Birds and animals are not frightened of human beings in India. Hawks and kites will come within a few feet of you. Cows will lie down in the road in front of your car and will feel sure that they will not be run over. And one Indian sect, the Jain sect, […] excels in its reverence and considerateness for non-human life. Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, was a contemporary of the Buddha, but Jainism has stayed in India, whereas Buddhism has spread all over the world. The Jains carry their respect for life to such lengths that they will not kill even mosquitoes, and they put cloths over their mouths in order to avoid swallowing insects by accident. [Some will not take antibiotics.] This may seem to Westerners to be going too far; but there is beauty and value in it, and I think the modern world would do well to learn something from the Jain religion of India as well as from the Shinto religion of Japan.
No comments:
Post a Comment