Jaine Religion

Jainism

Jainism is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living things. Historians have dated Jainism's foundation to be sometime between the 9th and 6th century BC. Jainism is a small but influential religion with followers in India, the United States, Western Europe, the Far East, Australia, Canada, East Africa and elsewhere. There are over 100,000 Jain located in Ohio.

Jains do not believe in a Creator deity that could be responsible for the manifestation, creation, or maintenance of this universe. They believe the universe is self-regulated by the laws of nature, and that life exists in various forms in different parts of the universe including earth. They believe all living organisms have a soul and therefore need interaction without causing harm to them. Jain monks and nuns walk barefoot and sweep the ground in front of them to avoid killing insects or other tiny beings. All life is considered sacred, and human life is deemed the highest form of life.

The Jain are vegetarians. They avoid eating root vegetables as well as cutting the root from a plant kills the plant. The practice of vegetarianism is instrumental for the practice of non-violence and for peaceful co-existence. They also are forbidden to leather or silk products since these are produced by the killing of animals. Compassion for all life , human and non-human is central in Jainism. Human life is valued as unique and to kill any person, no matter what crime he has committed, is considered unimaginably abhorrent behavior.

In Hinduism and Buddhism, karma is the natural moral law of the universe in which every good and bad action has a corresponding effect on the doer. Jains believe there are two kinds of karma; destructive and non-destructive. Destructive karma harms the soul, and non-destructive karma harms the body. Depending on one's karma and level of spiritual development, death may mean being reborn into another physical appearance on earth or suffering punishment in one of the eight hells.