Tim Helton
Jaina Convention
Federation of Jain Associations In North America
Thank You, And Please
 Tim Helton
Tim Helton has a Bachelor of Arts in Ministerial Studies from L.I.F.E. Pacific and a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from Claremont School of Theology. He is currently a Ph.D. student at Drew University in New Jersey where he is studying the Anthropology of Religion. He traveled to India for the first annual International Summer School for Jaina Studies, where he developed a love for Jain people and their rich religious tradition. Tim is also deeply interested in interfaith dialog as a vehicle for religious self-critical thought. |
As a Christian, I write to express both gratitude and anticipation to the Jain community. My gratitude stems from the contribution of Jaina practice and theology to Christian practice and theology, particularly the theology of Martin Luther King Jr., and the impact of that theology on the Civil Rights movement in the United States. Someone has cynically said that gratitude is the anticipation of favors yet to come, and in addition to expressing gratitude, I write in a spirit of anticipation. Jainism is a rich faith, and it is my hope that its trinity of values, ahimsa, aparigraha, and anekantvada will provide an important corrective to American Christianity's absolutism, tolerance of violence, and subservience to consumerism.
The Civil Rights movement of the 1960s was as successful as it was, largely because it was a non-violent movement. This fact is particularly startling, since it had little to draw on by way of non-violent example in its larger cultural context. Rather, wars tended to accompany social change in the United States. The nation, and with it democracy, were born in violent revolution, and war accompanied the abolition of slavery a little less than a century later. Yet, while violent acts attended the activism of the 1960s, the movement itself was radically non-violent, and this was largely due to the efforts of Martin Luther King Jr.
King was a brilliant scholar, and he certainly knew that non-violence was not without precedence amongst Christians. The Society of Friends (Quakers) had long advocated pacifism, and, indeed, one can read several of the teachings of Jesus as non-violent manifestos. Yet, King found another, more recent model for his non-violent strategy in Mahatma Gandhi. He traveled to India a decade after Gandhi's death in order to "observe firsthand Gandhi's legacy."1 Gandhi's practice of aparigraha deeply impressed King, and after his visit to India, he spoke frequently of his wish to reduce his own consumption. Indeed, his desire to live by the principle of aparigraha led to some marital tension since he resisted his wife's desire for a larger home and he drove a "run-down old car." 2 However, King's statement "Christ furnished the spirit and Gandhi provided the technique" suggests that ahimsa was the most important concept that King learned from Gandhi. Indeed, non-violent resistance became the backbone of his strategy.
Just as King found inspiration for the Civil Rights movement in Gandhi's beliefs and practices, Gandhi also learned from others, among them the Jain community. Pratibha Jain tells us that Gandhi's secretary reported that Jainism influenced his life and policies.3 A more compelling proof of Jainism's influence on Gandhi, however, is the fact that his life so thoroughly demonstrated Jaina values. Gandhi's ashram movement provides compelling evidence of his adoption of the idea of aparigraha, and his answer when asked to prosecute those who had assaulted him on his arrival in Durban is a poignant example of anekantvada. He did not blame them, he said, because they believed that he "had made exaggerated statements in India about the whites in Natal." "It is no wonder that they were enraged," he declared. While he knew that he had not made "exaggerated statements," his response demonstrated that he understood more than his own perspective in the situation. Finally, as I have indicated, ahimsa became the backbone of King's strategy. This is because it was the hallmark of Gandhi's movement as well. The 1 930's Salt March is legendary for the fact that it galvanized a nation in its desire for independence, but it also symbolized the nonviolent struggle that eventually won that independence. 4 The United States, though largely unaware of the fact, owes much to Jainism for its lessons on ahimsa mediated through Gandhi, and practiced by King. Without such lessons, we might have endured yet one more violent social struggle like that of the War of Independence and the Civil War. I write, then, in gratitude for the contribution of Jaina philosophy to Christian theology and its material effect on social policy in the United States. However, I also write in anticipation of benefits still to come from dialog between Jains and Christians, for Christians have much to learn from Jains.
One of the most important things that Jains can teach Christians is the meaning of aparigraha. American Jains, like all Americans, live in a consumer culture. Billboards, television and radio commercials, and printed ads bombard Jains as well as Christians with the message that their lives will be infinitely better with just one more purchase. Unfortunately, while Christians have a rich ascetic heritage, American Christians know little and understands less of that heritage. As a result, American Christianity is often complicit in rather than resistant to consumerism. For Jains, on the other hand, aparigraha is a core belief, and, in their sadhus and samnis, Jains have living examples of its practice. As a Christian, then, I ask for your help. Teach us how aparigraha can confront our culture's relentless demand that we continually consume ever more things.
To be clear, I am not asking that Jains teach Christians to be generous. American Christians, like Jains, are amongst the most generous people in the world. They give blood to the Red Cross; they give food to the homeless; and they give money to world relief organizations. It is not, then, generosity that we American Christians need to learn from Jains. Rather, we need to learn what aparigraha can teach us about consuming. Show us how this important Jain concept can help us the next time that advertising creates a longing for a new car or wide-screen television, or the next time that we walk through a mall and see still another pair of shoes that we just have to have. Nor will it be enough for us merely to learn the word or its meaning. It will be helpful if the Jain community provides us with practical examples of implementing aparigraha to educate the American society absorbed in the consumer culture.
References:
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- Michael J. Nojeim, Gandhi and King: The Power of Nonviolent Resistance, (Westport, Connecticut: Praecer, 2004), 184.
- Nojeim, 186
- Pratibha Jain, "Gandhi and Jainism," lecture to International Summer School for Jaina studies, Jaipur, India 23 June 2005.
- Ved Mehta, "Blazing a Trail: Gandhi's Salt March Gave the World a Glorious Lesson in Civil Disobedience," Time.