Jainism view on Sallekhana, Suicide, Euthanasia and Death Penalty.

Q10. What is Sallekhana? What is Suicide & Euthanasia? Is Sallekhana considered Suicide? What are Jain views on Death Penalty?

We are addressing this question from the perspective of lay people

SALLEKHANA:

It is also known as Santhara, Samadhi-maran, Samlehna.

Jain definition of Sallekhana is very explicit and clear.

Sallekhana is the religious practice performed with FULL AWARENESS & KNOWLEDGE of voluntarily fasting to death by gradually reducing/limiting one's movements, then gradually reducing the intake of solid food, and finally reducing the intake of fluids.

Jainism believes that the process of sallekhana at the end of one’s life, while being engaged in meditation, serves to prevent the accumulation of bad karmas as well as assisting the soul in spiritual purification.

Observing Sallekhana leads to Ahimsa as the person observing it detaches or reduces his/her Kashayas, which are considered the root cause of himsa.

Jain religion allows to perform Sallekhana to monks, nuns, shravaks, and shravikas. Sallekhana is rare, performed only when death is imminent.

Sallekhana should be performed only when a person:

-        Is terminally ill

-        With no hope of a cure or recovery

-        Is fully aware about his condition

-        Realizes that there is no usefulness of his life to be able to further his spiritual progress

In other words, a person is not capable of doing Nirjara of one’s karma and hence his human life is a burden to others. Then, and ONLY then, can he take a vow (pachhkhan) of Sallekhana from a Guru, and the Guru must agree with the decision before giving pachhkhan.

A person in a coma or in severe pain, who is not completely aware about his/her state of mind should not be given the vow of Santharo. The decision to take Sallekhana cannot be taken by relatives or society or disciples and must never be done for fame or prestige.

Sallekhana is a private event and it is taken with an intention of having a spiritual death. It should not be made a public affair and turn it into a celebration because person taking the vow needs privacy to remain in meditative state until the last breath.

Process of performing Sallekhana

The person who decides to take the vow of Sallekhana:

-        Makes the decision to end his/her life and family members are aware (unlike suicide)

-        Should discuss with a Guru and get Guru’s permission

-        Requests forgiveness from others and forgives all for any sinful acts in their life

-        Remains in the state of forgiveness & in Pratikraman 

-        Should eliminate all the fear, grief, hatred, regret, prejudice, attachment, etc. from his mind to the fullest extent

-        Remains in meditative state on the innermost self, the soul till the end

If after taking the Sallekhana vow, a person has doubts or second thoughts, then the process of Sallekhana must not be continued, and one should withdraw from it.

If after taking the Sallekhana vow, arta-dhyaan (sorrowful dhyaan) occurs in the person due to not drinking water, not consuming any food, or not taking any medicines, then the process of Sallekhana must not be continued, and one should withdraw from it. Then one should take appropriate steps to eliminate arta-dhyaan because in arta-dhyaan the person is immersed in thoughts of suffering, agony and anguish. Such mental state leads to very high negative karma bondage and defeats the purpose of having a spiritual death.

Sallekhana is not considered suicide, and unlike suicide, it is not spontaneous or immediate. On the contrary, it is a slow process and can take as many as 30+ days.  A person taking Sallekhana has to be fully aware to make the decision with his/her own will.

So, for a successful and rightful Sallekhana, the decision must be made VOLUNTARILY, with FULL KNOWLEDGE/AWARENESS, PROPER PLANNING, and undertaken CALMLY & PEACEFULLY, with a focus on SPIRITUALITY, FORGIVENESS, and reduction in one’s own Kashayas.

SUICIDE:

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. It is an immediate death. A person can decide to take his/her own life when he/she is depressed, when one is experiencing intense emotional pain, or generally thinks that life is not worth living. As far as Jain religion is considered, suicide is considered as committing a murder. Suicide is an instantaneous and purposeful killing hence one acquires Karmas equivalent of killing a five-sensed human being.

As per Jainism, from all the life forms (84 lakh yoni) where our soul can take birth, it is only this very human birth which is the most precious. This is because human life is viewed as a rare opportunity for the soul to reach enlightenment and ultimately Liberation.

So, to commit suicide, regardless of any circumstance/situation the person is in, is depriving one's self from the opportunity to reduce or eliminate kashayas/karmas and there by hindering their own spiritual growth or liberation. Therefore, Suicide is NOT ACCEPTABLE AND NOT ALLOWED in Jainism.

