HRPH2020

HRPH

2020

Radical Nonviolence: Jainism

The course traces the development of non-violence from the early theological teachings and practices of non-harming (Ahimsa) prevalent among certain ascetic groups and texts in ancient India, to its systematic doctrinal expression in Jainism and to its modern and contemporary adoption as a socially engaged strategy for justice. While Hindu and Buddhist Dharma traditions hold non-harming as a foundational principle, the Jain iteration refines and expands the reach of a radical deep-roots virtue of non-injury in the Dharma traditions. The course will explore the ethical implications of the Jain principles of Ahimsa, truth, non-stealing, celibacy and non-possessiveness. The course will examine Jainism's ontology of infinite souls and respect for sentience, the constituents of reality, karma, and cosmology. We will study the foundational Jain principle of Ahimsa (absolute non-violence) in relation to other supporting principles such as the doctrine of Pluralism (Anekantavada, multiplicity of viewpoints), and the principle of Conditioned Predication (Syadvada, Creative Relativism). There will be further exploration of contemporary interests in the use of nonviolence, e.g. the Civil Rights struggle in the US and Acharya Tulsi's Jain reformist movement.

Graduate

Institutional