Christianity & Jainism
Ahimsa and the Love of Enemies
Ahimsa, non-violence in thought, word, and deed toward every living being, is the first and supreme principle of Jainism, so central that Jains extend care even to the smallest insect. Jesus taught a radical gentleness too, and pressed further in one direction: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you. Jainism restrains you from harming any life; Jesus commands an active love that seeks the good of even those who wrong you. A reverence that would harm nothing, and a love that lays down its life, are worth holding side by side.
What Jainism teaches
Ahimsa, non-harming, is the heart of Jain ethics. The Acaranga Sutra, among the oldest Jain scriptures, states the vow with sweeping clarity:
The reason Jains give is a deep fellow-feeling with all that lives:
From this flows the Jain motto, that all souls are bound together and owe one another care:
What Christians believe
Jesus also taught gentleness and mercy, and pressed it in a startling direction, beyond not-harming, toward an active love of the enemy.
Where they meet
Both hold that no living being should be needlessly harmed, both call for gentleness in thought, word, and deed, and both see cruelty as a wound to the one who inflicts it. On reverence for life and the refusal of violence, Jains and the followers of Jesus stand close.
Where they differ
Jain ahimsa is chiefly a restraint: harm nothing, and by non-harming keep the soul unstained. Jesus commands more than restraint, an active, self-giving love that blesses enemies and lays down its life for others, flowing not from the effort to keep the soul pure but from a God who first loved us. A reverent non-violence, and a love that spends itself for the undeserving, is the difference we name here honestly.
Jain sources: the Tattvartha Sutra (Umasvati) and the Acaranga Sutra (Hermann Jacobi, 1884, public domain, Sacred Books of the East vol. 22); renderings vary, compare others. Bible: King James Version. Every reference on this page was checked against its source.
The word itself
Ahimsa (ahimsa) → harm none → non-violence
Ahimsa is the principle of causing no harm to any living being in thought, word, or deed. In Jainism it is the first and supreme vow and the ground of all ethics. Jesus affirms this gentleness and goes further, commanding an active love even of enemies (Matthew 5:44).
Frequently asked questions
- What is ahimsa in Jainism?
- Ahimsa is non-violence: causing no harm to any living being in thought, word, or deed. It is the first and supreme principle of Jainism, so that the Acaranga Sutra teaches no breathing, living, sentient creature should be slain, abused, or tormented (1.4.1). Jains extend this care even to the smallest forms of life.
- How is Jesus' teaching similar and different?
- Jesus shares the reverence for life and the refusal of cruelty, but presses further than non-harming: he commands active love even of enemies, to bless those who curse you and pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:44), a self-giving love that flows from God's love for us. A reverent non-violence, and a love that spends itself for the undeserving, is the difference.
Come and see
Jainism calls you to harm no living thing and to free the soul by your own effort; the Gospel tells of a God who came to bear your burden and to give what could not be earned. The most direct way to know Jesus is to read his words for yourself. There is no pressure here.
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