Editing Ahimsa (section)

==Jainism==
{{Main|Ahimsa in Jainism}}
{{See also|Jain vegetarianism}}
[[File:Ahimsa_Jainism_Gradient.jpg|thumb|right|The hand with a wheel on the palm symbolises the Jain Vow of {{transliteration|sa|Ahimsa}}. The word in the middle is {{transliteration|sa|Ahimsa}}. The wheel represents the [[dharmacakra]] which stands for the resolve to halt the cycle of reincarnation through relentless pursuit of truth and non-violence.]]
In Jainism, the understanding and implementation of {{transliteration|sa|ahimsa}} is more radical, scrupulous, and comprehensive than in any other religion.{{sfnm|Laidlaw|1995|1pp=154–160|Jindal|1988|2pp=74–90|Tähtinen|1976|p=110}} Killing any living being out of passions like attachment is considered {{transliteration|sa|hiṃsā}} (to injure) and abstaining from such an act is {{transliteration|sa|ahimsā}} (noninjury).{{sfn|Jain|2012|p=34-36}} The vow of {{transliteration|sa|ahimsā}} is considered the foremost among the "five vows of Jainism". Other vows like truth ({{transliteration|sa|satya}}) are meant for safeguarding the vow of {{transliteration|sa|ahimsā}}.{{sfn|Jain|2012|p=33}}

In the practice of {{transliteration|sa|ahimsa}}, the requirements are less strict for the lay persons ({{transliteration|sa|[[sravakas]]}}) who have undertaken {{transliteration|sa|anuvrata}} (Smaller Vows) than for the [[Jain monasticism|Jain monastics]] who are bound by the [[Mahavrata]] "Great Vows".{{sfnm|Dundas|2002|1pp=158–159, 189–192|Laidlaw|1995|2pp=173–175, 179}}<ref>''Religious Vegetarianism'', ed. [[Kerry S. Walters]] and Lisa Portmess, Albany 2001, p. 43–46 (translation of the First Great Vow).</ref>

The statement {{IAST|ahimsā paramo dharmaḥ}} (or, "Non-injury/nonviolence/harmlessness is the supreme/ultimate/paramount/highest/absolute duty/virtue/attribute/religion"{{refn|slashes are used here to present alternative denotations}}) is often found inscribed on the walls of the [[Jain temple]]s.{{sfnm|Dundas|2002|1p=160|Wiley|2006|2p=438|Laidlaw|1995|3pp=153–154}} As in Hinduism, the aim is to prevent the accumulation of harmful karma.{{sfn|Laidlaw|1995|pp=26–30, 191–195}}

When [[Mahavira]] revived and reorganised the Jain faith in {{BCE|the 6th or 5th century}},<ref>{{harvnb|Dundas|2002|p=24}} suggests the 5th century; the traditional dating of Mahavira's death is {{BCE|527}}.</ref> {{transliteration|sa|ahimsa}} was already an established, strictly observed rule.<ref>{{cite book|last=Goyal|first=S.R.|title=A History of Indian Buddhism|publisher=Meerut|date=1987|pages=83–85}}</ref> [[Rishabhanatha]] (Ādinātha), the first Jain [[Tirthankara]], whom modern Western historians consider to be a historical figure, followed by [[Parshvanatha]] (Pārśvanātha){{sfnm|Dundas|2002|1pp=19, 30|Tähtinen|1964|2p=132}} the twenty-third [[Tirthankara]] lived in about {{BCE|the 9th century}}.<ref>{{harvnb|Dundas|2002|p=30}} suggests the 8th or 7th century; the traditional chronology places him in the late 9th or early 8th century.</ref> He founded the community to which Mahavira's parents belonged.<ref>[[Acaranga Sutra]] 2.15.</ref> Ahimsa was already part of the "Fourfold Restraint" (''Caujjama''), the vows taken by Parshva's followers.<ref>[[Sthananga Sutra]] 266; {{harvnb|Tähtinen|1976|p=132}}; Goyal p. 83–84, 103.</ref> In the times of Mahavira and in the following centuries, Jains were at odds with both Buddhists and followers of the Vedic religion or Hindus, whom they accused of negligence and inconsistency in the implementation of {{transliteration|sa|ahimsa}}.{{sfnm|Dundas|2002|1pp=160, 234, 241|Wiley|2006|2p=448|Tähtinen|1976|3pp=8–9}}<ref>{{cite journal|last=Granoff|first=Phyllis|title=The Violence of Non-Violence: A Study of Some Jain Responses to Non-Jain Religious Practices|journal=Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies|volume=15|year=1992|pages=1–43}}</ref> According to the Jain tradition either [[lacto vegetarianism]] or [[veganism]] is prescribed.{{sfn|Laidlaw|1995|p=169}}

