Global terms: Religion & Worldviews

Do Jain teachings solve the ecological crisis?

Research Summary: Do Jain teachings solve the ecological crisis?

From proclaiming the equality of all life forms to the stringent emphasis placed upon nonviolent behavior (ahimsa), and once more to the pronounced intention for limiting one’s possessions (aparigraha), Jainism has often been pointed to for its admirably eco-friendly example. The Jain-inspired Anuvrat Movement, founded in 1949 by Acharya Sri Tulsi, is relevant today. Anuvrat’s final vow (vow eleven) calls for practitioners to “refrain from such acts as are likely to cause pollution and harm the environment,” and to avoid the “cutting down of trees” and the “wasting of water”. When it comes to the modern eco-conscious imperative to “live simply so that others may simply live”, this research argues, there is indeed much that Anuvrat has to offer.

Researcher

Michael Reading

Research Institution

Mt. St. Mary’s University, Los Angeles

What is this about?

  • Jainism.
  • The Anuvrat Movement.
  • Eco-conscious living.
  • Ecology.
  • Ecological vow-taking.

What was done?

This is a critical, scholarly study of Jainism, the Anuvrat Movement and their relevance to contemporary ecological problems.

Main findings and outputs

  • Jain beliefs and practices, e.g. ahimsa (non-violence to all beings) are highly relevant to ecological problems.
  • A further ideal, aparigraha, refers both to the physical limiting of one’s possessions, as well as one’s achieving a general state of spiritual detachment, also a highly eco-friendly stance.
  • The Anuvrat Movement, launched in 1949 by Acharya Sri Tulsi, revolved around what he perceived to be a moral deterioration within Indian society. To remedy the situation he encouraged all people to take a set of vows (not only Jains but also Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Sikhs have participated).
  • The vows are based on traditional Jain and Yoga vows, and also include one (the eleventh) of particular ecological relevance:
    I will do my best to refrain from such acts as are likely to cause pollution and harm the environment.
    I will not cut down trees.
    I will not waste water.
  • There are others of relevance, e.g. the seventh enjoins limiting one’s acquisitions – and 42% of greenhouse gas emissions is caused by consumer goods production.

Relevance to RE

This research has clear relevance to RE. Teachers can use it to develop their knowledge of Jainism. It also has clear applications to ethics courses and units of study. As reported, Tulsi placed emphasis on individual conduct. His teachings can frame questions such as: to what extent are we responsible? How important or difficult are lifestyle changes? How effective can vows be, and to whom or what might a non-religious person vow? Teachers are encouraged to read the whole article, which also contains interesting points not summarised above, concerning psychology, addiction and self-examination.

Generalisability and potential limitations

Rather than generalisable, the research is a scholarly account of one influential religious tradition and its possible contemporary relevance. People will have different views about Jainism and ecology, pointing out, for instance, that it originated as a soteriological not ecological movement, but the author explicitly recognises this.

Find out more

The original article is Michael Reading, The Anuvrat Movement: A Case Study of Jain-inspired Ethical and Eco-conscious Living, Religions 2019: 10 (11), 636

https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/10/11/636

Buddhism and compassion for animals

Research Summary: Buddhism and compassion for animals

Traditionally, Buddhism has emphasised compassion for animals, without always giving clear messages on vegetarianism (e.g. monks have been permitted to eat the meat of animals not killed on their behalf). This research is about speeches and writings by one of the most influential Buddhist cleric-scholars in Tibet today, Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö of Larung Buddhist Academy. The article surveys the Khenpo’s broad-based advocacy for animal welfare and details his discrete appeals to nomads in eastern Tibet to forgo selling livestock for slaughter, to eat a vegetarian diet when possible, to relinquish wearing animal fur, to protect wildlife habitat, and to liberate the lives of animals. Tsultrim Lodrö goes beyond traditional scare tactics that emphasize the karmic effects of negative deeds in future lives and instead invokes compassion by attending to the lived experience and suffering of animals. In doing so, he promotes Buddhism as a civilizing force, in order to reform certain Tibetan customs and to control the influence of China on Tibet. RE teachers’ subject knowledge will be increased through this example of contemporary Buddhist ethical commitment. Moreover, we can use parts of the research’s material as teaching points (see below, Relevance to RE).

Researcher

Holly Gayley

Research Institution

University of Colorado, Boulder, USA

What is this about?

  • What are Buddhist attitudes to animal welfare and vegetarianism?
  • Who is Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö, and why does he have a considerable influence on Buddhist attitudes to animal welfare and vegetarianism in contemporary Tibet?
  • What does Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö teach about animal welfare and vegetarianism?
  •  How does he communicate his teachings?

What was done?

The research methodology involves analysis of Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö’s writings and speeches, and the researcher also appears to have carried out fieldwork in Eastern Tibet, though without giving details of this.

Main findings and outputs

  • Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö is an influential Buddhist teacher in today’s Tibet, known particularly for his teachings on animal welfare and social reform.
  • Buddhism, over time, has failed to emphasise vegetarianism consistently, despite teachings on non-injury, compassion and reincarnation. Monks and nuns have been permitted to eat meat offered to them provided the animals had not been slaughtered for them.
  • Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö teaches a set of ten precepts: not to sell livestock for slaughter, not to steal, not to fight with weapons, not to consort with prostitutes, not to sell weapons or drugs, not to smoke, not to drink, not to gamble, not to hunt, and not to wear animal fur on the trim of traditional Tibetan coats. The precepts have spread widely through mass vow-taking ceremonies.
  • He encourages vegetarianism amongst monks and nuns and asks lay Buddhists to refrain from meat-eating as much as they possibly can. If they have to kill livestock for economic reasons they should do it humanely.
  • Rather than threatening those who are cruel to animals with bad karma or bad reincarnation, Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö tries to use compassion. Asking people to give up the practice of slaughter by suffocation (it can take fifteen minutes), he says:
    “You can see for yourself by covering your mouth and nose with your hand. Without the breath coming in and out, it doesn’t take much time. Just remain like that for a minute, and you understand what the experience is like.”

Relevance to RE

Knowledge of the research will increase RE teachers’ specialist subject knowledge of Buddhism and ethics. Moreover, parts of the research’s findings can be used as teaching points. Teachers can provide an outline of Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö’s life and teachings – see (http://www.luminouswisdom.org/ . Pupils could carry out follow-up research of their own. Classroom activities could be focused on some celebrated aspects of Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö’s teaching, e.g. persuading Tibetans to give up the practice of suffocating animals by asking them to imagine being suffocated (i.e. going without breath for one minute). We need to stress that we are not recommending or suggesting that colleagues ask pupils to simulate this. However, questions for discussion and debate arise from it: what is Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö trying to achieve through this exercise? How effective do you think it would be? Is it right to apply the ‘Golden Rule’ to animals as well as people? What differences would it make to people’s lives in the UK? What advantages and disadvantages would it bring?

Find out more

The Compassionate Treatment of Animals: a Contemporary Buddhist Approach in Eastern Tibet Journal of Religious Ethics 45.1 pages 29-57 (published online 18 February 2017)

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jore.12167/epdf

British ‘nones’: what do they believe in and do?

Research Summary: British ‘nones’: what do they believe in and do?

This presents new and existing evidence which shows that ‘no religion’ has risen to rival ‘Christian’ as the preferred self-designation of British people. It offers a characterisation of the ‘nones’ which reveals that most are not straightforwardly secular. General cultural pluralisation and ethical liberalisation in Britain are held to be significant (churches have tended in the opposite direction). ‘No religion’ has become the new cultural norm, yet Britain is most accurately described as between Christian and ‘no religion’.

Researcher

Linda Woodhead

Research Institution

Lancaster University

What is this about?

‘Nones’ have been increasing in numbers in Britain for some time, but recently a majority of British people declared their affiliation as ‘no religion’ rather than ‘Christian’. What has happened? Who are they? What do they believe and do? Why has the shift occurred? Has Britain ceased to be a ‘Christian country’?

What was done?

This is an overview of census data (since 2001) and data from surveys carried out by the author (from 2013-2015), together with attention to earlier sources so as to plot longer-term trends.

Main findings and outputs

  • Whilst ‘no religion’ now exceeds ‘Christian’ as most people’s self-designation, ‘nones’ are not straightforwardly secular.
  • They reject religious labels but also secular ones; despite the ‘Dawkins factor’ they are not hostile to religion (e.g. against faith schools).
  • In the latest data, if we compare Christian and ‘no religion’ there is a striking contrast between the younger (18–24) with a majority (60 per cent) reporting ‘no religion’ and a minority (27 per cent) identifying as ‘Christian’, and the older (60 and over) where the proportions are roughly reversed.
  • A small minority believe in God whilst most are agnostic.
  • A quarter take part in a personal religious or spiritual practice, but none take part in communal ones or join groups.
  • ‘Nones’ share a liberal value set with many ‘somes’. In 2013-14 the author polled Britons on ‘controversial issues’ such as same-sex marriage, abortion, assisted dying: 83% were towards the liberal end of the opinion scale (supporting individual choice), 100% of ‘nones’ were, contrasting most sharply with Muslims, evangelical Christians and Anglican and Catholic bishops.

