Please join us for the second spring semester event of our 2015–2016 series on death and dying—a lecture by Christopher Chapple, Navin and Pratima Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology at Loyola Marymount University, about the “Fast unto Death” in the Indian religion of Jainism.  The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held on March 3 at 7 p.m. in Sussman Theater (lower level of the Olmsted Center).

The Jain tradition has observed a practice known as Sallekhana or Santhara, through which one willingly foregoes food and hydration toward the end of one’s life in order to pass peacefully into a new life.  Chapple will give details about the process and the history of Sallekhana. He will also explore the correlations of this fast unto death with the hospice and “right to die” movements in contemporary America.

Chapple is a specialist in the religions of India; he has published twenty books on aspects of Yoga, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, as well as religion and ecology. He serves on the advisory boards of the Ahimsa Center, the Forum on Religion and Ecology, and the International School for Jain Studies.