EUTHANASIA:

It is also known as mercy killing.

Euthanasia is an act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals in relatively painless way for reasons of mercy.

From Jain point of view, euthanasia is NOT considered as sallekhana.

DEATH PENALTY:

Strictly from Jain principles point of view, we do not have any right to take some one’s life and hence Death penalty is NOT acceptable. 

However, we MUST obey the laws of the land that we reside in.  One can protest the law but cannot violate the law.

Eating Meat of Naturally Dead Animals

Q8. One of the students at Pathshala wants to know why one cannot eat naturally dead cow's meat. She does not want to do it. However, her classmate asked, and she could not answer. Do you have a good answer for it?

On the surface this question might seem extraneous with an obvious answer, however, it stems from systematic understanding of Ahimsa principle and awareness about existence of life in one, two, three, four and five sensed living beings. Please refer to this blog post for details about five senses and their role from Ahimsa point of view.

This question can be addressed in one of the two ways:

·       Asking an individual to “not question it” and just follow what is being said. Using this approach is easy and simple, but in the long run, it will either drive the individuals away from religion and spiritual lifestyle, or create a community that would follow religion blindly, that is, without any understanding of their own.

Or

·       Aid individuals in understanding the values, principles and logical reasoning, so that the individuals can use their own logic and wisdom. Nowadays, people have information at their fingertips, there is increased awareness and they want to think, understand and reason it out for themselves.

Our intent in addressing this question is to create a positive and enriching experience about the religion, enable understanding and answer questions for curious minds who want to understand rather than follow blindly.

This question can be interpreted in many ways. The question is not about eating meat or debating on natural causes for animal's death. The focus and intend of the question is:-

• If an animal is naturally dead (animal’s soul has parted/the dead body is not living)
• By eating meat of that animal equivalent amount of plant lives are saved
• Assumption is that technically there is no violation of non-violence principle. Then is it allowed in Jainism?

And the answer is NO.

Jain Acharyas did not allow it and consequently the Jain societies have been protected from the negative implications that may result from these types of actions.

As an example - Buddhism has the similar five great vows like Jainism. However, the non-violence vow has been mis-interpreted and exploited and meat eating has proliferated in some Buddhist culture.

“According to Theravada sect of Buddhism, Buddha allowed his monks to eat pork, chicken and fish if the monk was aware that the animal was not killed on their behalf.” 

In other words, Buddha allowed eating meat of a dead animal with some caveats in place. Those caveats and loopholes are now being taken advantage of by some.

In Bangkok, some restaurants have signs “we sell only dead animal’s meat”. This implies that animals were not killed for their meat.  Rather animals died naturally and then their body is being used as meat.  Hence many Buddhist people and monks eat the meat in the restaurant without thinking twice or feeling guilty about it.

One can see that industries and businesses take advantage of this kind of loopholes.  How can that many animals die naturally where the restaurants always have meat dishes for their customers?

Every action by which a person directly or indirectly supports killing/injury to animals and/or every action that knowingly or unknowingly promotes the industries that involves cruelty towards animals is a form of violence (himsa). When it comes to any form of violence, whether we are doing it (karyu), making someone else do it (karavyu) or directly/indirectly promoting others to do it (karta anumodiyu), then it results in karma bondage and limits our spiritual growth.

In Jainism, food is restricted to that originating from plants, since plants have only one sense (ekindiya) and are the least developed form of life. Research shows a plant-based diet, which emphasizes fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, legumes and nuts, is rich in fiber, vitamins and other nutrients also has health benefits, such as reducing your risk of heart disease, diabetes and some cancers. Consuming any food that is harmful to our body is violence towards ourselves.

Death of an animal will promote growth of bacteria in the body. This fact can lead to questions about himsa at bacteria level related to food consumption. However, consumption of yogurt or fermented food (dosa/idli/ dhokla batter) also incurs bacteria growth. Even farming also incur himsa at bacteria level. From a layperson perspective, for our healthy survival we cannot avoid himsa at the bacteria level but attempt to minimize it. Here our aim is to discuss himsa to five sense animals, which is considered highest sinful act than millions of bacteria (one or two sense invisible living beings) in Jainism.    

Jainism has one of the most rigorous forms of spiritually motivated diet on the Indian subcontinent.  Whether the animal is dead naturally or butchered, the meat is still “meat”.  We should think about how our food choices fit into our spiritual path or our vision for transforming ourselves?

