Ajahn Guna of Berkeley Buddhist Monastery discusses how good health and beauty are not commodities but the consequences of generosity, compassion and virtue. Next to him is the producer of the documentary “Got the Facts on Milk?”, an informative and provocative film that we watched and discussed with a break for mindful walking, allowing for people to process the information they received with a fresh state of mind.
This thoughtful post is contributed by Mahersh Shah and the Jain Vegans Team, which moderates a web forum that is separate and complementary to this blog. I (drJina) was struck by the appropriateness of the term himsa footprint when I saw this term discussed in the web forum, and Mahersh graciously agreed to write more about it for our blog. Here’s his piece:
Most of us are familiar with the current-day concepts of “eco-footprint” and “carbon footprint” – these terms and concepts have become part of our everyday vocabulary and thought processes.Today, we are being encouraged to reduce our carbon footprints (to help slow down, if not reverse, human-induced global warming and climate change), and to minimise our eco-footprints in a bid to reduce our destructive impact on the environment.
At a Young Jains UK event in Feb 2008 that started as a conversation about why a vegan rather than vegetarian diet would be consistent with Jain values with keynote speaker and longtime US based vegan Saurabh Dalal, the term himsa footprint spontaneously emerged. The group that was to become the Jain Vegans team discussed ahimsa and eco-footprints as a reason for going vegan. Very soon, Kewal Shah shouted out the phrase himsa footprint as it simply appeared in his mind, and the Jain vegans have been using it extensively since.
So how does the term himsa footprint help us? Well, the beauty of this neat and powerful expression is that it speaks volumes. To me, when we talk about “lowering our himsa footprints”, we are speaking in a holistic sense, covering the direct and indirect himsa inflicted, by our actions, on all life around us. And by extension, this includes himsa on the environment, since harming or destroying life damages the environment, and damaging the environment harms or destroys life. Thus, to me, the general concept of himsa footprint covers the more specific concepts of eco-footprint and carbon-footprint, for example, as well as many others.
Jains have a long and prominent tradition of embracing ahimsa (non-violence, compassion, peace). In fact, the concept of ahimsa is at the very core of the Jain lifestyle. For Jains, and others who believe in karma, practicing ahimsa is also a way of developing spiritually and purifying one’s atma (soul). Therefore, lowering one’s himsa footprint would be an important activity for a Jain from a karmic standpoint too. But even if one doesn’t believe in karma, leading life so as to consciously reduce one’s himsa footprint would surely bring about positive inner development, as well as benefiting all life and the environment around us.
Perhaps if we all begin to think in holistic terms of consciously and actively reducing our himsa footprints, then we’ll see many of the global issues facing us today being addressed in one go (e.g. human-induced climate change and other environmental issues). Indeed, if most human societies, policy-makers and governments around the world started thinking in terms of himsa footprints, then we might even see a dramatic reduction in human-human conflict, bloodshed, war, abuses of human rights and animal rights, poverty, starvation and so on.
Posted in Environmental, Jain Philosophy, Musings
Last year, I posted a Vegan Thanksgiving Prayer. This year, I came across a post on another blog, Happy Healthy Long Life, which is all about gratitude for the wonderful things and people in our lives. In Jainism we are very careful not to harm and our rituals seem to emphasize beneficial regret and asking forgiveness. My Thanksgiving prayer typifies our Jain sensibility. In a complementary way, gratitude can bring a positive aspect to our care for other beings.
Incidentally, the writer of Happy Healthy Long Life has a scientific and health focus, but recently she wrote about how it felt to learn about the way that dairy cows were treated. I found it refreshing that she discussed the compassion aspect of a diet that she found initially for health reasons.
Farm Sanctuary has a live stream on Thanksgiving of rescued turkeys at their New York Sanctuary (go to farmsanctuary.org from 9am to 4pm). Turkeys are surprisingly cute and friendly as we found out last week when we visited Harvest Home Sanctuary.
I am grateful, dear readers, that you chose to read this blog and that i have a venue for expressing these thoughts. May your holiday be full of joy and compassion.
Have a very happy Thanksgiving.
Posted in Musings, Uncategorized
Today we fed turkeys and goats, played with dogs and rabbits and learned about the animals that are rescued and supported at Harvest Home Sanctuary. It was Harvest Home Sanctuary‘s Toast for the Turkeys event.
It felt like American version of the Jain panjrapol (our traditional animal shelters in India), with activities that transformed a very American holiday 0f suffering for turkeys into ahimsa for animals .
Please consider supporting Harvest Home Sanctuary or Farm Sanctuary, with shelters in CA and NY, by sponsoring a turkey and/or supporting the shelter animals year round. Visit these shelters! You will be touched by the animals and the humans that care for them.
Posted in Activism
OK, PCRM didn’t really time this for Diwali, our holiday celebrating the Nirvana of Mahavir Swami Tirthankar this Wednesday. But how nice that we have a 21 day program complete with Indian menus and a Kickstart program set for early November! Spread the word and check it out here.
Dr. Barnard gave a very nice, positive talk at JAINA last July which we have been meaning to post up. One point that he made very well is how tastes can change; many of the uncles and antis could identify with the way they are now able to enjoy fat free or low fat milk, when they used to like only full fat milk; similarly, tastes can change to enjoy even healthier soy, almond, rice and other types of non-dairy milks.
For those who follow a traditional Jain diet, the recipes on the Kickstart menu can be easily modified to eliminate root vegetables. Just remember the 5 sensed beings that are harmed in our traditional dairy based diet and consider all the compassion you are showing by sparing the cows that suffering!
