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Acharang Sutra says : 3114Tan Pury - consider all living organisms to be as precious as your own self. Those who can be cruel to animals can be cruel to human beings too. Violence is not external behavior or conduct but inner evil instinct. One who harbors cruelty or violence in the heart will be violent to one and all and one who has the spring of compassion in the heart will be compassionate to all living creatures, including the world of nature.
He also said that the soul happens to be in one Yoni (Tortoise like raised birthplace) in this birth and it may be in another in the next birth. If one is a fly today, he is likely to be a human being in the next and hence a human being has no right to cause pain to non-human beings. One must, therefore, treat all creatures with love and compassion. In Aagam Sutra (Canonical Literature), Mahavir says; “You are the one whom you intend to kill, the one whom you want to rule over, the one you want to cause harm to. Therefore one who is knowledgeable does not kill anyone or rule over others or cause any harm to others."
A Journey of Ahimsa
