Jainism, Dharma, and Environmental Ethics Page: 3
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nuns7. The Jain ideal is to attain Moksha by renouncing worldly life, whereas for most Hindus,
especially the followers of Vallabha and Ramanuja, the ideal is to become perfect devotee or
attain Moksha by practicing their routine householder lives.
Naturally, scholars of Jain environmental ethics, such as Christopher Chapple, have
advocated the ascetic model for environmental ethics in their writings, while scholars of Hindu
environmental ethics, such as Vasudha Narayanan and David Haberman, have emphasized the
devotional model. I suggest that both these models can contribute for preserving the ecology of
India. While the ascetic model can help reduce the over-exploitation of natural resources by
limiting one's desire for more luxuries, the devotional model can help restore natural resources
to their original beauty and harmony. The ascetic model can be prescribed for people of higher
classes and developed societies, those who continue to plunder the planet for their extravagant
consumption. While describing American society, Diana Eck posted this on the Washington Post
blog (December 14, 2006), echoing Gandhi's prophetic words, "The earth has enough for one's
need but not for one's greed."
Is it a moral good to consume far more than our share of non-renewable energy resources,
creating for us a standard of living that does not know the meaning of the word "enough"
and that acquiesces in a world of unconscionable economic disparities?
Turning to the ascetic model, Chapple has advocated that non-violence to animals, trees,
and self, combined with non-possessiveness, can result in ecological awareness8:
[T]he solutions that Gandhi proposed to counter the ills of colonialism can also be put
into effect to redress this new and ultimately deleterious situation. The observance of
7 Vallely, Anne. Guardians of the Transcendent: Ethnography of a Jain Ascetic
Community. Toronto; Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 2002b.
8 Chapple, Christopher Key. Nonviolence to Animals, Earth, and Self in Asian Traditions. Albany: SUNY
Press, 1993, p. 73.
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Jain, Pankaj. Jainism, Dharma, and Environmental Ethics, article, 2010; [New York, New York]. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30424/m1/3/?q=aRCHIVES: accessed May 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT College of Public Affairs and Community Service.