Jainism view on Eggs Consumption

Q13. Are Eggs unfertile? Then why are eggs not considered vegetarian food and why are Jains not allowed to eat eggs? What are the facts about Eggs?

Let’s first look at some of the most commonly followed diets, including Vegan and Vegetarian:

Within Vegetarian diet following community, Eggs have been a controversial food. As many argue that eggs produced for commercial sale are unfertilized then why are they not considered part of a vegetarian diet, like dairy products?As you can see from the above listed visual chart that definition of Vegetarian diet changes as you go across different parts of the world. People follow several different types of vegetarian diets. Vegan diet across the globe is the only diet that is purely plant-based diet and does not include consuming any direct or by-products from Animals.

How do Hens produce Eggs? Are all Eggs Unfertile?

Just as Female humans, Hens ovulate for the same reason: to reproduce. Female human ovaries also contain developing eggs. In women, a mature egg is released from the ovary once a month. If the egg becomes fertilized by male sperm, then it attaches to the wall of the uterus and begins to form an embryo. If the egg is not fertilized, it is eliminated during monthly menstrual cycle 

In chickens, the ovary is a cluster of developing ova, or yolks. If Rooster mates with Hen before Hen lays eggs, then these eggs can be fertilized, otherwise Hens lay eggs which are unfertilized. Most commercially available eggs are unfertilized since Hens are kept separately on farms for breeding eggs only.

Even though commercially produced eggs are unfertile, why should we avoid consuming as part of our vegetarian diet?

Let’s understand how birds produce eggs in the wild vs. on commercial farms today:

Although Hens do not menstruate like Female humans, the cycle of creating and passing much larger eggs relative to their body size and weight is arguably even more physically taxing, especially in modern hens who have been genetically manipulated to force them to bred to produce such unnaturally high rates of eggs. 

In fact, the process of making and passing an egg requires so much energy and labor that in nature, wild hens (aka The Red Jungle Fowl - from whom domestic hens are descended) lay only 10 to 15 eggs per year. Their bodies could never sustain the physical depletion of laying hundreds of eggs that domestic chickens have been forced to produce through genetic manipulation. 

It is a common misconception that Hens are always just naturally “giving” eggs, because modern Hens have been intensively bred to lay between 250 to 300 eggs a year. But in the wild, chickens, like all birds, lay only during breeding season — primarily in the spring — and only enough eggs to assure the survival of their genes.

Egg harvesting from chicken does not require killing chicken, like caviar or fish eggs are obtained by killing fish. Not every product that comes out of an animal requires killing that animal, the best example being milk. However, it does not mean there is no animal cruelty or violence (Himsa) involved in the process of harvesting these products (Eggs, Milk) even if direct killing act is not conducted. Extreme cruelty is inflicted on cows for milk and all associated dairy products as outlined in the View on Dairy Products Usage and Consumption blog post.

When you look closely, it becomes clear how the entire process of harvesting eggs involves inhumane cruelty or violence against these animals 

Any animal food that is produced at a large scale for commercial purposes, brings many unwanted and often unknown (to mass population) violence. Many inhumane practices are carried out to increase and sustain high production of eggs. 

Hatcheries often breed chickens in an undesirable/inhumane way. For example, 

• Female chicks are given hormone injections to boost their reproductive cycle earlier than nature intended. 
• Chickens are kept in a very tight space, crawling on top of each other, not able to stand on ground, no outdoor space.
• Chickens are poorly fed, which has many negative effects on chickens’ health. 
• Female chickens are left to die or used as food (for animal consumption) once their reproductive cycle stops and are not producing eggs anymore. 
• Most of the male chickens born are grounded up for food (while they are alive) as they do not have any reproductive value. 

Please refer to some of the highly viewed YouTube videos showing Egg production lifecycle, showcasing how much cruelty and violence is involved (Viewer discretion advised):

1.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9aQx8czbt8 - 6 min

2.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssOEJpBQErc - 3 min

3.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-gSoXwFlIE  -  1 min

All this violence is inherently part of producing “Unfertile” eggs that some may consider as valid vegetarian diet. 

What about eggs from free-range or cage-free, farm raised birds? Are they cruelty free?

With recently raised awareness of commercially raised chickens, many people recognized ethical problems that arise from animal factories producing animal products. And so, to distance themselves from such inherent cruelty and harm done to these animals, they turned to free range birds’ eggs, farm raised organic chicken eggs or some using their own backyard chickens. 

So, what’s wrong with that? This non-commercial egg production happens almost without human manipulation or intervention, where is the ethical problem or Himsa involved in there? 

Well, if you just scratch little beneath the surface. Such as:

1.    How are these hens bred? All hens in small farms, big farms or in animal factories are bred in hatcheries. 

2.    What happens to these hens when they no longer produce eggs? 

3.    What happens to roosters (male chicken babies) in this type of farming? 

Just because they are kept in a pleasant open farm space, free of medicines and antibiotics does not free then from untimely, unnatural killing. Killing of under productive Hens or unproductive Roosters are done regularly by these farms that declare their hens happy or consider them free range animals. 

