As I have studied Jainism, I have been thinking a lot about the concept of Ahimsa in my own life, specifically about Ahimsa toward plants, and even more specifically about Ahimsa toward plants in regards to diet.
Jains consider plants to be sentient beings and worthy of ethical treatment. At a minimum, I think it’s worth the thought experiment. There is clearly some form of intelligence operating in a plant (plants grow toward the sun, their roots find water, they have defense mechanisms, networks of trees (for instance) support each other, etc., etc.). Humans and other animals can have naturally symbiotic relationships with plant life. We need trees for breathable oxygen, and they need us for “breathable” CO2; we eat fruit which gives us sustainable nutrition, and the plant is helped by being able to spread its seed and reproduce in a new geographical area, etc.
If a plant were considered to be a sentient being, what would it want you to do, and what wouldn’t it want you to do? If an apple tree were sentient, it would want animals to eat its apples as a means to spread its seed. It entices animals to eat its fruit by making it sweet. Most fruit bearing plants tend to work this way.
Some plants have leaves which animals gravitate toward. Animals eat the tender leaves and may fertilize the plant in the process. When a plant doesn’t want animals to eat its leaves, it makes the leaves bitter (for instance when a spinach plant bolts) or even poisonous.
But a tree wouldn’t want to be cut down, or be uprooted, or have its bark stripped, or be drained of its sap. It has defense mechanisms just like animals, and it seems to be oriented towards continuing to exist, just like animals.
So I’ve been thinking about my diet as a way to live in harmony with plants. What would the plant want you to eat?
I think the most symbiotic we can get with the natural world is to eat raw vegan food. Just eat what the earth freely gives you, what you desire in its natural state, and what is symbiotic with the giving plant.
Jains envision living in a way which does no harm to other living things, including plant life. When we live this way, it all goes better for everything.