Episode 91: Jainism: Generating an Ethic of Nonviolence with Jonathan Dickstein, PhD

Many compassionate people and vegans are drawn to the concept of ahimsa, the Sanskrit word for non-harming or non-violence. Today we explore this concept with Dr. Jonathan Dickstein, Assistant Professor of Jain Studies at Arihanta Institute. Johnathan received a PhD in Religious Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara and his areas of research include Jain Studies, religion and ecology, comparative ethics, and South Asian religions. Jonathan and Hope discuss the spiritual reasons for living vegan through the Jain lens. He offers some history and context for the Jain religion and how their highest concept, ahimsa, or non-harming, is core to their belief. He also discusses karma theory and how that relates to ahimsa and defines Transnational Veganism.