Jainism

Though the ultimate goal of Jainism–“to ascend to the Siddha Loka, a world beyond heaven and earth, where all the liberated souls dwell eternally in a state of energy, consciousness, and bliss”–is otherwordly and outside of our connections to Mother Earth, the way to reach this “entails great care in regard to how one lives in relationship to all the other living beings that surround one in the earthly realm.” Christopher Key Chapple paints this picture and expands upon this essential concept in his Overview Essay and also provides a wealth of resources for further exploration in this section.

 
 
 
 
 
Overview Essay

In this article, Christopher Key Chapple of Loyola Marymount University gives a look at the Jain view of the world and the imperative to protect it and its creatures.

Advisory Group Members
Go here to see a list of all of the Forum advisors working on the intersection of Jainism and ecology, including brief biographies and contact information.  Go here to read more about the Forum Advisory Group. 
Bibliography

This listing by Christopher Key Chapple of Loyola Marymount University provides additional print resources on this topic from the 1950s to 2001.

Statements

This statement was prepared by Dr. L. M. Singhvi on behalf of the Institute of Jainology. He was President of the Jain Institute, the main body bringing together the three distinct traditions of the Jains.

Engaged Projects

Though we are unaware of any engaged projects working specifically within the Jain tradition, we provide links here to some international projects that encompass all traditions. If you have a project that you believe should belong in this section, please message our webmaster using the Contact Form.

Multimedia

Located here are multimedia offerings of interest, relating to the intersection of Jainism and ecology.

Ecojustice Resources

This page contains lists of resources related to Jainism and Ecojustice, organized by category (books, articles, etc). To see all of the Ecojustice resources on the Forum site, go to our new religiously-engaged Ecojustice hub.

Links

In addition to the links in the Engaged Projects section, we have provided a brief list of additional online resources here.

 


Header photo credit: ©Chris Chapple, Digambara Jain Temple, Ramtek, India