About the Book
Ahi?sa in the Indic Traditions: Explorations and Reflections, edited by Jeffery D. Long and Steven J. Rosen, examines the diversity of nonviolent (ahimsa-oriented) doctrines originating in the Indic world, both in terms of interpersonal relationships and how they apply to the rest of creation, including animals. This volume engages the voices of scholars from various disciplines and addresses numerous religious doctrines, including those of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and their related sacred texts. The book focuses not only on past scholarship and intellectual modes of understanding nonviolence, but also on living traditions and the practice of modern and post-modern individuals, from Vivekananda to Gandhi to Prabhupada, and their millions of supporters and followers. The volume shows that the implications of ahimsa are staggering, with reference to interpersonal exchange, vegetarianism, animal rights, climate change, and so on.
Table of Contents:
Introduction, Jeffery D. Long and Steven J. Rosen
Chapter 1:Arjuna's Decision: The Warrior Ethic in the Bhagavad Gita, Steven J. Rosen
Chapter 2:War and Nonviolence in the Bhagavad Gita: Correcting Common Misconceptions, Jeffery D. Long
Chapter 3: Of Bows and Pipelines: Can the Bhagavad Gita Direct Us to Climate Justice?, Christopher L. Fici
Chapter 4: Reconciling K?atriya Dharma with Ahi?sa in the Mahabharata: The Journey of Yudhi??hira, Rodney Sebastian
Chapter 5: Ahi?sa in the Yoga Sutra and its Traditional Commentaries, Janne Kontala
Chapter 6: Nonviolence: Tracing its Srama?a Roots and Seeing its Practical Utility, Vincent Sekhar
Chapter 7: Ahi?sa and Anekantavada: Nonviolence and Discourse in Jain Thought and Practice, Jeffery D. Long
Chapter 8: White Supremacy and Two Theories of Ahi?sa: Jainism vs. Yoga, Shyam Ranganathan
Chapter 9: Ahi?sa in the Thought of Swami Vivekananda, Jeffery D. Long
Chapter 10: Bhaktivedanta, Gandhi, and the Social Implications of Nonviolence, Cogen Bohanec
Chapter 11: Subverting Hierarchies: The Song of the Pious Butcher, Steven J. Rosen
About the Contributors
About the Author :
Jeffery D. Long is the Carl W. Zeigler Professor of religion, philosophy, and Asian studies at Elizabethtown College.
Steven J. Rosen is founding editor of the Journal of Vaishnava Studies and associate editor of Back to Godhead magazine.
Review :
Together, the essays provide a nuanced and multifaceted examination of ahi?sa as a key concept in shaping Indian religious and political thought from antiquity to the present. Though the chapters engage in a dynamic scholarly conversation, each essay is self-contained and would be an excellent addition to college courses on Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, religion and war, or religion and environmental justice.
Food, war, colonialism, racism, climate crisis: how might the philosophy and practice of nonviolence help understand and unravel these pressing problems? This collection of remarkable essays approaches ahi?sa from literary and philosophical perspectives, drawing from the Mahabharata, Bhagavad Gita, Yoga Sutra, and Jain resources. In addition to profiling historic texts, this important volume engages the thought of modern figures such as Gandhi and A.C. Bhaktivedanta, pioneers in bringing transformative Indic thought systems to the world stage.
This approachable collection includes several nuanced analyses of nonviolence in the perplexing battlefield of the Gita and also explicates the varieties of ahi?sa in the subcontinent. Nonviolence is a tenacious through-line within yoga, food ethics, war, the external/internal aspects of actions, and the universal entanglements binding Self with other beings. Not only can readers reexamine the historical complexities of ahi?sa as a South Asian philosophical option, but they will find enduring practices relevant to human-animal ethics, religious pluralism, political equity, ecological justice, and other forms of structural violence that hinder planetary thriving.
Through exploring ancient texts, traditions, practices, and modern interpretations, this multi-dimensional volume on ahi?sa advances critical and constructive analyses that hold the promise to elevate our awareness of pervasive violence and the necessary paths to confront it. Uniquely drawing from philosophical insights from a variety of sources to address contemporary challenges, including war, ecological injury, mutual distrust, and xenophobia, contributors from the Indic traditions demonstrate the value of ahi?sa not simply as a religious discipline or personal ethic, but a necessary way forward for our existential survival.
