Ahimsa

“In happiness and suffering, in joy and grief, we should regard all creatures as we regard our own self.” — Mahavira, Sutrakritanga

Lore: Ahimsa paramo dharma — “Non-violence is the supreme law.” This is not a Jain slogan. It is the organizing principle of an entire cosmology (Tattvartha Sutra 7.8). In Jain metaphysics, the universe is filled with jivas — souls, living beings, in every possible form (Samavayanga). Not just animals: plants have souls. Water has souls. Fire has souls. Earth has souls. Air has souls. Even some microorganisms (nigodas) have souls (Pancastikayasara, Kundakunda). Every soul, no matter how simple, is on its own journey toward liberation. To harm a soul — any soul — is to accrue karma, to bind oneself more tightly to the cycle of rebirth, and to delay another soul’s liberation.

The consequences are radical and are meant to be:

• Diet: Jains are strictly vegetarian. Most Jains also avoid root vegetables (potatoes, onions, garlic, carrots) because harvesting them destroys the entire plant, killing the soul that inhabits it. Eating above-ground vegetables (fruits, leaves, grains) is preferable because the plant often survives the harvest.
• Occupation: Jains historically dominated trade and finance (the Marwari and Gujarati Jain communities are among India’s most prominent business communities) because commerce — unlike farming, which kills soil organisms, or soldiering, which kills humans — is the occupation least likely to involve direct himsa. This is not coincidence. It is religious logic.
• Monastic practice: Jain monks and nuns carry a small broom (rajoharana) and sweep the path before them to avoid stepping on insects. They strain their drinking water. Digambara monks wear mouth-covers (muhapatti) to avoid inhaling living creatures. They do not travel during the monsoon season because insects are more active and the risk of accidental injury increases.
• Thought: Ahimsa extends to the mind. Anger, pride, deceit, and greed (kashaya — the four passions) generate karma even when no physical action follows. The goal is the elimination not just of violent acts but of the passions that generate violent acts.

Mohandas Gandhi was raised in a Jain-influenced environment in Gujarat and credited Jain teaching — specifically ahimsa and satyagraha (truth-force, also a Jain concept) — as formative influences on his method of nonviolent resistance. The Indian independence movement, the American civil rights movement (which drew directly from Gandhi), and every subsequent movement of nonviolent resistance is downstream of an idea that Jainism articulated in its most complete form.

Parallel: Buddhist compassion (karuna) — the refusal to cause suffering, the active wish that all beings be free from pain. Christian “turn the other cheek” (Matthew 5:39) — the refusal to respond to violence with violence. Tolstoy’s Christian anarchism. But Jainism is more radical than all of these. The Buddha taught the Middle Way and allowed monks to eat meat if the animal had not been killed specifically for them. Jesus ate fish. Jainism does not eat anything with more than two senses without careful negotiation. It is the most complete articulation of non-violence as a metaphysical absolute in the history of religion.