Biophilia is a subset of environmental ethics and environmental psychology that underscores human dependence on nature in a way that is more than material and physical, but also contributes to our intellectual, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. The biophilia hypothesis proposes that our relationships with nature affect our well-being, and that if we neglect our connection to nature and the natural, biodiverse network of living beings—or if we operate in harmful ways towards living beings—we neglect our own well-being. And if we recognize our needs to have healthy connections with nature and living beings we will work as a society towards protecting and valuing the natural world, and fostering the individual and cultural attitudes that will prevent the destruction of nature, mass extinction, and the loss of biodiversity.
 

There are multiple ways that we can express this valuation for nature in a way that is mutually beneficial for our own wellbeing, and for the wellbeing of life on Earth. We can see this correlation between interactions with nature and the development of one’s human potential seems to be corroborated in certain biophilic themes that are present in the spiritual development of the Tīrthaṅkaras that we find in the Kalpa-sūtra, for example.
 

Biophilia & Natural Landscape in the Kalpa-sūtra
The Kalpa-sūtra contains several references to features of the natural world which can be taken as the spiritual biophilia present in the text. For example, an effort is made to align the important moments of the Tīrthaṅkaras’ lives with the cycles of the moon (KS 2, 149, 170, 205). All the Tīrthaṅkaras are initiated by self-tonsure into a life of mendicancy under the “best āśoka trees” which apparently accounts for different trees in different parks for each Tīrthaṅkara (KS 116, 157, 173, 211). Interestingly each Tīrthaṅkara achieves enlightenment under a different type of tree (the sāl tree for Mahāvīra, KS 120; the dhātakī tree for Pārśva, KS 159; and the betasa tree for Ariṣṭanemi, KS 174).
 

The natural landscape where they are liberated changes for each Tīrthaṅkara as well; it occurs on a farm for Mahāvīra (KS 120), Mount Ujjinta for Ariṣṭanemi (KS 174, 182) and outside of the city of Purimātāla in a park for Ṛṣabha (KS 128) which seems to have been atop of Mount Aṣṭāpada (KS 227). Spiritual development is invariably tied to natural landscapes; nature is the locus of spiritual accomplishment—a sort of spiritual biophilia.
 

In the Kalpa-sūtra, the mendicant lives of the Tīrthaṅkaras are bookended by an initial realization of interconnectedness when they set upon a life of renunciation, followed by a deep awareness and sensitivity towards all living beings. This initial element of interconnectedness realized by the Tīrthaṅkaras is “ecologistic”:

      “That Venerable One no longer had a sense of a strict delimitations… such as the delimitation of substances, space, time, and psychological conditions (bhāva). With respect to substances, delimitations include animate objects, inanimate objects, and of those in a mixed state. With respect to delimitations of space, these include delimitations of a village, a town, a forest, a farm, a house or a yard. Delimitations of time include: [various sub-divisions along with], day-night, fortnight, month, season, half-year, year, or any other time unit of longer duration. Delimitations of psychological states (bhāva) include anger, pride, attachment, greed, fear, laughter, affection, hatred, quarrel, defamation, harsh words, meanness, gossiping, pleasure and pain, deceitful falsehood, and the pain of having misplaced faith.” [1] (KS 118, 159).
 

We might also note, in the interest of ecopsychology, that this ecologistic realization of interconnectedness seems to heal various psychological conditions (bhāvas), which result from a “divided” sense of self, which might also be translated as “inhibited” or “obstructed” (pratibandha) psychological conditions (bhāvas). 

We can see these elements of ecologistic sensitivity and enhanced awareness of living beings as well as the implicit moralistic implications in the enlightenment experiences where the Tīrthaṅkaras become deeply aware  of the plight of all living beings as a result of their many years of practicing assiduous nonviolence.

    “Then the Accomplished One, attained a state of pure knowledge (kevalī) alone becoming all-knowing (sarvajña) and completely aware (sarva-dṛṣṭī) of the categories of gods, men and asuras. He knew and saw all of the psychological conditions (sarva-bhāva) and states of all the living begins in all the worlds—where they come, where they go, where they stay, where are they born; the ideas and the thoughts in their mind, their consumption, there doings, their open deeds as well as their secret deeds. The Accomplished one, from whom karma and time was not a secret… saw and he knew all of the psychological conditions (sarva-bhāva) and states—in terms of their state of mind, words, body and deeds—of all the living beings in all the worlds” [2] (KS 121, 159, 174).

Thus, if biophilia proposes that achieving full human potential requires an acute ecologistic awareness of living beings and a moralistic relationship to them, the mendicant lives and subsequent enlightenment experiences of the Tīrthaṅkara can be described as biophilic experiences. When Jain practitioners emulate and aspire towards the ideals that these exalted beings set, our spiritual progression becomes an act of mental and emotional healing that is inextricable with the healing of our planet, as per the biophilia hypothesis.

