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INDIA'S GIFT TO THE WORLD AHIMSA
PROFESSOR RICHARD GOMBRICH DEMONSTRATES THE CENTRAL IMPORTANCE OF THIS UNIQUE CONTRIBUTION TO WORLD AFFAIRS
ggression and violence are not commended by any of the world's great religions or ethical systems. To many
people, however, it has seemed that without them one can hardly make a success of life in society, let alone play a leading part in public affairs. It is Indians above all who have demonstrated that non-aggression is by no means the same thing as passivity, and that to renounce aggression does not mean renouncing the possibility of having an impact on the wider world.
Two of the world's greatest spiritual leaders lived near each other in northeast India in the 5th century before the Christian era: Mahavir and the Buddha. Both founded their ethical systems on non-violence. Both held that in order to attain ultimate salvation and freedom from the cycle of rebirth one
should leave household life and enter a monastic order. However, both preached ethics to the laity. One of the world's most famous scriptures is the Dhammapada, a collection of short verses attributed to the Buddha. There we read: "Renouncing violence against all beings, who neither kills nor causes to kill, him I call the truly holy man." And also; "In this world hatred is never appeased by hatred, it is appeased by lack of hate; this is the eternal law."
That non-violence is far from being passivity is wonderfully illustrated in a short sermon by the Buddha which, incidentally, is one of the Buddhist texts that T.S. Eliot is known to have studied when he learnt Pali at Harvard. The Buddha is speaking to a monk called Punna who is setting out to preach in an area notorious for violence.
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