You have asked very sharp, serious questions. I’ll answer point‑by‑point only from Jain Darshan, in simple language, without judging any other faith.

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1. Ahimsa and “plant suffering”

Q: If plants react chemically when cut, does eating vegetables break ahimsa? Why stop at microbes and not at animals?

a) Jain view: degrees of life (jiva‑bhed)

Jainism does not say “all violence is equal.” It teaches a scale of life:

• One‑sensed beings – touch only (earth, water, fire, air bodies, many plants, microbes)
• Two‑sensed – touch, taste
• Three‑sensed – touch, taste, smell
• Four‑sensed – add sight
• Five‑sensed – add hearing

→ with and without mind (humans, higher animals are 5‑sensed with mind)

The more developed the senses and mind, the more capacity for pain and fear, and the heavier the karma when we harm them.

So:

• Harming a human/animal (5‑sensed) binds much more serious karma than
• Harming a plant (mostly 1‑sensed), which is still more serious than
• Accidentally killing microbes (nigodas).

b) Why Jains still eat plant food

• A householder (shrāvaka) cannot live without killing some one‑sensed beings (plants, water‑beings, air‑beings, microbes). Life in saṃsāra unavoidably involves some himsā.
• So Shastra makes a practical rule:

- Avoid unnecessary, higher‑grade violence (especially against 5‑sensed beings). - Minimize necessary, lower‑grade violence (like eating simple plant food), and do it with repentance and restraint.

That is why Jains:

• Avoid meat, eggs, honey (direct killing or stealing life of mobile 2–5‑sensed beings).
• Avoid root vegetables, alcohol, etc. where more subtle/minute lives are believed to be disturbed.
• Prefer fruits, grains, seeds, leaves where the violence is relatively less.

Ahimsa is not just a rule; it is a direction: from more violence → to less → to least → to zero (as in monks, who reduce even plant‑violence extremely).

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2. Self‑defense: monk attacked, family attacked

a) Jain monks (sadhus)

• A true Jain monk has voluntarily renounced the body.
• He takes a great vow (mahāvrata) of absolute non‑violence.
• So if attacked, he does not fight back.

He may move away, run, or endure, but he will not intentionally harm.

Calling police, shouting for help is generally not against ahimsa, because:

• You are not willing another’s injury; you are preventing greater harm.
• But a very strict monk may even avoid that, and simply accept his fate – that is his personal level of renunciation.

b) Householders and defense of family

For a householder:

• Total passivity while someone murders your family is not the Jain ideal.
• Jain ethics allows proportionate defense with minimum harm needed and without hatred:

- First, try escape, alarm, calling police, restraining without lethal force. - If no other way and life is in immediate danger, limited force to stop the attacker, with remorse, is less sinful than allowing mass killing while doing nothing.

Still, any injury done will bind karma, so:

• It should be last resort,
• Without revenge, only protection.

Monk: aims at absolute renunciation, even at cost of his life. Householder: practices relative ahimsa while carrying family and social duties.

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3. Anekantavada and “Nazis are good”

Q: If truth is multifaceted, are “genocide is good” and “genocide is evil” both partly true?

No. This is a common misunderstanding.

a) What anekantavada actually says

Very simply:

• Reality is complex.
• Our statements are partial and from a standpoint (naya).
• So we must speak with conditions (syāt – “from one view”).

But:

• Only valid standpoints rooted in fact and logic count.
• Anekantavada is not “anything goes” relativism.

You can read a simple explanation here and here .

b) About obvious evils (genocide, child abuse)

From Jain view:

• Violence driven by hatred/greed/delusion against 5‑sensed beings is always karmically wrong – absolutely, not “partially ok”.
• Anekantavada might say:

- “From the killer’s deluded viewpoint, he thinks it is good.” - “From the viewpoint of truth and karma, it is definitely bad and binds terrible karma.”

Recognizing that someone holds a view, and why they hold it, does not validate the view.

So yes, Jain Dharma can firmly condemn things like genocide or child rape as adharma, heavy himsa, while still understanding the psychology behind them, and avoiding hatred even for the sinner (seeing him as a deeply deluded soul).

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4. Karma and suffering of babies

Q: Why do innocent babies get cancer? Is it fair if they don’t remember past lives?

a) Jain explanation

• The soul (jiva) is beginningless; it has taken countless births.
• Every action, thought, intention in past lives has left karmic impressions bound to the soul.
• At some later time, these karmas fructify as pleasure or pain, including:

- place of birth, - body type, - lifespan, - health or disease.

So a suffering child is not being punished for this life, but undergoing results of long‑accumulated karmas.

b) “They don’t remember – is that just?”

Jainism does not present God as a judge giving one final sentence. Rather:

• Karma is like natural law: fire burns, whether you remember why you put your hand there or not.
• Forgetfulness is itself one type of knowledge‑obscuring karma.
• From Jain view, justice is automatic, not at the decision of a partial being.

Is it emotionally hard? Yes. Jain teachers accept that. The answer of Jainism is not: “This pain is good”, but: “This pain is the fruit of past causes; use it to awaken, change your present causes, and move towards moksha, where no suffering exists.”

You can read more about karma‑bandh here .

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5. No creator God and thermodynamics

Q: If the universe is eternal, how avoid heat death / first cause problem?

a) Jain cosmology in short

• The universe (loka) is beginningless and endless.
• It is made of:

- Jiva (souls), - Ajiva (matter, space, motion, rest, time).

• There is no first moment, no external creator.
• The universe goes through endless cycles of rise and fall (utsarpini, avasarpini).

Jain texts are not written in modern physics language, but they clearly say:

• Matter and souls are eternal as substances (they change forms and states).
• There is no final collapse or blank nothing, only ceaseless change.

