Vegan Bill Clinton: Approaching Ahimsa one bean at a time



(Jain symbol for Ahimsa)

Although Christopher Wanjek, Live Science’s “Bad Medicine” columnist, hints that Bill Clinton is strictly a “dietary vegan” at this point (meaning he appears to be “concerned more about his own health than about the health of any animal”) – that doesn’t preclude a sudden ahimsa awakening.  If anything, practicing veganism can serve as a third-eye opener.

The word ahimsa is derived from the Sanskrit root himsa (meaning “injury” or “harm”).  When the prefix “a” is added, himsa then takes on the exact opposite meaning (so ahimsa literally means “non-harming” or “non-violent”).  However, the connotation of ahimsa goes far beyond the mere physical.

According to Wikipedia, ahimsa “is an important tenet of the Indian religions (Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism)” which “respects living beings as a unity.” 

The overall principle of ahimsa was practiced and promoted by Mahatma Gandhi.  The International Vegetarian Union reiterates this quote from Gandhi’s autobiography:  To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being.  I should be unwilling to take the life of a lamb for the sake of the human body.  I hold that, the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man.

Keith Akers, in his article Truth-Force and Vegetarianism, points out that Gandhi’s vegetarianism embraced morality and economics.  Gandhi believed that non-violence included non-violence towards animals, and “said that he would never eat meat even in the face of death.”  He also believed that “any form of exploitation or inequality” in this world could also be construed as a form of violence.  Gandhi therefore “lived a very simple lifestyle, insisting on sharing in manual labor and at his death had only a very few possessions.” 

Akers has written many other articles about spiritually-based vegetarianism.  He asks such intriguing questions as these:   Was the Last Supper Vegetarian? and  Is Nothing Sacred?  He then gets right back down to earth with titles such as A chicken is not a vegetable  and  But how do you get enough protein?

We all have to start somewhere.  Even Gandhi ate meat at one time.  So here’s to Clinton’s evolving journey…

Resources

http://www.livescience.com/15672-bill-clinton-vegan-diets.html

http://www.ivu.org/history/gandhi/

http://www.compassionatespirit.com/gandhi.htm

http://www.compassionatespirit.com/Articles.htm

Copyright August 23, 2011 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved