Noun

1. A doctrine of non-violence in Hinduism and Buddhism, concerned with the sacredness of all living things and an effort to avoid causing harm to them.
   • 2006, Karen Armstrong, The Great Transformation, Atlantic Books 2007, p. 79:

     Already, at this very early date, the ritualists were moving towards the ideal of ahimsa ("harmlessness") that would become the indispensable virtue of the Indian Axial Age.