I know that usually when Americans are seduced by a dharmic religion, it's Buddhism. I however find the teachings and doctrines of Jainism far more in touch wit

I know that usually when Americans are seduced by a dharmic religion, it's Buddhism. I however find the teachings and doctrines of Jainism far more in touch with how I feel about ethics, and I think it is relevant to this notion of plants potentially feeling pain. My understanding of Jainism is that one of it's ultimate goals is the eradication of suffering on earth. However, they take this radically. You cannot be violent for any reason at all (and yes, this has kept the number of Jains throughout history to be quite small). This prohibition against violence is so extreme that they have a word for "Kitchen Violence" which is the violence that they accidentally exert onto the remaining plant matter when they are wishing their plates after eating. At least they acknowledge the impossibility of truly eliminating all violence on earth (you must clean things), so it's a little bit of necessary violence but it also leads to aestheticism and a general desire to not waste resources. I think Jainism is the only religion in the world that has a belief system which is similar of that to Negative Utilitarianism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_utilitarianism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_utilitarianism) which I strongly believe is that most intuitive and authentically ethically compassionate doctrine in our current society. Many of the folks who believe in negative util do so with further specifications that pain and pleasure (the hedonistic form) are one very good way of measuring this. Maybe it sounds absurd to give Anesthesia to a plant before cutting away at it or something, but the possibility that plants feel pain and have something ackin to an experience of reality was quite concerning for people ancient and modern - and those who think strongly enough about it may believe in plants as holding some sort of ethical value (no matter how small). I hope that sometime in the far future, we may eliminate pain and displeasure from the universe. Jainists, Negative Utilitarians, Anti-natalists, and others who recognize the possible horrors inherit to reality (and it's negative nature e.g. it tries to negate you if you take no actions via entropy), would be some of the most ethical actors in a society where we find out that "Plants feel things too" or "It's possible to imagine, or simulate the experience of being a plant that is harmed"...