Buddhist Ethics Research Articles

The egalitarianism and non-egalitarianism of Buddhist ethics

ABSTRACT This essay is to identify two views of Buddhist ethics: egalitarianism and non-egalitarianism. In the time of the Buddha, there was no conflict between the concept of equality and the Buddha’s teaching of śῑla/vinaya. However, as Buddhism develops, the meaning of equality has been expanded, which leads to a neglected inconsistency: “All life is equal” is incoherent with śῑla/vinaya, such as Dharmagupta-vinaya, which indicates that there are degrees of karmic result in taking life. Although it is significant to resolve the incoherence, this is not our concern. We are interested in two relevant things: (1) What “All life is equal” means for Buddhist ethics (an egalitarian view) (2) We evaluate the non-egalitarianism: there are degrees of seriousness in taking life. Finally, we explore a compelling question “Is egalitarianism or non-egalitarianism more suitable for Buddhist ethics?” We also analyze five moral propositions, including these two views, to understand Buddhist ethics better.

Pendidikan dalam Keluarga Berbasis Etika Buddha

This study aims to find out familial education on the basis of Buddhist ethics and the relationship of Buddhist teachings in building a happy, prosperous family life. The foregoing rests upon the identification of texts from the Tipitaka / Tripitaka Scriptures related to Education in the Family and moral ethics (Sila), and the texts are subsequently analyzed and dissected using the theory of structural functionalism and hermeneutics. Based on the analysis of the aforesaid text data, it can be seen the role of moral ethics that must be put forward and become a guide in shaping a happy and prosperous family life. Education in the Family is a pattern or method that must be done by a Buddhist household. Based on ethics in managing hittasukkhaya life, it becomes the basis and guide in creating happy and prosperous home life (hitta sukkhaya). Moral ethics (Sila) is the basis and foundation and guide for householders in creating a happy and prosperous life in the face of various changes that occur in the current modern era.

BUDDHISM, FREE WILL, AND PUNISHMENT: TAKING BUDDHIST ETHICS SERIOUSLY

AbstractIn recent decades, there has been growing interest among philosophers in what the various Buddhist traditions have said, can say, and should say, in response to the traditional problem of free will. This article investigates the relationship between Buddhist philosophy and the historical problem of free will. It begins by critically examining Rick Repetti's Buddhism, Meditation, and Free Will (2019), in which he argues for a conception of “agentless agency” and defends a view he calls “Buddhist soft compatibilism.” It then turns to a more wide‐ranging discussion of Buddhism and free will—one that foregrounds Buddhist ethics and takes seriously what the various Buddhist traditions have said about desert, punishment, and the reactive attitudes of resentment, indignation, and moral anger. The article aims to show that, not only is Buddhism best conceived as endorsing a kind of free will skepticism, Buddhist ethics can provide a helpful guide to living without basic desert moral responsibility and free will.

ROBOTIC AI, CRISPR, AND FREE WILL

ROBOTIC AI, CRISPR, AND FREE WILL

의료기술을 통한 도덕적 향상은 가능한가 - 불교윤리학의 관점에서 -

이 논문의 목적은 첨단의료기술을 사용해서 불교에서 추구하는 도덕적 향상을 실현할 수 있을지 고찰하는 것이다. 불교적 인간 향상은 비의학적 방법을 사용한 전통적 방식의 인간 향상으로서, 특히 도덕적인 면의 향상에 초점을 맞춘다. 과연 의학적 향상으로도 이런 불교적인 향상이 가능할지 의문이다. 본론에서는 먼저 의학적 향상을 개관한 후 그 중 도덕적 향상을 논하고, 그 다음으로 불교적 관점에서 도덕적 향상이 허용될지와 가능할지에 대해 논한다. 도덕적 향상은 신경계 약물, 생명공학 등 의학적 수단을 사용해서 인간을 더 도덕적으로 만드는 것으로서 환경오염 문제의 해결, 전지구적 협력의 필요성에 따라 최근 활발히 논의되고 있다. 불교적 관점의 도덕적 향상은 크게 두 가지로 나누어진다. 첫째, 탐욕 없음[無貪], 증오 없음[無瞋], 무지 없음[無癡], 자애[慈], 연민[悲], 지혜[智] 등의 도덕적인 개별 능력을 향상시키는 것이다(BME1). 둘째, 이러한 개별 능력이 한 사람에 온전히 체화되어 도덕적인 자, 즉 아라한, 붓다, 보살로 변모하는 것이며(BME2), 이것이 불교에서 궁극적으로 추구하는 바다. 의학적 수단은 BME1의 개별 능력 향상을 일부 돕긴 하지만, 각 개별 능력을 불교에서 목표로 하는 정도까지 완전히 실현시킬 수는 없다. 인지능력을 의학적으로 향상시킨다 해도, 그러한 향상이 무지 없음이나 지혜의 실질적인 내용인 무아(無我)나 연기(緣起)까지 알려주는 것은 아니기 때문이다. 또한 개별적인 도덕적 능력을 하나씩 향상시킨다 해서 그것이 곧 BME2, 즉 도덕적인 자로의 전환을 보장하지는 못한다. BME2는 의도나 동기를 의식하지 않고도 순간순간의 생각이나 말, 행동이 도덕에서 벗어나지 않는 사람이 되는 것이다. 이는 오랫동안 서서히 진행된 수행을 통해 몸과 마음에 기억과 습관이 배어드는 과정을 거쳐서 성취된다. 그러나 의료기술은 오랜 시간에 걸쳐 한 개인에게 일어나는 도덕의 내면화와 체화까지 대신해줄 수는 없다. 결론적으로 의료의 발달과 그 효과에도 불구하고 여전히 불교에서 추구하는 도덕적 향상을 완전히 실현하기 위해서는 비의학적 수단이 계속 필요하다.

Is Nonviolence and Pacifism in Christian and Buddhist Ethics Obligatory or Supererogatory?

Is Nonviolence and Pacifism in Christian and Buddhist Ethics Obligatory or Supererogatory?

“Middle Way” Approach on Buddhist Ethics: Wŏnhyo on the Doctrinal Problem of the Buddha-nature and the Icchantika

The Buddhist ethical concept of kuśala (C. shan 善), which is usually rendered as “wholesome” or “skillful,” has drawn significant scholarly attention. Although scholars have not reached a consensus on how to approach Buddhist ethical systems, it seems to be commonly acknowledged that the wholesome dharmas in early Buddhism are divided into two types: the wholesome dharmas on the mundane level and the wholesome dharmas on the supramundane level. According to the typical account of Buddhist soteriology, a practitioner should cultivate these two types of wholesome dharmas in order to reach the final goal of nirvāṇa. However, in Mahāyāna Buddhism, in which the division between the mundane and the supramundane sphere was ultimately denied, the distinction between the wholesome dharmas on the mundane and supramundane levels was often seen as being problematic. As a result, a philosophical problem arose concerning how to explain the doctrinal contrast between the ultimate universality and the concrete particularities. In ancient East Asia this problem emerged centering on the two conflicting notions of the Buddha-nature (Skt. buddha-dhātu, alt. tathāgatagarbha, C. foxing 佛性), the universal spiritual capability innate in all sentient beings, and the icchantikas (C. yichanti 一闡提), “incorrigibles,” those who are devoid of the capability (or, the wholesome dharmas) to attain Buddhahood. This article discusses the philosophical conundrum entailed from doctrinal incompatibility between the universal capability to become a Buddha and the beings who lack the wholesome dharmas by examining the Silla scholar monk Wŏnhyo’s 元曉 (617–686) understanding of the four antinomies (Skt. catuṣkoṭi, C. siju 四句) on the Buddha-nature of the Nirvāṇa Sutra.

The search for microbial Martian life and American Buddhist ethics

AbstractMultiple searches hunt for extraterrestrial life, yet the ethics of such searches in terms of fossil and possible extant life on Mars have not been sufficiently delineated. In response, in this essay, I propose a tripartite ethic for searches for microbial Martian life that consists of default non-harm towards potential living beings, default non-harm to the habitats of potential living beings, but also responsible, restrained scientific harvesting of some microbes in limited transgression of these default non-harm modes. Although this multifaceted ethic remains secular and hence adaptable to space research settings, it arises from both a qualitative analysis of authoritative Buddhist scriptural ethics as well as the quantified ethnographic survey voices of contemporary American Buddhists. The resulting tripartite ethic, while developed for Mars, contains ramifications for the study of microbes on Earth and further retains application to other research locations in our Solar system.

Lessons for the Future: Khmer Rouge Survivor Testimonies as Sites of Individual and Social Regeneration

ABSTRACT Decades after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, the Cambodian government and international community established a tribunal to prosecute leaders of the regime. The court’s creation was accompanied by numerous outreach efforts, including psychological support for those who had survived the brutal period. Many of these interventions were foreign to Cambodians and drew upon transitional justice tropes that emphasised the importance of ‘bearing witness to atrocity’, while stressing the need to process traumatic events. This paper examines the implementation of ‘testimonial therapy’ among two groups of survivors – ‘new people’, mostly urban dwellers targeted by the regime, and ‘base people’, rural Cambodians who had a prior Khmer Rouge affiliation. It argues that through repeated narrativization, survivors draw upon elements of the globalised figure of the moral witness (Margalit, Avishai. 2002. The Ethics of Memory. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.), combining this concept with pre-existing beliefs about the performance of Buddhist morality.

<i>Responsible Living: Explorations in Applied Buddhist Ethics — Animals, Environment, GMOs, Digital Media</i>, by Ron Epstein

Responsible Living: Explorations in Applied Buddhist Ethics — Animals, Environment, GMOs, Digital Media, by Ron Epstein. Buddhist Text Translation Society, 2018. 179pp. Pb. $12, ISBN-13: 9781601030993. Ebook $5, ISBN-13: 9781601031006.

UJARAN KEBENCIAN DALAM PERSPEKTIF AGAMA ISLAM DAN AGAMA BUDDHA

Religion was born as a response to human life which deviated from the nature of humanity, as well as Islam and Buddhism. Speech of hatred is an act that deviates from the teachings of religion. Speech of hatred according to Islam is despicable morality (akhlak madzmumah) which is contrary to the commands of Allah SWT, because the utterances of hatred are bad words or sayings in which consists hurting factor to the others. While the utterances of hatred according to Buddhism are included in the false speech which violates the 4th precept, namely musavvada veramani sikkhapada samadiyami and violates the rules of Buddhist morality. Speech of hatred is forbidden in Islam and Buddhism because it will cause the culprit to go to hell. Islam emphasizes the prohibition of utterance of hatred compared to Buddhism because it is clearly punished by Allah SWT and consider to be big sin while in Buddhism it is not to be really emphasized because in Buddhism legal karma is better known.