Happy Diwali, may the light of knowledge guide us towards enlightened action.
volunteer opportunity to teach school children about health issues in rural Gujarat, as part of the Bidada health camp. He recently reached out with an email regarding the plight of Indian cows.
Posted in Dairy in India, Environmental, Musings
Here are the links for the first few segments of Prof. Francione’s discussion of veganism and ahimsa at JAINA.
Part 1
Posted in Jain Philosophy, Talks
Despite the support of many Jain leaders and JAINA convention attendees, there was no clear response to our call for on all vegan menu. At one point, we heard there would be one all vegan day, then a few all vegan meals. An email came out to all attendees prior to the convention regarding the need to sign up for vegan meals, and letting them know to register. I emailed back to suggest that since they had invited vegan speakers, and people may be convinced to try vegan items, to have some excess capacity. But there was no reply, and at the actual event, several people who were persuaded by talks such as Prof Gary Francione’s, and Dr. Neal Barnard’s were turned away from the vegan line. Unfortunately, for those of us who did sign up before the convention, it was difficult to ascertain what was vegan even in the vegan lines.The volunteers had a lot to handle at this convention and this is not intended to downplay their efforts, but it was very disappointing that they didn’t know what was vegan, and I think the the convention leaders could have been more clear,so that the meals and the message of the talks could have been consistent.
Another disappointing vision was the ubiquity of plastic water bottles, which, even if recycled, create unnecessary environmental resource use, and in many cases were not recycled. Also, as seems to be the norm for JAIN events, there was egregious use of styrofoam plates with a milk compartment used to serve meals(as pictured on a previous post here about the Jain Center of GA). If we as a community are doing so well financially and hold ahimsa so dear to our ideals, why can’t we figure out a way to replace styrofoam with washable or at least compostable or biodegradable alternatives?
We did appreciate the efforts of Asha Jain to make the meals healthier and all the volunteers’ work. We certainly did not leave hungry or thirsty. Bringing our own water bottles and food containers to the conventions, we participated in the events, without generating so much waste (washing our plates with Dr. Bronner’s soap in the hotel room and reused them for each meal). We met friends and family and had a nice time at the convention.
We will post some of the talks on this site this week to inspire or reinspire our readers!
Posted in Environmental, Musings
One Saturday morning, I wandered towards my local farmer’s market and was happy to see a vegan bake sale to supply me with goodies for my friends and family and support the Harvest Home Sanctuary, which rescues animals, at the same time.
That Saturday, as I continued to shop in my market, I noticed that in addition to the numerous stalls filled with fresh fruits and vegetables, bread and other treats, there were a disturbing few stalls of of raw milk and local meat on sale. And then I circled back to the Harvest Home volunteers to chat some more.
As I got to know these lovely volunteers, they informed me that where I live, in Oakland, CA the planning commission has initiated a plan to make slaughter of animals in residential neighborhoods legal, as part of a plan to encourage healthy local eating. While many vegetarians and vegan fully support efforts to grow plants, we are opposed to allowing animals to be killed, for the sake of our own family’s exposure to slaughter and because we’d rather not have an sanctioned, legal, killing of animals in our neighborhood. For more details on the initiative go to noslaughter.org. To sign the petition directly, click here (note there is an option not to display your signature publicly in order to maintain your privacy). Besides Oakland, other cities around the country are watching and if this passes, you could have the same problem where you live, so make your voice heard!
As Jains we have a tradition of opposing the building of slaughterhouses. In recent times, one of our sadhus was imprisoned in U.P. Our opposition to backyard killing is consistent with our peaceful tradition of activism. Now all your paryushan activitism requires is a click and some typing on your computer.
Read on for more background….
I caught up with an old friend a few days ago about an initiative in my city to block backyard slaughter of animals ( that post will go up next). In the course of our conversation, he told me he has made a tradition of going vegan during paryushan. And that’s how a number of people got started on their vegan diets…
Sagar posts on the Jain Vegan list-serv:
Please consider giving up dairy products this Paryushana
As most of you will know, Paryushana, the Jain festival of penance and forgiveness is due to begin at the end of August.
During this festival, members of the Jain faith traditionally fast and participate in pratikraman. For lay members, fasting often entails avoiding activities that are traditionally thought to cause more himsa than others, such as eating root vegetables.
In today’s complex society, the process of milk production causes far more suffering and killing than first meets the eye. Dairy cows are forcefully impregnated by means of artificial insemination to stimulate milk production.
They are immediately separated from their offspring at birth. Male calves are killed within hours of birth or sold on to be reared for veal or beef (they are of no other value to a dairy farmer), and their sisters are forced to go through the same agony and suffering as their mothers.
A dairy cow will normally get killed before the age of 10, even though she could live up to 30 years if given the chance. This is because her milk yield drops after about 5 lactations, and it is not does not make financial sense for a farmer to keep her alive when he is able to obtain milk from her younger (and more productive) daughters.
[My addition to Sagar’s post, with the photo above is to show how they are treated like machines. It is also easy to see how infections, such as mastitis, are likely to develop in these mama cows, adding to their suffering].
It is an unfortunate truth that our consumption of milk and dairy products contributes to the killing and suffering cows. In light of this, it seems natural that Jains (and all adherents of Ahimsa) should acknowledge and consider the suffering caused to cows in the milk production when undertaking pratikramana.
So, in addition to the other activities you undertake this Paryushana, why not also consider giving up dairy products?
For hints and tips on how to avoid dairy products, beyond the resources on this site, you are invited to e-mail sagar@jainvegans.org and/or visit the Vegan Society website.
Posted in General, Jain Philosophy
Vegan Jains 