ahimsa

noun

1. (Hinduism, Jainism, uncountable)A doctrine of non-violence, concerned with the sacredness of all living things and an effort to avoid causing harm to them.

   “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.”

   “This, in essence, is the Jain doctrine of ahimsa – a direct inversion of Vedic beliefs about the sustaining powers of animal sacrifice.”