사이버폭력의 통제와 불교 윤리교육

정보사회로 진입한 이후, 사이버폭력은 주요한 사회문제로 부상하였다. ‘전쟁’이라고 묘사될 만큼 문제의 심각성도 커지고 있다. 이에 대해 법적 처벌 중심의 정책적 대응들이 이어지고 있지만, 정책의 체감효과는 미미하다. 따라서 새로운 관점에서 사이버폭력에 관한 대안을 모색할 필요가 있다. 이러한 문제의식을 토대로 이 논문은 점점 심해지는 사이버폭력을 이해하고, 극복 방안을 찾기 위해 불교 윤리적 접근을 시도하였다.BR 먼저 사이버공간과 SNS, 통신언어의 특성을 사이버폭력과의 연관성을 중심으로 살펴보았다. 문자언어 중심의 의사소통 왜곡이 사이버폭력과 긴밀하게 관련되어 있음을 확인하였다. 이어서 사이버폭력에 관한 기존 연구의 성과와 한계를 검토하였다. 그리고 터친의 주장을 근거로 하여 사이버폭력을 종교윤리 차원에서 통제할 수 있음을 논의하였다.BR 그 후, 무상, 무아, 연기 등 불교의 핵심 교리가 사이버공간의 실상을 이해하는데 유용하다는 것을 간략히 논의하였다. 이 결과를 토대로 사이버공간에 대한 불교 윤리의 적극적 적용이 필요하다는 점도 주장하였다. 특히 몇 가지 핵심적인 불교 윤리가 사이버폭력의 통제에 적용될 수 있음을 검토하였다.BR 또한, 사이버 언어폭력을 불교적 맥락에서 어떻게 이해해야 하는지, 또 불교 윤리의 차원에서 언어폭력을 멈춰야 하는 근본 이유를 밝혔다. 우선 사이버 언어폭력이 언어 영역에 국한되지 않고, 행동과 사고의 영역과도 밀접히 연관되어 있음을 논증했다. 따라서 사이버 언어폭력은 생각과 말과 행동 모두에 걸쳐서 악업을 짓는 것이고, 동시에 악업의 고리에서 벗어나지 못하는 악순환이 반복되는 결과를 초래한다는 점을 주장하였다. 불교적 관점에서 볼 때, 사이버 언어폭력은 불교 수행에 있어서 심각한 장애 요인이 된다. 이를 극복하기 위해서는 결국 불교 윤리의 일상화가 중요할 수밖에 없다. 특히 십선계와 팔정도를 주목할 필요가 있다.BR 마지막으로 불교 윤리를 통한 사이버폭력의 통제 방법을 교육적 차원에서 논의하였다. 특히 학교 교육의 중요성 못지않게 종교의 교육적 기능을 활용하는 것이 효과적임을 주장하였다.

Buddhist Ethics and Surrogate Problem in the Present Thai Society

Buddhist Ethics and Surrogate Problem in the Present Thai Society

A moderate Buddhist animal research ethics.

Though there is a burgeoning interest in applied Buddhist ethics, Buddhist animal research ethics remains an underdeveloped area. In this paper I will explore how some central Buddhist ethical considerations can usefully engage our use of other animals (henceforth, animals) in science. As the scientific use of animals is broad, I will narrow my focus to laboratory science. I will show that, though a Buddhist abolitionism would not be unmotivated, it is possible to reject it. While doing so, it will be important to resist emphasizing elements of Buddhist thought that merely provide reasons to adopt the dominant ethical framework governing laboratory animal research ethics, known as the 3Rs. Though I will suggest how a Buddhist animal research ethics can sometimes permit the use of animals in harmful research, it will also require ethical constraints that resonate with some of the more progressive elements in 'Western' bioethics.

Book Review: Jake H. Davis (Ed.), A Mirror Is for Reflection: Understanding Buddhist Ethics

Jake H. Davis (Ed.), A Mirror Is for Reflection: Understanding Buddhist Ethics, New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2017. 358 pages. ₹1,395, US$69.95. ISBN 978-0-19-049977-8 (hardcover), ISBN 978-0-19-049976-1 (paperback).

Buddhist economics: An overview

Over the centuries, Buddhist monks applied economic models in the operations of their monasteries to make them sustainable while also observing Buddhist principles. The large variety of economic practices observed demonstrate the creativity of monastics in acquiring the resources to support their large monasteries in a way that was viewed as compatible with Buddhist ethics embodied in the Noble Eightfold Path. Researchers have analyzed the integration of faith-based and financially related monastic needs for different countries in different eras. The Buddhist economics approach as it has been developed in the last 40-50 years aims to create an alternative worldview that challenges the main underlying assumptions of Western economics. The mainstream Western economics model is originally based on the following assumptions: rational, selfish behavior; profit-maximization; competitive markets; and instrumental use of the environment. Buddhist economics is based on a different set of assumptions: dependent origination (“pratityasamutpada”), where people are interdependent with each other and with Earth; people are aware of enlightened self-interest based on interdependence and thus are altruistic; firms care about the well-being of workers, customers, shareholders, and community; and all activities include caring for the environment. With these assumptions, the Buddhist economic model has shared prosperity in a sustainable world with minimal suffering as its goal.

