Dr. Sulekh Chand Jain
Some Jains probably do not stop and consider that some of the products they use or wear on their bodies (including, for example, leather, silk, wool, pearls, and coral), use as medicines (vitamins, over the counter and prescribed medicines at home and in hospitals), furnishings in homes and cars (leather, ivory, silk, wool, animal skins, stuffed animal heads), beauty aids (many kinds of cosmetics), entertainment (the use of animals on roadside shows and circuses such as monkeys, bears, elephants, tigers, lions), for transportation and joy rides - all of these have a common component of some kind of (severe or slightly less severe) cruelty to helpless creatures, most of whom are five-sensed.
Still, there are many people within and outside the Jain community who understand the nature of cruelty and suffering to animals and try very diligently to avoid the use of such products. Let me share a few interesting trends and developments in North America. Hopefully, the following examples offer some guidance.
There are nearly 20 million (more than 3 times the population of Jains in the world) vegetarians and vegans in North America and that number is growing every day.
Proper labeling and the use of cruelty free products are increasing at a very impressive rate and this information is now readily available on the internet and in print media.
“Vegan” and “veganism” have become commonly acceptable words and also part of the English dictionary.
There are literally hundreds of thousands of magazines, books, podcasts, blogs, radio, websites, Facebook pages, vegan groups, societies and television talk shows devoted to vegan and vegetarianism.
Quite a few celebrities are now identified vegans.
About twenty five years ago, there was a peaceful march in Washington D.C. for Animal Rights and 25,000 people from all over the United States participated; local marches and activism continue in nearly every corner of the US.
There are thousands of stores (online and traditional) catering to animal free products.
There are annual awards and honors to recognize people, books, media, and movies that observe and promote animal welfare and veganism.
Let me share a few actual happenings that I observed or heard myself:
- In the 1980s and 1990s I lived in Cincinnati, Ohio. We had established the Jain Center of Cincinnati-Dayton there where we used to observe all our major Jain functions and festivals. Once, I invited Jayne Meinhart, a native of Cincinnati, a committed vegan and a TV and Radio talk show personality, to the Mahavir Jayanti Celebrations at the Jain Center. Jayne, like all of us, removed her shoes outside the assembly hall. During her speech, she commented that she knows that Jains are the biggest followers of ahimsa yet when she came in, she noticed that not a single pair of shoes or sandals was non-leather whereas she (Jayne) herself had stopped use of leather many years ago. You can imagine how embarrassing or inspirational that was for us Jains. <
- In 1995, at the JAINA convention held at the Chicago Jain temple, Mrs. Menaka Gandhi (a Cabinet Minister in India) was the chief guest. In her keynote speech, Mrs. Gandhi chided the Jain audience about the use of many kinds of animal based products (leather, silk, pearls) in their daily use while she herself - a non-Jain - does not use any. Mrs. Gandhi is a champion of animal rights and has given her very best to the cause of animal protection and their welfare in India. In the Indian parliament, as an M. P, as a Central cabinet Minister, and as a commoner, she has championed this cause even at the risk of her own life. I have come to know that the transportation of live animals in India across state lines is illegal, yet with the connivance of corrupt government officers, thousands (if not millions) of animals are daily transported in goods trains to far off places to slaughter houses. Whenever Mrs. Gandhi comes to know of such trains carrying animals, she goes and tries to stop the trains (even in the middle of night and at the risk of her own personal safety). She does this quite often.
Now you decide: is this behavior - using animal products for fashion - consistent with ahimsa?
You may ask, “Why should I not use leather and leather products for body coverings, accessories and furnishings?”
Real leather is a skin of the animals and they (animals) are the only source for real/genuine leather. Humans are the only species that use the skin of another animal. No animal uses other animals’ skin. In the distant past, leather was used for footwear (shoes) and in several industrial applications. Today, there are hundreds (perhaps thousands) of products (for human as well as for industrial use) and only in the last five to seven decades, the use and production of leather has increased manifold.
Today, humans use leather for all kinds of footwear, wallets, purses, trouser belts, camera and computer cases, brief cases, suit-cases, shoes, jackets and coats, head gear and head coverings, furnishings (seats in vehicles and in home furnishings), home decorations (including paintings and many other items).
In the past, Jains always avoided the use and the trading of leather and leather related products in any shape or form. If Jains did use leather, it was only for footwear provided that leather was derived from the carcasses of naturally dead animals and not from humanly killed animals.
