Vijaydharmasuri

Author(s): A J Sunavala
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Page 54

MISSION IN BENGAL
AHIMSĀ IN JAINISM Having made the pilgrimage to the places sanctified by the Life of Lord Mahāvīra, Dharma Vijaya proceeded towards Bengal, the province where, he thought, the precept of Ahimsā was most disregarded. This precept of Ahimsā is considered the foundation principle of the Jain religion, so much so that the Jainas even call their faith 'Ahimsā Dharma', the Religion of Non-killing. To them Himsā, or killing, is the greatest sin and Ahimsā, or abstaining from killing, the most binding moral duty. According to them Ahimsā is the highest religion, there is no religion greater than Ahimsā.
VEDIC SACRIFICES The doctrine of Ahimsā, or non-injury to all living beings, men and animals, seems to have found expression in a mystic and obscure passage in the Chhāndogya Upanishad, one of the most mystical of all the Upanishads, where five ethical qualities, one being Ahimsā, are said to be equivalent to a part of the sacrifice of which the whole life of man is made an epitome. If we, however, examine the real state