Ahimsa

In Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikhism, ahimsa (Sanskrit for 'nonharm') is the ethical principle of not causing harm to other living beings.

Vegetarianism

Believers in ahimsa are generally vegetarian. Although one of the ten commandments shared throughout Christianity is thou shalt not kill, a majority of Christian clergy interpret that commandment as applying only to other human beings, but not necessarily to the animals. Thus, followers of Christianity can be meat-eaters. An exception among Christians is the Seventh-day Adventist Church; since it's beginning in the 1860's, that group has advocated for its members to eat a vegetarian diet,, although possibly not mainly for ethical reasons but based at least in part on the recommendations for the consumption of kosher foods described in Leviticus 11, meaning abstinence from pork, rabbit, shellfish, and other animals proscribed as "unclean".

Violence defined as thoughts, words or deeds

Ahimsa's precept that humans should 'cause no injury' to another living being includes one's deeds, words, and thoughts. Indeed, the Buddha taught that, since thought is prior to action, it is of paramount importance to cleanse one thoughts of harmful impulses. The Buddha also considered words capable of inflicting great harm; thus, the priority of attention to ahimsa, in Buddhisms, is in this order: 1) thoughts, 2) words, 3 deeds.

On self-defence

Classical Hindu texts like the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, as well as modern scholars, disagree about what the principle of ahimsa dictates when one is faced with war and other situations that require self-defence, as reflected in theories of just war. While both the Buddha and Jesus advocated complete non-violence even when personally attacked, Christian leaders have a long history of support for wars, and even Buddhist monks have sometimes become involved in political protests that resulted in self-immolation (suicide).