Ecology as religious practice: Jainism and the environment in a changing global context (original) (raw)

Reworked Conference Paper - Anuvrat International Conference 2014 Abstract: In this paper, I wish to explore some of the opportunities of integrating ecology as part of religious practice. After looking into some philosophical approaches to environmentalism and religion, I will focus on Jainism’s exceptional relation with ecology and on some of the ways in which Jains have integrated ecology into their way of life. To this end I will synthesize existing research and interpretations by other Jain scholars and draw upon my own research data on Jainism in the diaspora. Jainism has often been praised as an inherently ecological religious tradition. However, this is not an uncontested claim: Just as with other religions, we need to see scriptures and traditions in their correct historical context. Although the respect Jainism demands for all other living beings (a category which is much broader in Jainism than in most other religious traditions) is praiseworthy indeed, the canonic scriptures of Jainism were written in a time where the contemporary concept of ecology and global environmental crisis were unknown. If Jainism is to become the ecological religious tradition it is sometimes claimed to be, Jains need to reinterpret their tradition, integrating a positive interpretation of the Jain concepts of jiva, ahimsa and karma, combined with modern environmental science. This ecological emphasis has been particularly salient in the anuvrat-movement, which has incorporated vows that pertain directly to the environment, and in the Jain diaspora, where many have embraced environmentalist ‘green’ ideology to such an extent that scholars of Jain Studies have claimed that ethics of vegetarianism, animal welfare and ecology have now replaced moksha as the essential focus of the Jain tradition for many of the younger generation.