Significance of Ahimsa in Different World Religions

By Prof. P. L. Jain

In various Indian religions, like Vedic, Buddha and Ajivika, sufficient stress has been given to their code of conduct (Achaar-Sahinta) and non-violence (Ahimsa). In non-Indian religions too, the importance has not been less in any way. In fact, a thorough study shows a great similarity between the code of conduct prescribed in Jain religion and that in other religions. There is no doubt that Jain religion is a very ancient religion which can also be called ‘Adi dharma’. In olden days, in spite of limitations in the means of communication, there had been a mutual exchange of various cultures from time to time. It can be safely believed that the Jain religion and culture would have influenced other religions prevalent in different parts of the world and on seeing the similarities in the thoughts and philosophy, the objectives, principles and even the constitution of Jain religion would have been incorporated into their religions. The thoughts and traditions of some of the major world religions, which still have a considerable following in many countries are described below briefly for the purpose of comparison.

A. Jewish Religion : This is one of the oldest and most ancient religions of the world and has a strong following in Israel and other countries. It is this religion which had given birth to Christianity. Jewish religion believes in one single God, who is said to be a supreme authority, controlling the destiny and actions of every individual on the earth. This God by virtue of his miracles and superhuman influence, shows the way to purity of thoughts, good conduct and character and humble behaviour. A human being has been considered merely as a representative of the God, who by virtue of his conduct and character can exemplify lofty ideals and sermonise people to move on the right path. God is pleased with those people whose conduct and character are strong and he therefore makes them happy and prosperous. He is not kind to those who are malicious, dis-honest and cruel. Thus, it can be seen that there is great resemblance in the humanistic approach between Jewish and Jain religions, even if one is a strong believer in a single God, while the other one does not believe in the any God, holding supreme authority and controlling the human destiny. Jewish religion clearly states that if the cruelest of the cruel person comes to you and even if he happens to be your enemy, having done harm to you, your duty should always be to receive him cordially, offer him food and serve him by your heart, forgetting your differences, enmity and hatred with him. Same way, The very basis of Jewish religion is said to be truth, kindness, abstinence and honesty. A true Jew never hurts the feeling or self-respect of anyone; he never insults any body. He thinks that insulting a person is more like killing him. The religion says that only kindness and love can lead you to God so inculcate these habits in your day to day life. Maximum importance is given to love for neighbour. Showing hatred towards neighbour is like hating the God himself. The word neighbour is used in a broad sense, such as neighbouring house, neighbouring state or neighbouring country. If everyone agrees to this concept and co-operate with each other, there would not be any bitterness, quarrels or fights. It will result in a blessing for peace.

The maximum stress given in Jain religion on Ahimsa has been expressed in a practical way as love for neighbour. Both have same meaning and interpretation. Jain community celebrate Paryushan Parva and beg apology from all living-beings on the day of Samvatsari rather in an emotional or symbolic style. During the remaining part of the year, they do not give any significance to it. Whereas Jews remember the principle of forgiveness every moment and every day in their heart. In Jewish religion, the feeling of forgiveness is inculcated in everyone’s heart and soul.

Though eating of meat is not restricted in Jewish religion, certain code of practice has to be followed by every Jewish family in the matter of cooking and eating habits. For example, the kitchen in which the meat is cooked can not be used for preparing vegetarian food. Both the kitchens have to separate. So also, the utensils used for cooking meat items can not be used for preparing vegetarian food. Similarly, the sink used for washing utensils kept for preparing meat can not be used for cleaning those utensils meant for preparing vegetarian food. Two sinks are provided in every house, one for the utensils for meat items and other for utensils for milk, curd, butter and other vegetarian food items. They treat non-vegetarian items as unclean. Meat is not banned in the religion probably because of geographical and economical reasons. Thus, a considerable similarity of approach is found between Jain and Jewish religions, when it comes to non-violence and vegetarianism.

