Hi Saurav,

Perhaps the best document that survived the destruction of texts that occurred as part of the extended pogrom of the European Dark Ages is the Edict of the Ebionites. The Ebionites as you probably know were effectively early Christians under the leadership of St. Peter and James the Just. In turn, the Ebionites reflected and arose out of the Essenic sect of Judaism, of which Jesus was a leader of. If you look at Essenic and Ebionite belief, it centres on the Hindu/Buddhist notion of ahimsa, of a life devoted to non-harm and peace. 'Thou shalt not kill' and 'turn the other cheek' are examples of this. The old and new testaments are bejewelled by such reference, however both books are also littered with contrary additives.

A critical aspect of Ebionite/Essenic ahimsic belief is non-harm to all animals. In the Edict, Jesus states: 'I am here to end the sacrifices'. Much like Buddha before him who who stated 'I am here to untie the knot of sacrifice', Jesus looked to end the corruption of the Synagogue that had taken place through the adoption of animal sacrifice, which had become practice among the Zealots and other Judaist sects at the time. Also the Romans as an occupying force imposed animal sacrifice and the purchase of meat from animal sacrifice ceremonies onto Levant and other occupied territory communities. This is what Jesus went to his death for: challenging the blood sacrifice that was being practiced in the Jerusalem temple for Paschal. The Essenes can be seen as upholding the original ahimsic sentiments of Judaism, which in turn can be traced back to the animist Hindu tradition of ahimsa.

There are limitations in seeking the origins of Abrahamic religions back only as far as Abraham. Why stop there? The Essenic links to the Mahabarata and the Upanishad and other texts from the great body of work known as the Vedas pre-dates the Old Testament by thousands of years. If we are diligent in our pursuit of the origins of the morality that underpins all religion and philosophy, we, like Huxley and Schopenhauer (Colin Campbell is another example), end up back with the Vedas and back with the sacred principle of non-harm to all living beings.