If Jain Acharya’s would allow the exceptions to such rules, then people will find ways to exploit it and compromise ethical standards. People forget the circumstances or the caveats and start following it as a norm. If there is a leeway, people get a tendency towards eating it and when something becomes part of the culture then it takes time to overcome it and people continue to follow it blindly. In Jainism, this is what happened with dairy consumption, people are culturally programmed to consume dairy products, despite of the cruelty towards five sense animals in current times. (See this blog post for details). In the past, milk and other dairy products were allowed only for medical purpose and with Acharya’s permission, however it has become a norm even though raas-tyag is the fourth vow of nirjara.

Because of such negative implications to society and people going into wrong directions, Jainism does not allow such exceptions/actions with meat consumption.

Is Jainism becoming a Kitchen Religion...

Q2.  Has Jainism become a “kitchen religion”? Or why is food given so much importance in Jain households?

First, let’s talk about what is meant by a "kitchen religion". The youth / young adults in today's world perceive Jainism as a “kitchen religion” when they extensively hear about food in religious context - we can eat this; we can’t eat this; we can eat at this time; we can’t eat at this time, we can’t eat green vegetable on certain days, we can’t eat root vegetables but certain root vegetables are exceptions. And in midst of all this, the fundamental Jain principles and how to apply these principles in their current environment are not explained or are given very low priority. 

We want to shed light on following Jain values and principles as they apply to this question, while keeping the spiritual growth perspective in the forefront:

·     Ahimsa Anuvrat (Vows) of Laypeople

·     Following path of Minimum Violence for Healthy Survival

·     Jainism is a Religion of Reflection, not Action

·   Actions done in Mithyatva (Ignorance/Wrong Beliefs) always acquire Pap karma

Our intent in addressing this question is to create a positive and enriching experience about the religion, create awareness and understanding, and answer questions for curious minds who want to understand rather than follow blindly. 

Ahimsa Anuvrat (Vows) for Lay People:

Jain conduct (achar) is different for Monk/Nuns than for Laypeople. When monks/nuns take five great vows (Mahavrat), they should follow it 100% of not hurting any living beings including one sense beings. For laypeople, we have responsibilities for family, work, community, religious organizations etc. that shouldn’t be ignored and hence our vows are different and called Anuvrat. Here’s the verse from yoga sastra that explains the ahimsa vow for lay people:

સ્થૂલ પ્રાણાતિપાત વિરમણ વ્રત:-

નિષ્કારણ, નિરપરાધી, ત્રસજીવોની સંકલ્પપૂર્વકની હિંસાનો ત્યાગ

Sthuul pranaatipat viramaan vrat:-

Nishkaran (without valid reason) Niraparadhi (not guilty) 

Trasjeevani (2-5 sensed beings) Sankalp-Poorvani (premeditated / planned) Himsa (violence) Tyaag (avoid / give up)

At the core, it means laypeople should avoid / give-up premeditated / planned violence towards movable (2-5 sensed) living beings, which are not guilty, and there is no valid reason. There is no mention in Jain scriptures (45 Agams) about prohibiting the consumption of root vegetable or any other green vegetables for laypeople. The kind of reference first appeared around 12th century (1700 year after Mahavir Swami's nirvana) and as time passed it become very strong tradition among most of the Jains. Please see the information below for accessing 45 Agams in Prakrit and Hindi languages on Jain eLibrary website.

For our healthy survivals, we need to use and consume minimum quantity of 1-sense living beings, which includes water, fire, air, soil, plants (which include pratyek and root vegetables). Anuvrat indicates non-violence against movable living beings (Triyanch / Tras beings) only.

Following Path of Minimum Violence for Healthy Survival:

Non-violence is the one of the highest principles of Jainism but life cannot exist without violence. Hence, laypeople need to follow the path of minimum violence for their healthy survival. 

Jainism says the degree of violence is proportional to the number of senses a living being possesses. Therefore, eating meat (one 5-sense living being) is worse than eating vegetables (innumerable 1-sense beings), even though innumerable one sense living beings are killed in eating of vegetables.   

Jainism also says one should not consume any junk or deep-fried food that doesn't have any nutritional value since food should be consumed for health, not for taste or desire (ref: Vanditu sutra Gatha 20 and 21).  Nutrition comes from produce, fruits and vegetables. 