B. Parsi Religion : Like Jain religion, Parsi religion also gives maximum importance to right conduct. A code of conduct is prescribed for every Parsi and he has to follow it. In both the religions,sress has been given on “service to humanity” both from idealistic and humanistic points of view. A true parsi is that who accepts and follows these seven rules of conduct:
1. he shall not hurt anyone and shall always try to help others. He shall maintain piousness in thoughts, kindness in words and honesty in deeds and actions.
2. He shall deal with everyone with love and affection, show cordial behaviour and establish peace, avoiding differences, controversy or opposition.
3. He shall adopt tolerance and forbearance in his daily conduct and be humble and modest and be kind to other religions.
4. He shall not think only about his own comforts or desires but shall also keep other’s needs in view. He shall consider pleasures and suffering of others before thinking about his own. His wisdom, strength and wealth shall be used for the good of others. Only he shall be happy who can dedicate himself for the good of others.
5. Keeping in view the need for purity of inner soul, he shall adopt and practice kindness, tenderness, love and honesty in every walk of life.
6. He shall serve the poor and needy who do not have support from anyone.
7. He shall obey the orders of his teachers or Guru, be faithful to them and accept them as true guide and leader.

Parsi religion has pronounced three mantras or secrets for the progress in life and for attainment of salvation. These in their own language are:
Humta, Hubal and Hubrasta, meaning good thoughts, good words and good deeds.
Thus, if we see deeply, we find that in Parsi religion, the practical form of non-violence has been given special significance. For that purpose, every Parsi has three main duties to perform:
1. Turn your foe into your friend.
2. Convert wicked to a kind person.
3. Make wise from unwise persons.
As such, display of love and affection, pious thoughts and avoidance of revengeful feelings are the pre-requisites of Ahimsa in this religion.

There is a great similarity between the philosophy in Jain and Parsi religions. Both lay equal stress on morality, ethics, tolerance and forbearance, and propound the theory of ‘Syada-vada’ and ‘Anekanta-vada’ (many-sidedness).In Parsi religion, the main point to note that the religion and its principles must be practicable and realisitic by a layman so that everyone can easily adopt it. It should not be made so difficult that common people can not understand and follow. It should not involve any sort of politics or rivalry. From that point of view, there is an urgent need of the time to bring in appropriate changes in the religious practices in Jain religion and our holy saints can go a long way in achieving the objective.

C. Christian Religion : As is well-known, love, affection, kindness compassion, and pious thoughts are foremost in Christian religion. Maximum stress has been given to ‘service to humanity’. Main principles of this religion are:
1. Abandonment of vanity, ego and impudence and develop sense of non-possessiveness and renouncement.
2. Being humble and courteous to everyone and avoid harshness, cruelty or ill-feelings towards anyone.
3. Self-purification and hatred for sins.
4. Purity of inner soul and relief from evil thoughts.
5. Peace, patience, tolerance, forgiveness and love for enemies.
6. Strong will power and faith for religious conduct.
Just like Jewish religion, Christian religion too, emphasises on love for God and kindness for humans. Love itself is supposed to be God and love is non-violence. Where maliciousness, attachment, hatred and aversion prevail, feelings of revenge occur and love, affection, courtesy and kindness can not develop. In this religion, the very meaning of service to God is taken as service to humanity. Thus, it is seen that Christian religion has also helped a great deal in promoting non-violence, service to humanity, love and tenderness just as Jain religion. The degree of similarity in the two
religion is immense. It is no wonder therefore that even thinkers like Mahatma Gandhi, having full faith in Vedic and Jain philosophy, was highly influenced by the high and lofty ideals of Christian religion.

D. Tao Religion : This religion was very much prevalent in China from ancient times and its founder was Laotse. The political and social conditions in the country at that time were not satisfactory when Laotse was born. Corruption and mal-practices were rampant in all walks of life. When he grew, he could have the courage of conviction to get the country rid of its ills through religious teaching. The thoughts and philosophy propounded by him in the form of Taoism had great impact on the people and they were led by Laotse on the road to character building and service to humanity. According to him, the main principles of the Tao religion were:
1. Adopting and leading simple life.
2. Applying love, affection and kindness in place of hatred, violence, attachment, malice and aversion.
3. Not believing in any form of killing.
Confucious, who was a great philosopher, also presented his views before the people on the same lines and people accepted him as their leader and followed his advice. According to him, three qualities are desirable in any humble person:
1. Not to permit eating of meat to anyone till his physical development of the body is completed.
2. In young age, controlling the habit of fighting and rivalry.
3. In old age, keeping control on the desires.
Confucious stated that affection and friendliness are necessary for achieving success in life. After Confucious, Chuttsi, a thinker and philosopher placed his views as follows:
“The mind of Heaven and Earth, which gives birth to all things is humanity (Zen). Man in being endowed with matter energy receives this mind of Heaven and Earth and thereby his life. Hence, tender-heartedness and humanity are part of the very essence of his life.” One can easily observe the similarity of thoughts and approach both in case of Jain and Tao religions.

