ahimsa

See also: ahiṃsā

English

Alternative forms

• ahinsa

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Sanskrit अहिंसा (ahiṃsā).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈhɪmsɑː/

Noun

ahimsa (uncountable)

1. (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism) A doctrine of non-violence, concerned with the sacredness of all living things and an effort to avoid causing harm to them. [from 19th c.]
   • 2006, Karen Armstrong, The Great Transformation, Atlantic Books 2007, p. 79:

     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.

   • 2016, Sunil Khilnani, Incarnations, Penguin 2017, p. 9:

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

Translations

doctrine of non-violence in Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不殺生／不杀生, 不杀生 (bùshāshēng)

• Finnish: ahimsa
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: ahimsa m or f
• Telugu: అహింస (te) (ahiṁsa)

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Portuguese

Noun

ahimsa m or f (uncountable)

1. ahimsa (doctrine of non-violence in Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism)