Point of Curiosity: Do Jains go for walks after dark?
I was walking home after dark in the rain two weeks ago, and there was a crunch. I knew instantly what it was: I had crushed a snail. It's been haunting me since.It also made me wonder. I have a ton of respect for the Jain approach to non-violence - "ahimsa" - which extends beyond humans to also include animals and insects.
It was as I was beginning to study religions and become a more educated religious tolerance advocate, that I first learned about the Jain dharma. I have made an effort to "walk lightly" ever since. To pay attention to what my feet walk on, to not disrupt ant hills, or step on a beetle when I could've avoided it. I had already been a vegetarian for several years at the point, under the philosophy that if I was going to eat an animal that had died for another purpose, I would have to learn to do it by my own hand. So, I'm a vegetarian. Tangentially: I also wildly approve of Temple Grandin's improvements in humane slaughter.
Do Jains go for walks after dark?
I believe the answer is no, though I didn't discover a definitive Thou Shalt Not for it. This is based on the following behaviours practiced by Jains:
- Jains do not eat or drink after dark. I'm finding that in earlier references this is justified with reference to insects attracted to cooking fires being brought to harm, as well as the possibilities of insects enjoying the food and being eaten by accident when they cannot be seen. In later references, it is justified by killing the micro-organisms that grow on food overnight, which it seems to me must be an extension of the don't-use-cooking-fire-at-night concept. I'm vague on how refrigeration plays into all of this, but that strikes me like a question I'll keep on reserve for the next time I meet a practicing Jain.
- Jains do not walk in over-grown fields where they cannot know what they are stepping on.
- Aesthetic Jains walk to avoid harming what they cannot easily see if they were instead driving.
The combination of these things implies to me that Jains will avoid situations that are difficult to evaluate for practicing ahimsa, which would include walks after dark. This goes well with the concept of carefulness - "samti" - that a Jain monk is required to cultivate.