Jain laypeople vow indicates to use or consume only plant base food (1-sense beings) responsibly. It also strongly indicates to avoid any kind of wastage. Any form of wastage is violence. For example, cooking more food than what you need and throwing out food is a form of violence. 

Therefore, as laypeople, we should follow a path of minimum violence. For any situation, we need to understand the values and principles and apply them in our environment using our own wisdom. 

Jainism is a Religion of Reflection, not Action:

The aim of Jainism is to enable our spiritual growth, such that our thoughts, words and actions are in alignment with Jain values and principles. May be Jainism is becoming a kitchen religion because we are focusing too much on doing or not doing things related to food, instead of understanding and reflecting on intent / bhaav behind it. We need to constantly ask ourselves:

·     What has been my spiritual growth? Is my Mithyatva eliminated? Is my Kashaya reduced? Am I getting closer to the true nature of my Soul, which is always being pure, peaceful, compassionate...?

·     Do I truly understand what and why am I doing it? Or am I just doing it blindly?

·     Am I directly or indirectly, consciously or subconsciously looking for recognition? Am I doing these activities for ego, greed or out of fear?

·     Am I creating any Kashaya or stress in the family? Is peace and harmony maintained in my family?

The reflection, reason and intent behind doing something is religion. The most important thing is to understand why we are doing any activity, whether it is any kind of penance, giving up any food or not eating at a certain time. We should do it for the right reasons and with complete understanding – we are doing this only for our spiritual progress. 

Actions done in Mithyatva (Ignorance / Wrong Beliefs) always acquire Pap karma:

Anytime we do something mechanically without understanding why, then we are doing that action under ignorance (Mithyatva) and it does not provide the intended spiritual growth. We need to understand the principles first and then apply them. 

We have been programmed by society that we must follow certain rules, like do not eat after sunset.  However, what is the thought behind that? As an example, one may be told that do not eat at night. If a layperson follows not eating at night rule but then in turn builds more kashayas (e.g. anger because cooking of the food is delayed, don’t get home on time especially during winter months in America or they are hungry and want to eat) then have truly benefited?

Vanditu is the Atichar (list of minor violations) for lay people, lay people practice 12 vows.  During pratikraman we ask for forgiveness for our Atichar with Vanditu sutra.  There is no mention of asking for forgiveness for eating after sunset at night in Vanditu. Don't get this wrong, we are not promoting eating at night. There are definite health and meditation practice benefits for not eating at night but making it a strict rule and following it without understanding is not beneficial for the individual's spiritual growth or for others around them. 

Penance/fasting is yet another aspect related to food. Is fasting easier than limiting intake of food (unodari)? When we practice unodari, it is in an internal process, nobody knows about it, it is not measurable and most difficult. Fasting is easy to measure and receives big recognition in family and society. 

After we fast, do we reflect on how our attachment to food has changed. The reduction to our attachment and getting closer to true nature of our soul is the spiritual act and the net result of any penance.  As an example, Mahavir Swami did not set out to fast.  Rather, he was in meditation and the fasting was a result of the meditation.  When he felt his body needed food then he went ahead and got food (Gochri). 

Fasting can also be looked as a way for training our minds. If we can train our minds to not eat at every instinct of eating, then in the future we can train our minds to not dwell on every negative thought/emotion. We can train our mind to control our eating habits, our thoughts and our actions. If being mindful about eating can transition to being mindful about our thoughts / emotions / actions, then that is a spiritual progress. This would be an internal process - we are the only ones who can truly assess that growth and others do not have a need to know. 

Summary

Food is an integral part of our life, but food should not be used as an indicator for being a Jain, following religion or our spiritual growth.

The purpose of all the actions in religious context is to look inward, enhance our spiritual life, find happiness within, and reduce kashayas. External renunciations are meaningless if nothing changes within. 

We all have different circumstances and different environments and we should use our own wisdom in every situation. Karma feels our reflections (bhaav) and do not see our actions.

References:

Searchable Agams

Please visit www.jainelibrary.org and search Agams by the serial numbers below

• Searchable 45 Agams in Prakrit language - Serial Numbers 003701 to 003789 (All odd numbers like 003701(Agam01), 003703 (00Agam02), ........ 003789 (00Agam45).

• Searchable 45 Agams in Hindi Translation - Serial Numbers 034667 to 034714 Continuous Serial Number of 45 Agams