The Jain concept of {{transliteration|sa|ahimsa}} is characterised by several aspects. Killing of animals for food is absolutely ruled out.{{sfnm|Laidlaw|1995|1pp=166–167|Tähtinen|1976|2p=37}} Jains also make considerable efforts not to injure plants in everyday life as far as possible. Though they admit that plants must be destroyed for the sake of food, they accept such violence only inasmuch as it is indispensable for human survival, and there are special instructions for preventing unnecessary violence against plants.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lodha|first=R.M.|chapter=Conservation of Vegetation and Jain Philosophy|title=Medieval Jainism: Culture and Environment|location=New Delhi|year=1990|pages=137–141}}</ref>{{sfn|Tähtinen|1964|p=105}} Jain monks and nuns go out of their way so as not to hurt even small insects and other minuscule animals.{{sfnm|Jindal|1988|1p=89|Laidlaw|1995|2pp=54, 154–155, 180}} Both the renouncers and the laypeople of Jain faith reject meat, fish, alcohol, and honey as these are believed to harm large or minuscule life forms.{{sfn|Laidlaw|1995|pp=166–167}}

Jain scholars have debated the potential injury to other life forms during one's occupation. Certain Jain texts (according to [[Padmanabh Jaini]], a Jainism scholar) forbid people of its faith from husbandry, agriculture, and trade in animal-derived products.<ref name="Sethia2004p51"/> Some Jains abstain from farming because it inevitably entails unintentional killing or injuring of many small animals, such as worms and insects.{{sfn|Laidlaw|1995|p=180}} These teachings, in part, have led the Jain community to focus on trade, merchant, clerical, and administrative occupations to minimize {{transliteration|sa|arambhaja-himsa}} (occupational violence against all life forms).<ref name="Sethia2004p51">{{cite book|author=Padmannabh Jaini|editor=Tara Sethia|title=Ahimsā, Anekānta, and Jaininsm|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QYdlKv8wBiYC |year=2004|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ|isbn= 978-81-208-2036-4|pages=51–53}}</ref> For the layperson, the teaching has been of {{transliteration|sa|ahimsa}} with {{transliteration|sa|pramada}} – that is, reducing violence through proper intention and being careful in every action on a daily basis to minimize violence to all life forms.{{sfn|Dundas|2002|pp=161–162}}

The Jain texts, unlike most Hindu and Buddhist texts on just war, have been inconsistent. For its monastic community – {{transliteration|sa|[[sadhu]]}} and {{transliteration|sa|[[sadhu|sadhvi]]}} – the historically accepted practice has been to "willingly sacrifice one's own life" to the attacker, to not retaliate, so that the mendicant may keep the First Great Vow of "total nonviolence".<ref name="Sethia2004p51"/> Jain literature of {{CE|the 10th century}}, for example, describes a king ready for war and being given lessons about non-violence by the Jain acharya (spiritual teacher).{{sfn|Laidlaw|1995|p=155}} In {{CE|the 12th century}} and thereafter, in an era of violent raids, destruction of temples, the slaughter of agrarian communities and ascetics by Islamic armies, Jain scholars reconsidered the First Great Vow of mendicants and its parallel for the laypeople. The medieval texts of this era, such as by Jinadatta Suri, recommended both the mendicants and the laypeople to fight and kill if that would prevent greater and continued violence on humans and other life forms ({{transliteration|sa|virodhi-himsa}}).{{sfn|Dundas|2002|pp=162–163}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Padmannabh Jaini|editor=Tara Sethia|title=Ahimsā, Anekānta, and Jaininsm|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QYdlKv8wBiYC |year=2004|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ|isbn= 978-81-208-2036-4|pages=52–54}}</ref> Such exemptions to {{transliteration|sa|ahimsa}} is a relatively rare teaching in Jain texts, states Dundas.{{sfn|Dundas|2002|pp=162–163}}

[[Mahatma Gandhi]] stated, "No religion in the World has explained the principle of {{transliteration|sa|Ahiṃsā}} so deeply and systematically as is discussed with its applicability in every human life in Jainism. As and when the benevolent principle of {{transliteration|sa|Ahiṃsā}} or non-violence will be ascribed for practice by the people of the world to achieve their end of life in this world and beyond, Jainism is sure to have the uppermost status and Mahāvīra is sure to be respected as the greatest authority on {{transliteration|sa|Ahiṃsā}}".<ref>{{cite book|last=Pandey|first=Janardan|title=Gandhi and 21st Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lmJnWrjnfjMC&pg=PA50|year=1998|publisher=Concept Publishing Company|isbn=978-81-7022-672-7|page=50}}</ref>