Relevance to RE

The relevance to RE teaching is that care needs to be taken when distinguishing religious from secular people, as there are beliefs, attitudes and practices that apply across the apparent divide. This means that a sensitive, differentiated approach to exploring the religious and world-view composition of the UK is needed. Teachers could bring out some of the similarities and differences in discussion with pupils and help them to consider their meanings and consequences.

Generalisability and potential limitations

This is a thorough analysis of comprehensive survey data.

Find out more

Linda Woodhead (2016), ‘The rise of “no religion” in Britain: The emergence of a new cultural majority’, Journal of the British Academy, 4: 245–261.

Available for free download at DOI 10.85871/jba/004.245 https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/1043/11_Woodhead_1825.pdf

Belief, faith and religion: shifting attitudes in the UK

Research Summary: Belief, faith and religion: shifting attitudes in the UK

Since 1981, the World Values Survey has gathered data on global social, political, economic, religious and cultural values. This report outlines the latest findings on the UK, with comparisons to other countries.

Researchers

The Policy Institute

Research Institution

King’s College, London

What is this about?

The research is about contemporary UK religious values, including the likelihood of belief in God, heaven and hell or life after death; the degree of religious tolerance, and the popularity of atheism.

What was done?

A survey questionnaire was administered to 3,056 UK adults (18+). Once analysed, the resultant data were organised in a concise report, including comparisons to international trends.

Main findings and outputs

Readers are encouraged to download and read the report from the link given below. However, here are some examples of the main findings:

  • The share of Britons who say they believe in God and heaven has been in decline for decades, but belief in life after death and hell has remained stable – and by international standards the UK ranks relatively low on belief in all of these.
  • While younger people are less religious than older people, they are more inclined to believe in life after death.
  • The UK public are among the least likely internationally to identify as religious, with atheism also growing in popularity.
  • The share of the British public who say they are a religious person has halved since the early 1980s.
  • The UK public are among the most trusting of people of different religions, and among the most relaxed about other faiths.
  • Despite Britons’ declining religiosity, confidence in churches and religious organisations has increased in recent years.
  • Confidence in religious institutions in Britain has begun to rebound after being in decline.

Relevance to RE

The report provides excellent background material for policy and curriculum. Its report of increased confidence in religion and a high UK level of religious tolerance underlines the importance of an education in religion and worldviews and the alignment of such education with existing social values. The individual report data offer valuable resources for classroom teaching, when a social science approach to religion and worldviews is being used.

Generalisability and potential limitations

The generalisability of the data is high; reliable, broad and produced by expert researchers. The focus is on the UK, but the international comparisons mean that this is not done in an isolated way.

Find out more

The full report is freely downloadable from https://www.kcl.ac.uk/policy-institute/assets/lost-faith-the-uk’s-changing-attitudes-to-religion.pdf (published in May 2023, accessed on 6 July 2023).

The nature of God in Sikhi – Ranvir Singh

The nature of God in Sikhi

While some Sikhs are happy to use the term ‘God’ to refer to the Ultimate, the Base of Being, others are more suspicious for it is difficult for some people to conceive of ‘God’ without thinking of a sort of bearded man in the sky. For Sikhs this is problematic as they believe that the Ultimate is neither male, nor female but also because they believe that the Creator is in the creation and the creation is in the Creator.

The Sikh scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib, begins with the numeral ‘1’. Therefore, it is true to say that Sikhs are monotheistic. However, Sikhs may also be called panentheistic as they believe that the One is present in creation: “One Light fills all creation. That Light is You” (Guru Granth Sahib, p.13).

Sikh are not pantheists, people who believe that God is the world. For Sikhs the Divine is not the universe but is the Life within it, its driving force, like fire inside wood, a “reflection in a mirror or fragrance within a flower” (Guru Granth Sahib, p.684). It is this belief about Divinity that gives rise to the Sikh ethos of the sant-sipahi or saint-soldier.

