Vegan Jain Temple in California

About

Instagram

YouTube

Disclaimer

Thankful 2 Plants

›

Compassion

›

Compassion For Animals

›

Vegan Jain Temple in California

24 Aug 2021

Disclaimer

The Jain community in India is known for espousing the principle of 'non-violence' far more seriously than any other community. In 2018, the Jain Center of Southern California turned vegan. They published a 41-min video explaining their decision:

(41 mins, 2018) JCSC Goes Vegan

This video is actually a collection of shorter videos stitched together. I found the animation movie from 2:35 to 7:58 very touching — highly recommended.

At offset 7:58 in the video, a Jain monk speaks in Gujarati, a language I don't speak. I think he says something along these lines: "Mahavir has clearly stated that six substances (called 'vighai substances') cause 'vikaras' (make us gravitate towards negativity and cause hindrances in spiritual progress). These six substances are doodh (milk), dahi (yogurt), ghee (clarified butter), tel (oil), fried preparations and gud (jaggery, sweets). These substances may be used in rare circumstances for their healing properties, but not on a daily basis."
At offset 10:13 in the video (which is identical to offset 4:17 of this video), Labdhisagar Maharaj Saheb references a text by Mahavir whose name I couldn't figure out from the audio — Which text is this? Can we find it online? He also talks about 'vighai' substances which hinder spiritual progress by creating negative tendencies in our mind.
[Not from the 41-min video by JCSC but a different video] At offset 7m in this video by Jain Sadhvi Vaibhav Shree, she references Jain texts listed below for 'vighai substances':
1. Uttaradhyay Sutra — 16th Adhyay, 17th Adhyay
2. Sthananga Sutra — 9 types of vighai, 4 types of vighai
Which sutras / stotras in the above texts explain Vighai substances? Do you know? Where can I find them?
At offset 11:36 onwards, we have interviews with different people and misc information.

Jain Vegetarianism

Wikipedia: Jain Vegetarianism and Vitalism

Source: Vitalism (Wikipedia).

Even if we become vegan for dietary choices, we do engage in killing other sentient beings for {shelter, clothes, vehicles, gadgets, …}. Thus how may we justify "non-killing of animals" and "killing of plants" as a preferred moral choice?

Jain scriptures classify beings in terms of "number of senses" (see the picture above). Thus plants are to the left (with the least number of senses) and humans and similar animals are on the right (with the maximum number of senses).

How to live our life with least harm to others (including both plants and animals)? Through non-violence! But non-violence (compassion for all living beings) is tough! Even the movement of an innocuous looking stone disrupts somebody's life — the microorganisms that live under that stone get impacted.

My personal approach is to adopt minimalism (with gratitude): we may choose to "tread gently", just like the "Leave No Trace" policy that we adopt in USA when we go hiking or backpacking.

… and if we subscribe to the Jain-style classification of beings by "number of senses", then we may choose to prefer plants for food. This way, we would alleviate the misery of beings in CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations aka "animal farms").

gurmeet@gmail.com