What do you think?
Rate this book
Jainism and Ecology - Nonviolence in the Web of Life
The twenty-five-hundred-year-old tradition of Jainism, which emphasizes nonviolence as the only true path leading to liberation, offers a worldview seemingly compatible with the goals of environmental activism. But can Jainism adopt a sociocentric environmentalism without compromising its own ascetic principles and spiritual tradition? How does traditional Jain cosmology view the natural world? How might a Jain ethical system respond to decisions regarding the development of dams, the proliferation of automobiles, overcrowding due to overpopulation, or the protection of individual animal species? Can there be a Jain environmental activism that addresses both the traditional concern for individual self-purification and the contemporary dilemma of ecosystem degradation? The voices in this volume reflect the dynamic nature of the Jain faith and its willingness to engage in discussion on a modern social issue.
- GenresPhilosophyNonfiction
252 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2002
1 person is currently reading
70 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 11, 2012
This was an excellent volume; a very good survey of positions on how Jainism can relate to ecology - does Jainism have the resources to help provide some basis for an ecological ethic?
The essays I looked at were Paul Dundas's, John Cort's (excellent), Anne Vallely's (very good), a bit at John Koller's, and Sadhvi Shilapi . . .
Many of them make the point of the obvious clash between Jainism's world-negating soteriology, and the ecological aim for a higher degree of intimacy, connection to, the natural world.
This is an important point, and a major barrier to talking about Jainism as forming the basis of an ecological ethic.
On the other hand, in the realm of _practice_, at least, Jainism, for laypeople and of course particularly renouncers, displays attitudes far more respectful of the natural world than almost any of our contemporary Western ones.
Also, certain elements of Jain doctrine result in radically kind and gentle, mindful, and so on, ways of relating to and interacting with other beings making in the natural world - of course, for Jainism, not only animals and plants, but fire, water, earth, and air, are alive (or, if one prefers, one could say they *contain* many living beings - and of course that is true about water, air, and earth), as well!
A very good volume, a good survey.
The essays I looked at were Paul Dundas's, John Cort's (excellent), Anne Vallely's (very good), a bit at John Koller's, and Sadhvi Shilapi . . .
Many of them make the point of the obvious clash between Jainism's world-negating soteriology, and the ecological aim for a higher degree of intimacy, connection to, the natural world.
This is an important point, and a major barrier to talking about Jainism as forming the basis of an ecological ethic.
On the other hand, in the realm of _practice_, at least, Jainism, for laypeople and of course particularly renouncers, displays attitudes far more respectful of the natural world than almost any of our contemporary Western ones.
Also, certain elements of Jain doctrine result in radically kind and gentle, mindful, and so on, ways of relating to and interacting with other beings making in the natural world - of course, for Jainism, not only animals and plants, but fire, water, earth, and air, are alive (or, if one prefers, one could say they *contain* many living beings - and of course that is true about water, air, and earth), as well!
A very good volume, a good survey.
Displaying 1 of 1 review