Jainism and Ecology

Bibliographic Data

ID20004300
AuthorsChristopher Key Chapple, Constance Chapple (0000-0002-7536-4429, Loyola Marymount University, corresponding author)
Year2006
Publication date2006-11-16
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueThe Oxford handbook of religion and ecology (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195178722.003.0006
OpenAlexW2566772371
ISBN9780195178722
LanguageEN
Citations received9

This article examines the Jaina faith in light of its commitment to environmental values. After providing an overview of Jaina history and principles, it discusses contemporary Jain environmentalism, concentration on the elements and senses as vehicle for ecoawareness, and water in Jainism. This article also includes the author's reflections on his own practice of the Jain principles as interpreted through the tradition of classical yoga. At the time of its inception and until recent decades, the protection of ecology and environment did not play a significant role in the Jain way of life beyond a care to minimize any harm that one might inflict on others that would harm one's own soul. In contemporary times, Jainism has been reinterpreted as enhancing human-earth relations. The precepts of Jainism, particularly non-violence and non-possession, generally associated in their most rigorous forms with monastic men and women, have now been refigured and recast in an ecological mold

Biology · Environmental ethics · Environmentalism · Epistemology · Faith · Harm · Political science · Possession (linguistics) · Social science · Sociology · Soul · Ecology · Indian and Buddhist Studies · Law · Philosophy · Religion, Ecology, and Ethics · Theology and Philosophy of Evil

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