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Appendix III AHIMSĀ AND REBIRTH
Hanns-Peter Schmidt
[207] Ahimsā 'non-violence', or, more literally, 'non-injury', and the doctrine of metempsychosis are two ideas common to the three Indian religions, Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. It is reasonable to assume that these ideas go back to a common source. Whether ahimsā and metempsychosis depend on each other, are causally related, is an important problem. In an article published in 1968 I have attempted to answer the question of the origin of ahimsā and its connection with metempsychosis on the basis of the earliest literary evidence.
The relation of ahimsā to vegetarianism, which is considered its most important expression, was not investigated by me at that time. I only offered the suggestion that vegetarianism may be a popularized form of ahimsā. Originally strict ahimsā was probably restricted to the ascetic since it encompasses the abstention from injuring any living creature, be it animal or plant, and with the Jainas even of the elements water, fire and air. In a way my suggestion is corroborated by the view of the Jainas according to which there are two kinds of ahiņsā, viz., the gross (sthūla) and the subtle (sūkşma) one. Sthūlaahiņsā is that of the layman who must refrain from injuring beings with two to five sense-organs, sūkşma-ahimsā that of the monk who must avoid injuring any being (cf. Williams 54.64ff. Tähtinen 113). Also in Buddhism injuring lower beings is a lesser sin than injuring higher beings (Tähtinen 113. McDermott 272). In Hindu sources this is not explicitly stated, at least not in connection with the rule of ahimsā. But Manu 11.109ff. offers a hierarchy of beings which implicitly says the same thing. It comes out most clearly in 141ff.: the killing of small animals with bones requires more severe penance than that of animals without bones; these are followed by the cutting of fruit-trees, etc., living creatures in food, spices, fruits and flowers.
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