ahimsa

What it means

1. HinduismJainismuncountableBuddhismA doctrine of non-violence, concerned with the sacredness of all living things and an effort to avoid causing harm to them.First known use 19th c.

   This, in essence, is the Jain doctrine of ahimsa – a direct inversion of Vedic beliefs about the sustaining powers of animal sacrifice.

   2016, Sunil Khilnani, Incarnations, Penguin, published 2017, page 9

   1 more example

   Already, at this very early date, the ritualists were moving towards the ideal of ahimsa ("harmlessness") that would become the indispensable virtue of the Indian Axial Age.

   2006, Karen Armstrong, The Great Transformation, Atlantic Books, published 2007, page 79

In a sentence

Already, at this very early date, the ritualists were moving towards the ideal of ahimsa ("harmlessness") that would become the indispensable virtue of the Indian Axial Age.

2006, Karen Armstrong, The Great Transformation, Atlantic Books, published 2007, page 79

Where it comes from

1. Sanskritअहिंसा
2. Sanskritअहिंसा
3. Englishahimsa

Borrowed from Sanskrit अहिंसा (ahiṃsā).

First known use: 19th c.