The saintly element follows from connecting with the Divine within. This Presence is called Naam or name. Naming is integral to a relationship and relationships shape, and are shaped by, our being – our ideas and practices – in the world. The Presence is revealed to us through the Sabd, or word, that inscribes our existence and which therefore constantly reaches out to us as our Inner Tutor or intuition. This Sabd is regarded as the SatGuru or Real Guru, with the interaction between the Guru Granth Sahib or Sikh scripture and Sikhs, a reflection of the dialogue between consciousness and intuition. The action of the Sabd is called gurprasad or grace.

The soldierly element follows from the recognition that there is Divinity and, therefore, dignity in every person. For this reason social action is a corollary of spiritual realisation. Grace reaching to us flows through us as meeta or loving-kindness. “After spending time with saints I lost the sense of ‘us’ and ‘them’. No one automatically is my enemy, nor do I regard others as strangers. I am friendly towards everyone” (Guru Granth Sahib, p.1299). These friendly relations are best expressed in the langar which is a free kitchen where free vegetarian food is available to everyone, whatever their race, gender, faith or class – it represents equality, inclusion and the importance of social service.

Such service can feed into political action. The fifth Guru, Guru Arjun wrote: “From now such is the Will of God: No one shall force another, no one shall take advantage of and use another. Everyone, each individual, has the right to look for and work for happiness and self-fulfilment. Love and persuasion is the only law of social cohesion” (Guru Granth Sahib, p.74). He became the first Sikh martyr in 1606 as the Emperor feared that his words and actions were a threat to the divine right of kings – the belief that God chose rulers and gave them the authority to rule others. A second Guru was martyred, in 1675. The Dasam Granth, a Sikh religious text, says that his sacrifice was for three principles: the right to worship; the right to have your views about the ultimate nature of the world and life respected; the right to pursue happiness and self-fulfilment (Dasam Granth p.54). In 1699, the Khalsa was formed. This remains a self-governing community of equals that anyone is eligible to join providing they agree to abide by its code of conduct, designed to transform a person into a knight.

The battle-drum beats in the sky of the mind; aim is taken, wounds inflicted. The spiritual heroes enter the field of battle; the time for war is here and now! Only
They may be cut, piece by piece, but they never leave the field of battle

(Guru Granth Sahib, p.1105).


The hymn refers to the battle within each person as they struggle with the five thieves that oppress us – pride, greed, lust, anger and undue attachment; and forces of fear, desires and hopes that imprison us in stories of the future and past. These elements may govern and shape our lives. But the stories they tell are part of wider social stories that feed into, and reflect, social realities. Therefore, the struggle for freedom and authenticity has a social as well as spiritual dimension.

The in/out structure of believer/unbeliever; male/female; black/white; high caste/untouchable is replaced by unity through the Presence of the Divine. This oneness of God and oneness of humanity is manifested in the common intellectual human cauldron of the Guru Granth Sahib, featuring 36 non-Sikh authors, symbolised by the sword of discriminating intelligence and will that stirs the pot of the human body. The sword and cauldron together symbolise the amrit ceremony whereby people join the Khalsa. This nexus of spiritual-social is found in the langar where people serve but also eat. Free and abundant food challenge stories of scarcity that justify poverty and restricted access to power in the human species. “The wealth of nature is there to be used. There is enough for all, but it is not shared justly in this world” (Guru Granth Sahib, p.1171). The generosity or grace of God involves other species. “In the deepest rocks there are living beings and even there food is provided for them” (Guru Granth Sahib, p.10).

The implications for ideas of space are clear. Each person’s heart is a sacred space. Moreover, even other planets have sacred spaces as, “The saints of many worlds live there. They celebrate, blooming with the divine” (Guru Granth Sahib, p.8), implying intelligent life and perhaps even more religions. “The concept of time emphasises present/Presence. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and seasons all originate from the 1 Sun”, says Nanak, “in just the same way that different religions originate from the 1 Creator” (Guru Granth Sahib, p.12-13).

God’s truths were established with the “first breath” and persist through time. There was neither a golden age nor will there be one. Suffering exists due to free will and provides the opportunity for relationship between Being and beings. Faced with carnage when Babur invaded India, Guru Nanak wrote: “Nanak sings of the virtues of the King in the city of corpses and gives this lesson: the Creator who allocates unique opportunities sits apart, watching our choices” (Guru Granth Sahib p.723).

Sikhs believe in an afterlife where God acts as Judge. “The rulers are tigers and their officials are dogs. Together they go out to wake up the sleeping people to harass them. Those who should be serving the public wound people with their claws while the dogs lick up the blood that is spilled. But in the Court of God everyone will be judged. Those who have betrayed the trust of the people will be shamed and punished” (Guru Granth Sahib p.1288).