Synthesizing Nonviolence and Compassion
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Synthesizing Nonviolence and Compassion
12/16/2025
I first learned about ahiṃsā (nonviolence) through the Classical Yoga tradition. There it appeared as a practice of restraint (yama), in fact the most fundamental practice of restraint. Ahiṃsā was conveyed as something one does, an action of refraining from harm, rather than something one feels or believes.
At first glance, this may strike the reader as odd. How can “nonviolence” not be something one believes? Part of the answer lies in the later Gandhian transformation and popularization of ahiṃsā into a moral doctrine. This interpretation configured nonviolence as a creed one holds and defends. Moreover, modern and contemporary interpreters who render ahiṃsā as an active and affective disposition—such as “love” or “compassion”—contribute to the abstraction and expansion of the restraint. Yet when we turn to the Pātañjalayogaśāstra, the Mahābhārata, or even Gandhi’s cherished Bhagavadgītā, ahiṃsā most often circulates as a practice. The well-known Jain slogan ahiṃsā paramo dharmaḥ (“Nonharming is the greatest dharma”) also appears to underscore this point. Here “dharma” (“duty”) arguably refers to the greatest religious practice and not the greatest religious belief. To conceive of religion primarily as belief rather than practice is, after all, a relatively recent development in the study of lived religion.
This distinction helps to clarify the relationship between the cultivation (bhāvaṇa) of compassion and the vow (vrata) of nonviolence in Jainism. In Animals and the Limits of Postmodernism, philosopher Gary Steiner offers a helpful articulation of this link, albeit from a secular perspective. Here he is referring to animals, but the point applies more broadly:
A sense of felt kinship with animals first gives rise to a sense of compassion toward them; the intercession of reflection should then lead us to the insight that animals not only merit our compassion but also have a right not to be caused the kind of suffering that we needlessly inflict on them every day. (2013, 129).
Key in Steiner’s claim is the sequence: first comes felt kinship with others, then the feeling of compassion, and then the insight that others should not be caused routine and needless suffering. This insight generates proscription against harming others, which in the Jain case is manifest in the vow of ahiṃsā. Put tersely, compassion generates the recognition that restraints are required, and this recognition culminates in a vow.
Jainism makes this relationship between compassion and nonviolence somewhat explicit. While the four bhāvaṇas (“affective cultivations”) of compassion, friendliness, delight, and equanimity are not unique to Jainism—they also appear as the four brahmavihāras in Buddhism and also at Pātañjalayogaśāstra 1.33—in the Tattvārthasūtra they are presented in the context the vow of ahiṃsā. The vow itself is announced at Tattvārthasūtra (TS) 7.1 and defined later at TS 7.8. Between these points, however, the text introduces five specific “supportive practices” (Tatia’s translation for bhāvaṇa in this sūtra) that help one adhere to the vows.
After announcing these five bhāvaṇas at TS 7.3 (which are not the same as the four affective cultivations that begin with maitrī), the next sūtra (TS 7.4) suggests a contemplation on the terrible consequences of failing to adopt the fivefold vow. The text then proceeds with a stark reminder that violence and the other actions proscribed by the vow (hiṃsādi) all ultimately lead to suffering:
duḥkham eva vā
Acts of violence and so on are nothing but unmitigated suffering. (TS 7.5)
The next sūtra encourages four affective cultivations to help sustain ahiṃsā:
maitrī-pramoda-kāruṇya-madhyasthyāni ca sattva-guṇādhika-kliśyamāna-vineyeṣu
The observer of the vows should cultivate friendliness towards all living beings, delight in the distinction and honour of others, compassion for miserable lowly creatures and equanimity towards the vainglorious. (TS 7.6)
Compassion (kāruṇya) is listed alongside friendliness, delight, and equanimity as critical dispositions for one who intends to keep the vows. TS 7.7 advises further reflection:
jagat-kāyasvabhāvau saṃvega-vairāgyārtham
The observer of the vows should reflect upon the nature of the world outside and inside his own body in order to quicken fear of, and disinterest in, worldly life. (TS 7.7)
Taken together, all of these “supportive practices”—compassion included—strengthen one’s commitment to nonviolence.
Returning to Steiner’s insight, the consonance here is striking. A “felt kinship,” such as that expressed by Mahāvīra in the Ācārāṅga Sūtra (e.g. ĀS 1.2.3.4), gives rise to compassion, which then leads to the recognition that suffering should be prevented as much as possible (ĀS 1.1.6.6). This moral conclusion (this “should”), in turn, generates a vow of restraint—ahiṃsā—that structures daily conduct. Compassion motivates nonviolence, and the vow of nonviolence ensures compassion is actualized as a consistent practice in the world.
Compassion and nonviolence are not identical, but neither can stand alone in Jainism. Compassion provides the emotional impetus, while ahiṃsā provides the discipline that channels it. The Jain tradition captures this interplay with remarkable clarity: one practices nonviolence because one feels kinship with others, experiences compassion, recognizes that suffering ought to be prevented, and resolves to live in a way that minimizes harm.
Jonathan Dickstein, Tirthankara Shreyansanath Endowed Assistant Professor of Jain and Vegan Studies at Arihanta Institute, completed his PhD in Religious Studies at the University of California-Santa Barbara. He specializes in South Asian Religions, Animals and Religion, and Comparative Ethics. His current work focuses on Jainism and contemporary ecological issues, extending into Critical Animal Studies, Food Studies, and Diaspora Studies.
Professor Dickstein is the lead organizer of the Vegan Studies Initiative at Arihanta Institute. arihantainstitute.org/vegan-studies
Additional articles by Professor Dickstein: