend educational programs for children (patsalas), camps, retreats, and web sites to educate their members (and others) about the faith. Many of these activities include mention of the environment from a Jain perspective.
This volume points to the dynamic nature of the Jain faith and its willingness to engage in discussion on this modern social issue. Not unlike nearly any other religious tradition, it remains to be seen if the Jain worldview and ethic can inspire an effective ecological vision. Can Jainism adopt a sociocentric environmental point of view without compromising its core values? Hopefully, this collection of essays will help advance this discussion.
Endnotes
1 For information on the history, philosophy, and practice of Jainism, see Padmanabh S. Jaini, The Jaina Path of Purification (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1979); Paul Dundas, The Jains (London: Routledge, 1992); Alan Babb, Absent Lord: Ascetics and Kings in Jain Ritual Culture (Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1996); and John E. Cort, Jains in the World: Religious Values and Ideology in India (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001).
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2 The Geography of Strabo, trans. Horace Leonard Jones (New York: Putnam, 1930) 101.
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3 See Marcus Banks, Organizing Jainism in India and England (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992). See also Peace through Non-Violence: Eighth Biennial Jaina Convention Souvenir Volume (Chicago, Ill.: Federation of Jain Associations in North America, 1995); and Bhuvanendra Kumar, Jainism in America (Mississauga, Ontario: Jain Humanities Press, 1996).
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4 See David Rothenberg, “Individual or Community? Two Approaches to Ecophilosophy in Practice,” in Ecological Prospects: Scientific, Religious, and Aesthetic Perspectives, ed. Christopher Key Chapple (Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York, 1994) 83–92.
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5 Stephanie Kaza, The Attentive Heart: Conversations with Trees (New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1993) 10–11.
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6 Acaranga Sutra 1.8.1.11–12; from Jaina Sutras, Part 1, The Akaranga Sutra. The Kalpa Sutra, trans. Hermann Jacobi (1884; New York: Dover, 1968).
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7 James Laidlaw, Riches and Renunciation: Religion, Economy, and Society among the Jains (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995), 157.
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8 See “Earth First! And Global Narratives of Popular Ecological Resistance,” in Ecological Resistance Movements: The Global Emergence of Radical and Popular Environmentalism, ed. Bron Raymond Taylor (Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1995) 11–34.
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9 Deryck O. Lodrick, Sacred Cows, Sacred Places: Origins and Survivals of Animal Homes in India (Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1981).
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10 See the web site for the India Project for Animals and Nature.
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11 Worldviews and Ecology, ed. Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1994).
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12 See Satish Kumar’s autobiography, Path without Destination (New York: William Morrow, 1999).
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Copyright © 2002 Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School.
Reprinted with permission.
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