Buddhism as a System of Behavioral Rules

The article examines interrelations, mutual influence of Buddhism, Buddhist ethics, religious and legal norms in the process of formation of political and legal systems in historical retrospect and in our days. The author draws attention to the importance of Buddhist religious norms in definition of moral stances, world outlook, value orientations, legal consciousness and rules of behavior. The article brings forth definitions of "Buddhist state", "Buddhist religious community", describes some law features of the modern Buddhist states, as well as the states where Buddhism is officially recognized by the state as a religion. It pays special attention to increasing the Buddhism influence on the state of the legal system not only in the Buddhist states but also in the countries where Buddhist organization play a considerable role and the authority of the Buddhist community (sandhi) increases. The author notes the historical features of the origin and development of the Buddhist community and Buddhist organizations in the Russian Federation. The need for apprehending the Buddhism place in Russias socio-cultural space is connected with the future which is not possible independently of the moral and religious traditions.

Embryo Experimentation in Buddhist Ethics

The objective of this paper is to explore the Buddhist position particularly within the Mahāyāna sect about the use of human embryos which may be either surplus embryos thawed in the laboratory or embryos cultured for research purposes. Buddhism does not give prominence to any supreme creation whose plan might be distorted by human intervention with nature. Buddhism postulates the cyclic course of human existence as eternal. There is no starting point to the series of lives lived and obviously there is no end. In the Buddhist thought, there is a belief that every individual had existence prior to the present birth. Following this, the paper made a study of the details of the conception and gestation as found in the Buddhist literature and sources. Buddhism aims to do away with pain. Intention is an intrinsic aspect in Buddhism referred to as sankalpa, which is beyond mere goals and objectives. An action is deemed as good karma because of its intentions. To Buddhism, a selfless action gains significance.

From ‘Scottish’ Play to Japanese Film: Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood

Shakespeare’s plays have become the subject of filmic remakes, as well as the source for others’ plot lines. This transfer of Shakespeare’s plays to film presents a challenge to filmmakers’ auterial ingenuity: Is a film director more challenged when producing a Shakespearean play than the stage director? Does having auterial ingenuity imply that the film-maker is somehow freer than the director of a play to change a Shakespearean text? Does this allow for the language of the plays to be changed—not just translated from English to Japanese, for example, but to be updated, edited, abridged, ignored for a large part? For some scholars, this last is more expropriation than pure Shakespeare on screen and under this category we might find Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood (Kumonosu-jō 1957), the subject of this essay. Here, I explore how this difficult tale was translated into a Japanese context, a society mistakenly assumed to be free of Christian notions of guilt, through the transcultural move of referring to Noh theatre, aligning the story with these Buddhist morality plays. In this manner Kurosawa found a point of commonality between Japan and the West when it came to stories of violence, guilt, and the problem of redemption.

Training the Mind and Transforming Your World: Moral Phenomenology in the Tibetan Buddhist Lojong Tradition

ABSTRACTThis article analyzes the moral-psychological stakes of Jay Garfield's reading of Buddhist ethics as moral phenomenology and applies that thesis to the pedagogical mechanisms of the Tibetan Buddhist lojong (“Mind Training”) tradition. I argue that moral phenomenology requires that the practitioner work on a part of her subjectivity not ordinarily accessible to agential action: the phenomenological structures that condition experience. This makes moral phenomenology a highly ambitious ethical project. I turn to lojong as an example of a Buddhist practice that claims to accomplish this ambitious task. As a training toward the ethical ideal of bodhicitta (“awakening mind”), lojong utilizes practices of meditation and contemplation to disrupt the habitual, affective responses that arise from the conventional phenomenological orientation to the world, replacing them with imagined responses of radically compassionate altruism. This ultimately inculcates a transformation of the phenomenological structures that underlie both ethical action and conscious experience, fulfilling the aim of moral phenomenology.