Non-Violence Toward Self
Harming oneself through extreme practices or self-hatred violates ahimsa.
While Jainism values asceticism, it also teaches that excessive self-mortification is violence toward oneself. The middle path of disciplined but compassionate self-treatment is recommended.
One should treat oneself as one wishes others to treat all beings.
Self-compassion is included in the comprehensive practice of ahimsa.
Jain Ethics
Written about in
- What Jainism says about compassion and forgiveness
Harm turned inward breaks the same rule. Jainism prizes austerity and still treats self-hatred and extreme self-punishment as violence.
- What Jainism says about forgiveness
The rule against harm points inward too: self-hatred and punishing austerity count as violence against yourself. Someone stuck on their own past wrong is told exactly what someone stuck on another's is told — the grudge you hold against yourself binds karma the same way.
- What Jainism says about illness and the body failing
Jainism prizes austerity but draws a line at it: excessive self-mortification is violence against yourself and breaks ahimsa. A failing body is not to be punished into discipline, and the tradition explicitly sanctions a gentler regime for it.