Concept
Ahimsa
Overview
Ahimsa (Sanskrit: अहिंसा, IAST: ahiṃsā; IPA: [ɐ́.ɦĩ.sɑː]; lit. 'nonviolence') is the ancient Indian principle of nonviolence that applies to actions toward all living beings. It is a key virtue in Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.
Ahimsa (also spelled Ahinsa) is one of the cardinal virtues of Jainism, where it is the first of the Pancha Mahavrata. It is also one of the central precepts of Hinduism and the first of the five precepts of Buddhism. Ahimsa is inspired by the premise that all living beings have the spark of the divine spiritual energy; therefore, to hurt another being is to hurt oneself. Ahimsa is also related to the notion that all acts of violence have karmic consequences. Ancient scholars of Brahmanism investigated and refined the principles of ahimsa, but the concept reached an extraordinary development in the ethical philosophy of Jainism. Mahavira, the 24th and the last tirthankara of Jainism, further strengthened the idea in the 6th century BCE. About the 5th century CE, Valluvar emphasized ahimsa and moral vegetarianism as virtues for an individual, which formed the core of his teachings in the Kural. Perhaps the most popular advocate of ahimsa in modern times was Mohandas K. Gandhi.
Ahimsa's precept that humans should "cause no injury" to another living being includes one's deeds, words, and thoughts. Classical Hindu texts such as the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, as well as modern scholars, disagree about what the principle of Ahimsa dictates when one is faced with war and other situations that require self-defence. In this way, historical Indian literature has contributed to just war theory and self-defence.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
In the original texts
Passages from public-domain books where Ahimsa is discussed.
In its positive form, Ahimsa means the largest love, the greatest charity. If I am a follower of Ahimsa, I _must love_ my enemy. I must apply the same rules to the wrong-doer who is my enemy or a stranger to me, as I would to my wrong-doing father or son. This active Ahimsa necessarily includes truth and fearlessness.
Mahatma Gandhi, Third class in Indian railways
names the idea; a chapter is titled for it; states what it is; opens on it
Going to the root of the matter, not one man really practises such a religion, because we do destroy life. We are said to follow that religion because we want to obtain freedom from liability to kill any kind of life. Generally speaking, we may observe that many Hindus partake of meat and are not, therefore, followers of Ahimsa. It is, therefore, preposterous to suggest that the two cannot live together amicably…
Mahatma Gandhi, Freedom's Battle Being a Comprehensive Collection of Writings and Speeches on the Present Situation
names the idea
Other methods of deliverance from evil are in the excessive acts of penance performed by the Indians, to which a retreat within themselves is added. Now when the Indian thus internally collects himself, and retreats within his own thoughts, the moment of such pure concentration is called Brahma, the one and the clearly supersensuous state, which the understanding calls the highest possible existence. When this is so…
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy
states what it is
On the contrary, it is original and immediate, and lies in human nature itself. It consequently remains unchanged under all circumstances, and reveals itself in every land, and at all times. This is why appeal is everywhere confidently made to it, as to something necessarily present in every man; and it is never an attribute of the "strange gods." [1] As he, who appears to be without compassion, is called inhuman…
Arthur Schopenhauer, The Basis of Morality
states what it is
Virtue, being a coincidence of the rational will, with every duty firmly settled in the character, is, like everything formal, only one and the same. But, as regards the end of actions, which is also duty, that is, as regards the matter which one ought to make an end, there may be several virtues; and as the obligation to its maxim is called a duty of virtue, it…
Immanuel Kant, The Metaphysical Elements of Ethics
states what it is
Philosophers who discussed Ahimsa
Related ideas
- Tirthankara
- Albert Schweitzer
- Animal
- Ashoka
- Vijnanabhiksu
- Hinduism
- Vedas
- Jainism
- Satyagraha
- Karma
- Just war theory
- Nonviolence
- Mahatma Gandhi
- Mahabharata
- Martin Luther King Jr.
- Historical Vedic religion
- Chandogya Upanishad
- Bhagavad Gita
- Sri Aurobindo
- Kural
- Mahavira
- Five precepts
- Pārśvanātha
- Pacifism
Place in the tradition
Part of Dharma.