E. Shinto Religion : Shinto religion has been a major religion in Japan since ancient times and it was prevalent much before the Buddhist religion came into existence. Even now, there are many persons in Japan who follow Shinto religion. Many people follow both, Shinto and Buddhist religions. The main principle of this religion is that the whole world is like a large family. Therefore keep friendliness and amity towards all and show tenderness, courtesy, and honesty in every matter. Do not show anger to anyone. Do not be lazy in your work. Take it your duty to help the needy.

Thus, the feeling of ‘one family’ or “Vasudeva Kutumbakam” as enunciated in Jain religion is also glorified in this religion. Once, the concept of one family is accepted, love, affection, tenderness and non-violence automatically follow.

F. Islam Religion : The main objective of this religion is that God or Allaha is the father of the entire universe and all human-beings are his servants. Qualities of tenderness, compassion, kind-heartedness and piousness reside in every corner of the soul. In Islam, the following points are stressed:
1. Compassion or tenderness is the biggest religion. A kind person does not pay attention to other’s mis-deeds.
2. A person need not fear from anything except his own sins. He should be afraid of committing sin and should follow the path shown by Allaha.
3. There is nothing bigger than patience. Learn to forgive others and be tolerant so as to destroy your anger.
4. Show good conduct towards all. There is no use in looking towards others’ faults. Speaking evil and hearing evil, both are sinful acts. Never speak ill of others. They are all your brethren.
5. Adopt gentle behaviour. Do not publicise or reveal your good acts before others. Nothing is hidden from Him. So, save yourself from bad conduct.
6. Do good to others. The end is always good for one who does good to others. God also likes such people. Adopt compassion and modesty.
7. Keep away from wine and gambling. Lead your daily life with simplicity and self-restraint.
In Islam religion, lot of importance has been given to non-violence too.
Mohamad Hazrat Ali used to say in his speeches:
“O man, you do not build a grave of animals and birds in your stomach, which meant, you do not eat meat”. Thus, in Islam religion also, special importance has been given to purity of conduct, modesty, humility, honesty,truthfulness, friendliness, good conduct, charity, self-restraint and confession. Humanity is the main organ of Islam religion. All these facts compare well with the principles of jainism.

G. Sufi Religion : Sufi religion has also grown as a part of Islam religion and it is said to be one of its sects. However, heavy stress has been given in this religion on purity of thoughts and good conduct, truthfulness, non-violence and non-possessiveness. As in case of Jain religion, two categories, monks and laymen have been made, similarly, in Sufi sect, all laymen are expected to follow a simple path prescribed by Kuran Shareef but the disciples of Saint Sufi are required to follow a much more rigorous path, involving extreme simplicity, abstinence, non-possession, austerity and compassion. These disciples are also known as Sufi. In this religion also, love, affection and compassion have been given highest importance for the laymen. It is assumed that supreme God is a beloved, it is the sacred duty of every Sufi layman and saint to regularly pray and worship God and be occupied in meditation, confession and self-introspection. Thus, the Sufi saints spend their life with higheat degree of simplicity, austerity, modesty and humility. It is therefore obvious that Vedic, Buddhist and Jain philosophies must have influenced Sufi sect.

The above comparison of various western religions with the Jain religion shows that the philosophy of the Jain religion would have had a considerable effect on other religions and the basic principles of all these religions distinctly appear to be almost same. The difference could be in the procedures and practices but the fundamentals are the same and the code of conduct for common masses, involving simplicity, austerity, truthfulness, non-violence, celibacy and abstinence is same for all. Each of these religions give equal amount of importance on Ahimsa or non-violence and stress that killing is a sin which must be avoided.

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