Ahimsa
Ahimsa
(Skr.) Non-injury, an ethical principle applicable to all living beings and subscribed to by most Hindus. In practice it would mean, e.g., abstaining from animal food, relinquishing war, rejecting all thought of taking life, regarding all living beings akin. It has led to such varied phenomena as the Buddhist’s sweeping the path before him or straining the water, the almost reverential attitude toward the cow, and Gandhi’s non-violent resistence campaign. — K.F.L.