In some of the Indian philosophical systems non-violence is taken as a moral obligation or as a spiritual ideal. In Jainism it is accepted that all animals, insects and even plants possess souls. So they give utmost importance to the practice of ahimsa. Not only one should not take life, even one should not think or speak of injuring living beings. The Jainas denied God for whose propitiation the sacrifices are being made. In accordance with their metaphysical position they accepted five vows of leading a life of good conduct. Out of the five vows, no-violence or non-injury is the most important requirement. In yoga system of Patanjali eight fold disciplines have been emphasized for spiritual attainment. The first discipline is Yama or restraint. Yama consists of five moral ideals, the first being non-violence which is taken as abstention form injury to life. So far Buddhism is concerned; there is no mention of non-violence even in the four noble truths comprising the Buddhism.However, the Buddhist way of life reflects the significance of non-violence as a supreme value of life.
Thus in the religious and philosophical traditions of India, non-violence is considered as a moral ideal of life in different terms and forms. In this connection it is worthwhile to distinguish physical no-violence form mental non-violence. Abstention from physical injury or pain gets priority in Jainism. This can be taken as physical non-violence. But in Yoga and Buddhism mental form of non-violence gets priority over the physical abstention of injury. For they give sanction to non-vegetarian diet or killing of some animals even accepting non-violence as a supreme moral ideal. This can be treated as mental non-violence.
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