Some eye-opening facts:

• Between 470 Million to 490 Million chickens are produced every year for eggs harvesting. Approximately, half of them are male babies. These male babies have no value in the egg production cycle and thus are killed through suffocation, maceration, carbon dioxide poisoning, electrocution, cervical dislocation etc.
• There is no such thing as slaughter free animal agricultural system. Animal factories, farm raised, cage-free, however they are bred.
• Even if one considers byproducts such as eggs as technically Vegetarian food, production/harvesting of eggs inherently involves violence and cruelty against these animals.
• Many studies show that eggs are harmful for human consumption due to high saturated fat in yolk. Many alternative plant-based proteins are healthier options.
• Animal farming and harvesting of animal by-products have much higher environmental impact compared to Vegetables/Fruits farming.
• As learned above, consuming eggs conducts harm against five-sense living beings vs. one-sense living beings when you follow only plant-based diet.
• As per https://unitedegg.com/facts-stats/, U.S. table egg production totaled 95.3 billion in 2018, up 3 percent from 2017. 
• The U.S. has 328 million commercial laying hens (January 2018), up 3 percent from January 2017. The daily rate of lay averaged 79 eggs per 100 layers (January 2018). On average, each laying hen produces 289 eggs per year.
• According to www.statista.com › Consumer Goods & FMCG › Food & Nutrition, In 2019, consumption of eggs in the United States was estimated at 289.5 per person.
• Millions of male chicks and laying hens are slaughtered every year as they lose their reproductive value - https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/factory-farming/chickens/egg-industry/
• Detrimental Environmental effects: In comparison to plant-based produce, the production of eggs, like other animal-based produce, generates negative effects on the environment, including the emission of greenhouse gases or the contamination of soil and water.

In short, even though immediate harvesting of animal byproducts such as MILK, EGGS are not killing them directly, if looked closely at the whole agricultural life cycle of its production, it comes to realization how much cruelty and violence is involved in every step of the way.

Lastly, we want to emphasis on why it is so important to stand by your compassionate choice and not make exceptions:

Many vegetarian diets following people in the modern world often make exceptions by allowing themselves to consume eggs as part of an ingredient of a food product, dish, while not consuming eggs directly as food. 

If you think - what harm do I really cause, what violence do I really conduct when I consume just one cookie, one piece of cake, a slice of bread, baked pie or a small chocolate bar once in a while… then

Think deeply and think broadly!  

1.    By saying YES to consuming products containing Eggs, you are promoting that industry at large. 

2.    You are participating in the cruel agricultural life cycle by consuming products made from eggs in any shape or form. Since the commercial industry is all about demand and supply. 

Think about the possibility if you decide to say NO to all products that contain animal products (e.g. Eggs) and instead ask for, demand for products made without animal products, byproducts. 

If enough of us choose to stay strong by our choice of being compassionate, we will help in creating demand for cruelty-free products of all kinds. Today we have so many Vegan options available in grocery stores, restaurants and shopping malls. 

Today, we are able to consume these cruelty-free products thanks to those before us who chose to stay strong by their choice of compassion. 

Is Ignorance Acceptable / Justifiable in Jainism...

Q12. There is so much violence in the preparation of commercial food items and products used on daily basis. Is it better to just remain ignorant about such violence or is it better to have knowledge/awareness about it?

This is an important overarching question. With so much violence around us, whether it is in the food items we eat, products we use, what we buy, where we buy from, environmental footprint or things we accumulate. All the choices we make have an impact.

There are situations in which violence is very apparent, for example using leather/wool/silk vs. cotton or eating meat vs. vegetables. And then there are situations when the violence is not very apparent but there is a high possibility of violence. For example,

• Goods made in countries where ethical standards, labor laws, environmental laws are lax or non-existent

• Food products, beauty products, cleaning products involving unethical or cruel treatment towards animals

• Dairy products (milk, butter, ghee, ice cream, sweets and so on) that inflicts highest cruelty on cows – every milk producing cows are slaughtered after about 5 years and almost every male calf is slaughtered immediately after birth.  

The intent of this question is to address the situations where violence is not apparently visible. So, under this context:

Is it better to make our choices while remaining ignorant about such violence or have knowledge about it and do the best that we can by following the Jain principle of minimum violence?

Nonviolence is the highest principle of Jain Religion. If our principle/value is nonviolence towards all living beings, then remaining ignorant is not an option.

Jainism Perspective on Knowledge vs. Ignorance

The core principle of Jainism is the path of knowledge. Spiritual growth means continuous learning, seeking for information and then changing our actions based on that.

If we conduct our action keeping ourselves in a state of ignorance (in Mithyatva or wrong belief) then we cannot make spiritual progress.  In fact, the Jain principle firmly states that any action performed in a state of ignorance is always wrong from spiritual point of view even if the action may have helped many other people.

Let’s explore few examples:

-     We are aware of potential violence in food we consume or product we use, yet we choose to remain ignorant and not make the effort to gain or verify the information. In this case, we are conducting our action in ignorance, there is no hope for our spiritual growth or change, and we continue to acquire more bad karma.

-     The impact of our tax dollars by the government which we may not have bothered to learn about or tried to influence through our obligation to participate in civic affairs.