[1] Translations are my own. KS 118 (Mahāvīra’s experience), 159 (Pārśva’s experience): ṇatthi ṇaṃ tassa bhagavaṃtassa katthai paḍibaṃdhe | se ya cauvvihe paṇṇatte | taṃ jahā—davvao khittao | kālao, bhāvao davvao—sacittācita-mīsaesu davvesu | khittao—game vā ṇagare vā araṇṇe vā khitte vākhale vā aṃgaṇe vā | kālao—samae vā āvaliyāe vā āṇā-pāṇue vā thove vā khaṇe vā lave vā muhutte vā ahoratte vā pakkhe vā māse vā uūe vā ayaṇe vā saṃvacchare vā aṇṇayare vā dīh-kāl-saṃjoe | bhāvao—kohe vā māṇe vā māyāe vā lobhe vā bhaye vā hāse vā pijje vā dose vā kalahe vā ababhakkhāṇe vā pesuṇṇe vā par-parivāe vā arai-raī vā māyā-mose vā micchā-daṃsaṇa-salle vā | tassa naṃ bhagavaṃtassa ṇo evaṃ bhavai | “That Venerable One had (tassa Venerable One (bhagavaṃtassa) no longer had a sense of a strict delimitations (ṇatthi ṇaṃ… katthai paḍibaṃdhe), which are generally known as fourfold (se ya cauvvihe paṇṇatte). These are designated as (taṃ jahā): delimitation of substances (davvao), space (khittao), time (kālao), and psychological conditions (bhāvao). With respect to substances (davvesu) delimitations include (katthai paḍibaṃdhe) animate objects (sacittā), inanimate objects (acita), and of these in a mixed state (mīsaesu). With respect to delimitations of (paḍibaṃdhe) space (khittao), these include delimitations of a village (game vā), a town (ṇagare vā), a forest (araṇṇe vā), a farm (khitte vā), a house (ākhale vā) or a yard (aṃgaṇe vā). [Delimitations of] time (kālao) [include]: samaya, āvalika, ānāpānaka (the time it takes to take a deep breath), stoka, kṣaṇa, lava, pakṣa, muhūrta (samae vā āvaliyāe vā āṇā-pāṇue vā thove vā khaṇe vā lave vā muhutte), day-night (ahoratte vā), fortnight (pakkhe vā), month (māse vā), season (uūe vā), half-year (ayaṇe vā), year (saṃvacchare vā), or any other (aṇṇayare vā) time unit of longer duration (dīh-kāl-saṃjoe). Delimitations of psychological states include (bhāvao) anger (kohe vā), pride (māṇe vā), attachment (māyāe vā), greed (lobhe vā), fear (bhaye vā), laughter (hāse vā), affection (pijje vā), hatred (dose vā), quarrel (kalahe vā), defamation (ababhakkhāṇe vā), harsh words (ababhakkhāṇe vā), meanness (pesuṇṇe vā), gossiping (par-parivāe vā), pleasure and pain (arai-raī vā), deceitful falsehood (māyā-mose vā) and the pain of having misplaced faith (micchā- daṃsaṇa-salle vā). The Bhagavān had none of these (tassa naṃ bhagavaṃtassa ṇo evaṃ bhavai).”

[2] KS 121, 159, 174: arahā jāe jiṇe kevalī savvaṇṇū savvadarasī, sa deva-maṇuyāsurassa logassa pariyāṃ jāṇai pāsai, savvaloe savvajīvāṇaṃ āgaiṃ gaiṃ ṭhaiṃ cavaṇaṃ uvavāyaṃ takkaṃ maṇo māṇasiyaṃ bhuttaṃ kaiṃ paḍiseviyaṃ āvī-kammaṃ raho-kammaṃ arahā a-rahassa-bāgī taṃ taṃ kālaṃ maṇ-vayaṇ-kāya-joge vaṭṭamāṇāṇaṃ savvaloe savvajīvāṇaṃ savvabhāve jāṇamāṇe pāsamāṇe viharai || “Then [insert name of each Tīrthaṅkara] the Accomplished One (arahā), attained a state of pure knowledge alone (jāe jiṇe kevalī) becoming all-knowing and completely aware (savvaṇṇū savvadarasī) of the categories of gods, men and asuras (sa deva-maṇuyāsurassa logassa pariyāṃ jāṇai pāsai), he knew and saw all of the psychological conditions and states (savvabhāve jāṇamāṇe pāsamāṇe viharai) of all the living begins in all the worlds (savvaloe savvajīvāṇaṃ āgaiṃ gaiṃ ṭhaiṃ)—where they come, where they go, where they stay, where are they born; the ideas and the thoughts in their mind (takkaṃ maṇo māṇasiyaṃ), their consumption (bhuttaṃ), there doings (cavaṇaṃ uvavāyaṃ….kaiṃ paḍiseviyaṃ), their open deeds as well as their secret deeds (āvī-kammaṃ raho-kammaṃ). The Accomplished one (arahā), from whom karma and time was not a secret (kammaṃ … a-rahassa-bāgī…kālaṃ), saw and he knew all of the conditions and states (savvabhāve jāṇamāṇe pāsamāṇe viharai) all of those things (taṃ taṃ). He saw and he knew all of the conditions and states (savvabhāve jāṇamāṇe pāsamāṇe viharai)—in terms of their state of mind, words, body and deeds (maṇ-vayaṇ-kāya-joge vaṭṭamāṇāṇaṃ)—of all the living beings in all the worlds (savvaloe savvajīvāṇaṃ).