Modern thermodynamics is a separate scientific model. Jainism simply says: “The totality of dravyas (substances) is uncreated and indestructible; only modes change.”

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6. Reincarnation evidence and other religions’ NDEs

Q: Where is empirical proof of reincarnation? Why not accept NDEs of other faiths?

Jainism is an experiential path, not based on one prophet’s revelation.

a) Types of evidence Jain tradition accepts

1. Scriptural testimony of Omniscients (Kevalis) – not blind belief, but:

- You start with trust, - Verify gradually by ethical practice, meditation, and inner experience.

1. Direct spiritual experience (higher types of knowledge: avadhi, manahparyaya, kevala‑jnana).
2. Inferential signs (memories, abilities, tendencies, birth conditions).

Jain acharyas would consider many NDE reports as:

• Partial inner experiences coloured by one’s belief system and karmic veilings.
• Not final, clear kevala‑jnana.

So they don’t dismiss others’ experiences as nothing, but say:

• They are incomplete,
• Interpreted according to each person’s faith and mental impressions.

Reincarnation across species is a core, non‑negotiable Jain doctrine, grounded in karmic law, not dependent on current laboratory proof.

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7. Historical violence in India vs. “fruits” of other faiths

Q: If Jainism is ahimsa, why did violence exist in Jain‑influenced India?

a) Very important distinction

• Jain Dharma teaches strict non‑violence, equality of souls, and personal responsibility for karma.
• Societies called “Hindu” or “Indian” historically were mostly non‑Jain, though Jains lived among them and influenced some rulers.

Practices like:

• Caste oppression,
• Sati (widow burning),
• Religious wars

are not taught or justified by Jain scriptures. Where such things happened, Jains also suffered under those systems.

b) Jains in history

Across centuries, Jains:

• Rarely formed large armies or forced conversions.
• Are mostly known as:

- Traders and bankers, - Patrons of temples, learning, art, - Supporters of hospitals for humans and animals, shelters, feeding places (annakshetras), etc.

So:

• Existence of violence in India shows human weakness, not the failure of Jain ideals.
• The test of ahimsa is the life of those who actually follow Jain vows sincerely, not of a whole subcontinent with many other beliefs mixed.

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8. Modern application: Jain nation, meat bans, defense, cars

Q: In a Jain nation, would you ban meat, leather, cars? How defend borders?

a) Food and products

A truly Jain‑guided state would likely:

• Ban slaughterhouses and commercial meat trade, because they involve organized killing of 5‑sensed beings for taste, not survival.
• Strongly discourage leather/fur, promote alternatives.
• Regulate industries that cause mass, avoidable harm to living beings and environment.

About cars/insects:

• Total ban on all machines is not realistic for householders.
• Aim is minimization:

- Safer driving, cleaner methods, better design to reduce harm. - Promote walking, public transport, etc.

b) Defense and invasions

For defense, ideal Jain approach:

• Maximize diplomacy, treaties, non‑violent resistance, economic and moral pressure.
• If a violent aggressor like ISIS invades and peaceful means fail, then:

- A state must protect its citizens. - Force may be used only as last resort, as limited as possible, without hatred or cruelty.

For a monk, any participation in war is forbidden. For a state guided by householder ethics, police/army may exist, but under very strict dharmic control (no aggression, only defense, no unnecessary killing).

Is it easy? No. Jainism honestly accepts that perfect ahimsa is only in a liberated soul; in society we continuously move closer to it.

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9. Jesus’ exclusive claim vs. anekantavada

Q: Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” – how does Jainism see this?

From Jain perspective:

• Many great teachers in history may have taught parts of spiritual truth according to time, place, capacity of people.
• Jainism, however, holds that Tirthankaras (like Mahavira) attained Kevala‑jnana, perfect knowledge, and taught:

- Eternal nature of soul, - Karma, - Ahimsa, - Multiplicity of viewpoints (anekantavada).

Anekantavada would say about a claim of exclusivity:

• “From within that religion’s own framework, the statement guides followers to devotion and morality.”
• From Jain framework, no single human incarnation of a creator‑God is accepted, and liberation is open to all souls by their own right conduct and insight, not by belonging to one historical figure.

So Jainism respects other teachers, but does not accept:

• A single savior for all beings,
• Or that salvation is limited to one creed.

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10. If Jainism is true, why so few followers?

Q: Why ~0.4% in India, while Christianity spread worldwide?

a) Truth vs. numbers

In Jain view:

• Truth is not decided by majority.
• Many eternal truths (e.g., law of karma) can be believed or disbelieved by crowds; their working does not change.
• Even in Jain stories, very few souls on earth actually progress to high spiritual levels in any era.

b) Reasons Jainism stayed small

Historically:

• Jains never practiced aggressive conversion or colonization.
• Monastic rules are very strict; path is tough and demanding.
• Jains taught tolerance; they coexisted quietly rather than conquering.
• Many people prefer easier, more comforting paths than strict vows of non‑violence, self‑restraint, fasting, meditation, etc.

So:

• Limited numbers are expected, not a surprise.
• From Jain angle, what matters is:

- Are there true ascetics? - Are there householders seriously trying to reduce passions and violence? - Are souls moving step by step towards liberation?

“By their fruits” in Jainism is not counted by population size, but by:

• Reduction of greed, anger, cruelty in those who follow the path, and
• The presence of Arihantas and Siddhas (liberated beings) as the ultimate “fruit.”

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If you wish, I can next time focus deeply on just one of these topics (for example: karma and suffering, or ahimsa and self‑defense) with more detail from Jain scriptures and acharyas.