-     The impact of our 401K (retirement) and other stock market investments which may be encouraging and enabling corporations to commit violence to improve our returns. How many of us have made a conscious effect to divest?

-     We donate some funds to charity and then we make sure that we receive good recognition for our donation, and we take pride in it. In this case, there is subtle ignorance at bhav / intention level. Our “Ego” is satisfied which indicates that our action has increased our vices (Kashayas) and hence we acquire more bad karma even though many people are being helped.

If we are conducting actions in wrong belief, delusion or by choosing to remain ignorant then it is inexcusable (unjustifiable) from Jainism perspective. In fact, willfully ignoring the knowledge of suffering caused by our actions is not only inexcusable, but we have an obligation to understand the consequences of every action we take. Jainism considers conducting actions under Mithyatva (delusion or wrong belief) as of the highest forms of sin. Without knowledge and awareness, we are in either in false belief or blindly following someone else and that invariable results in higher form karma bondage and stagnates spiritual growth.

Proper knowledge is required before any action is carried out. Jain Agam scripture Das-vaikalik Sutra states that “Padhamam Jnanam Tao Daya” (First knowledge then Conduct or non-violent action).

Once we have any new information, we must also test it with our own reasoning and verify with our experience and only then, it becomes our own. We can then use that wisdom for our future actions.  

Depending on our circumstances, we might not be able to act on information right away but with proper knowledge and awareness, there is hope!

Following Path of Minimum Violence for Our Healthy Survival

Human life cannot exist without violence. For our existence we need food, clothing, and shelter. Hence Jain principle states that for our survival, we must follow the path of minimum violence.

It is important for us to understand the guidelines of practicing minimum violence.

Muni Shree Nyayvijaji (the undisputed scholar of Jain Logic) explains how to practice minimum violence in his book Jain Darshan. Here are the links to his article on “The Principle of Minimum Violence for Human's Survival” in Hindi, English and Gujarati.

The Jain principle states that the degree of violence inflicted to any living being is proportional to the number of senses a living being possesses.

A living being who possesses more senses equate to more development of its faculty of knowledge.  Therefore, hurting or exploiting one five sense living being is worse than hurting many four sense living beings and three senses living beings and so on. Please refer to this blog post for details about five senses and their role from Ahimsa point of view.

The Order of Degree of Violence (highest to lowest) as per soul classification defined in Jiv-vichar book:

1.    Human Beings

2.    Five sensed Animals

3.    Four sensed Movable Beings such as flies, bees

4.    Three sensed Movable Beings such as ants, lice

5.    Two sensed Living Beings such as insects

6.    One sense Beings - vegetables, water, air, earth, and fire

Violence can be in any form such as killing, exploiting, verbal abuse, physical violence, emotional or mental abuse etc.

Since human life can healthily survive by consuming only one sense beings (fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, water etc.) we should not kill, hurt or exploit two to five senses living beings.  Hence Jainism propagates consuming only one sense being for healthy survival and no wastage. Any food we waste, or any clothing and shelter we do not use is also considered violence because we have killed more one sense beings than we need for our healthy survival.

In the past 100-200 years, our lifestyle has become part of a very complex and interconnected world of advanced technology, global economics, extreme specialization of labor, complex corporate and political dynamics, all of which lead to a disconnectedness between our personal actions and the resulting effects on the rest of the humanity and on the planet’s ecosystem. Hence, as conscious individuals we have an important moral obligation to become aware of these cause and effect dynamics, and to act in ways to reduce our role in it.

If our action cause the environmental degradation (such as using plastics plates, water bottles, bags, foams cups and glasses etc..) it should be considered the highest form of violence as it affects all of us living beings on the planet, causing death, displacement, disease, and other types of suffering. Also, our non-biodegradable waste (plastic, styrofoam etc.) destroys sea life significantly.

We must also make sure that we don't micro-manage our approach of minimizing violence to one sense so much that we lose the sight of the bigger picture of not hurting five sense living being. We need to always keep the highest goals of non-violence towards humans, other five sensed living beings and strive to minimize violence towards other four, three, and two sense movable living beings.

What can we do?

It seems like in our consumerist society, there is increasing amount of violence for companies to succeed and make money, and for consumers to get what they want and when they want it. In such situation, we must ensure that our actions are in in-sync with our values and principles.

When we buy something, we have a responsibility to understand how that product was produced and what violence may have been committed for it to be acquired. Similarly, when we throw something in the trash, we should understand the complete chain of events and set of consequences of the action. With the awareness, we can consciously avoid / limit actions that causes harm and we have an opportunity to choose an option with less violence rather than being ignorant and choosing the one that is most convenient / pleasurable in worldly sense.

We need to understand the principles and then apply them in current situation. We have been programmed certain way but when it comes to making our choices, we need to do the due diligence of gaining as much information as we can. Plus, nowadays given technology/internet, we can do the required research very efficiently to ensure that we have the knowledge and awareness.

Since life cannot exists without violence, we must strive towards minimizing violence. We are our own judge and jury when it comes to making our choices and determining our acceptable level of violence while simultaneously nurturing our spiritual growth.