Anyways, then I went googling the newly coined phrase to see if anybody has already come up this concept of 'Karmic Footprint' and voila! No surprise there I guess. But what was more surprising was that I found an article (2nd link from the search) which echoed similar sentiments and thoughts as mine. It also takes it further and connects both carbon and karmic footprint and what it means to be a true JAIN.
The article is called "Karmic Footprints: The Ecological Consciousness of the Jains". It's a very nice article...some of the excerpts below:
Jainism means the religion (or way) of the conquerors and the true Jain is one who has conquered him- or her- self. This conquest is identical with realising the true self, which is free from attachment and so has true power, rather than delusional trappings. The starting point of Jainism is the individual. Each life is considered to be unique; this does not just mean human life, but every life form including the supposedly most elementary living systems –which we now know to be at least as complex and intricate as our own, and often indispensable to our survival.
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Jains also reject the idea of formal priesthood. Their ascetic men and women set an example of the ideal way of life, and dramatise Jain principles by taking them to their logical conclusion. But they cannot compel conformity and obedience. As Kanti Mardia, a Jain scientist, has suggested, each Jain is his or her own guru, and the spiritual quest is akin to the processes undertaken by the researcher in a laboratory.
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The basis of Mahavira’s teaching is ‘Parasparopagraho Jivanam’ : ‘All Life is Interconnected’. It follows that ‘Non-violence and kindness to all living beings is kindness to oneself’,and conversely that ‘You are that which you intend to hit, injure, insult, torment, persecute, torture, enslave or kill.
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The principle of interconnection informs the Five Vows (‘Vratas’) undertaken by Jains. These are adhered to by ascetics in a literal way, as the ‘Mahavratas’,or Greater Vows, whereas lay men and women observe them as ‘Anuvratas’(Lesser Vows) and use them as guidelines on which to base their lives. There are references to the Vows in many Jain texts, but are explored in particular detail in the Acaranga Sutra, or ‘Book of Good Conduct’ (3).The Acaranga is the oldest Jain document, probably composed in the 4th century BCE, and it sets out clearly the philosophy of non-violent living associated with the Jain dharma. The Vows are as follows:
- ‘Ahimsa’: Non-violence; abstention or minimisation of anything that causes injury to life, human or non-human;
- ‘Asteya’: Abstention from theft; avoidance of exploitative relationships of all kinds;
- ‘Satya’: Truth; the understanding of what is real, as opposed to illusory attachment;
- ‘Brahmacharya’: Chastity; avoidance of promiscuity, sexual exploitation and the ‘objectification’ of fellow-humans (male or female);
- ‘Aparigraha’: non-possessiveness; reduction of consumption; reduction of ‘carbon footprint’.
Jain dharma extends the concept of society to include fellow creatures, plants and the various ecosystems of the planet that support life. What better starting point is there for those of us – of all faiths or none –who seek a more balanced relationship between the rest of nature and humankind?
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