A critical evaluation of ethical aspect of Buddhist Sanskrit literature

2010

Hsi Lai Journal of Humanistic Buddhism, 2002

Ethics is a subject that is taking on increased importance in various areas of human activity, especially with new challenges in the biological sciences, business, commerce, and trade. Like many fields of inquiry, the principles are clearly defined, but it is in the details that disagreements abound. This paper focuses on ethical action in Theravada Buddhism. To do so requires a definition of ethics and morals on the one hand, and ethic and moral on the other. It also requires a discussion of the difference, if any, between moral actions and other normative actions, such as law, rituals, customs, and etiquette. When applied to Theravada Buddhism, we find that some linguistic difficulty exists regarding a translation of ethical actions into the Pali or Sanskrit languages. Although terms exist, they are not informative in defining the range of actions that we expect such actions to encompass. In this regard, certain axiomatic statements are introduced that serve as a basis of moral ac...

Practical Buddhist Studies Reviewed Journal, Bhiksu University of Sri Lanka,Vol, 01,2018,pp 220-228, 2018

The moral teaching of Indian society at the time when Buddha was born, were developed under the both Brahmana and Sramana traditions. While Brahmanism explained the moral teaching in relation to the omniscience, omnipotent God, asceticism represented the necessity of practicing ascetic practices for the purpose of achieving moral life. It is true to say that the moral conducts of Brahmanism based on the self-indulgence (Kāmasukallikanuyoga) 1 and opposite, self-mortification 2 was the optimum path of moral conduct of asceticism. The germs of the moral teachings are included in the Vedic literature. The moral conducts of the Vedic period squarely connected with concept God, heaven and concepts Ṛta (constant and circular nature of the universe) and Iṭapūrta (sacrifice) were two prominent aspects of moral basis of the Vedic period. The process of the Ṛta equally effect for everyone and it was controlled by the god Varuna. Generally God Varuna represents the controller of the good and bad. Therefore, behaving according to the process of Ṛta considered as obedience for the wish of Varuna. The man who has conformity with wish of Varuna should complete sacrifices (Iṭapūrta). The sacrifices represent the concept of good and bad and disobedience for Varuna or does not complete the sacrifices represent the concept of bad. The heavenly rebirth was ultimate good but only few people would be born in the heaven and majority of the people would be born in patriarch world. 3 Two places that the human beings would be born after the death, generally known as Arvīr Mārga (illuminated world) and Dūma Mārga (gloomy world). 4 A.B. Keith emphasized that Vedic Aryans believed that the faith on the God is the path of heavenly rebirth than the actions of them. 5 But they believed practicing of austerity, giving alms to Brahmanic priests etc. cause to heavenly rebirth. 6 Later, in the Brahman period priority has given to the sacrifices than the God who accepts the sacrifices. Aśvamēnda, Puruśamēda, Vājapēya, Niraggala, etc. were such important sacrifices that should be offered by the man. The concept of the good and bad depended on the sacrifices; the man who does the sacrifices, consequently receives the good result while the man who does not do sacrifices receives the bad result. To represent the concept of good and bad, they used the terms like, sukṛuta, duskṛuta, sādhu, asādu, puñña, pāpa etc. During the Araṇyaka and Upanishad periods concepts of Ṛta and sacrifices were not completely disappeared but instead of those concepts they explained the teaching of Ātman and Brahman concepts. The person who understand respectively the reality of Atman and Brahman has

Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy involves in systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct of a person. According to the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, the term 'Ethics' derived from the Greek word 'Ēthikē' which connotes the science or study of human conduct. The main purpose of this ethical philosophy is to provide the criteria or standards to determine the value and disvalue of the human bodily and verbal conducts. For this purpose, different religions and different socio-philosophical thinkers have distinctively presented their opinions to assess the nature and the function of good and bad. Among those opinions, Buddhist philosophical standpoint on ethical judgement is adequate and satisfactory enough to evaluate the moral questions of human action. In the early canonical scriptures of Buddhism there are some notable references which illustrate the standard moods of Buddhist rational foundation of ethical questions. Most importantly the Kālāmasutta widely exemplifies diverse standards of moral advice which were existed contemporary with the Buddha. In this sutta, while the Buddha is rejecting ten grounds of moral decisions which are considered to be unsatisfactory points in the ethical judgement, signifies the possibility of independent enquiry into moral questions. Another notable explanation on ethical reasoning is found in the Ambalaṭṭhikārāhulovāda-sutta and the Bhāhitika-sutta in which rational evaluations for making a contrast between praiseworthy (anavajja) and blameworthy (sāvajja) conduct of a person. Prominently, Buddhism not only considers the ethical behaviour of the body and verb of a person, but also the mind of a person can be functioned ethically or unethically. Therefore it is noteworthy to mention that Buddhism gives special attention to the psychological aspect of ethics as well. The Buddha's advice to Ven. Rāhula given in Ambalaṭṭhikārāhulovāda-sutta shows that just as one corrects errors by looking at a mirror, one should perform an action and should make a moral choice in the body or verbal after having continuously reflected on it. In addition to that, Buddhist ethical system is much richer as it concerns the inner purification of a person who commits wrong. This is an important place in Buddhist ethical explanation that one should admit his own offence and declare it to a person whom he respects and promise himself not to do it again. It is clearly evident by examining aforementioned accounts that the criteria clarified in Early Buddhist scriptures on ethical conduct and evaluating ethical distinctions are foremost ample and sophisticated.

Hsi Lai Journal of Humanistic Buddhism, 2000

Humanistic Buddhism may be viewed as Mahayanist interpretation and understanding of the original teachings of the Buddha and the early teachings of Buddhism, not from a sectarian perspective but from the perspective of a teaching that grows and develops in a manner that is integrative and organic. One may come to the opinion, quite correctly in my view, that Humanistic Buddhism derives both from the Buddhist experience in China - what Jonathan Z. Smith terms locative religion - and from the universal or timeless Buddhist experience as derived in the Pali texts - what Smith terms utopian religion. It is to the universal and timeless portion of Humanistic Buddhism that the rest of the paper turns its attention: ethics. The paper compares Judea-Christian ethics with those of the Buddhist tradition and concludes that although the ethics of both traditions are remarkably similar, there are fundamentally different paths and interpretation s that lead to these similarities . The remainder of the paper will discuss these differences, with special emphasis on the significance of Dependent Origination and karma.

In this paper the author tries to understand the character of Buddhist ethics, with its individual and social aspects and bring out the implications of Buddhist ethics to Buddhist meditation. Having tried to bring out the anti-dogmatic rational character of Buddhist ethics, he argues that the latter can be called consequentialist and utilitarian. Since Buddhism emphasises the roots of ethical and unethical actions in mind and hence accepts purification of mind as the moral goal, Buddhist theory of meditation can be understood as an extension of the Buddhist moral psychology, as an important aid to moral purification of mind rather than as a means to the achievement of a metaphysical goal. Similarly the arhat ideal as well as the bodhisattva ideal can be understood as the forms of moral perfection with meditative realisation of the goal as one of its dimensions.

2004

This article surveys two sources of ethics in Therāvada Buddhism. Firstly, it briefly surveys the texts that record the process of the proclamation of training rules. Secondly, it investigates the main events which provoked proclamation. This process of setting down an ethical standard itself emerges from both an intuitive sense of ethics held by society and the realized ethics of the Buddha. Further, though the proclamation of the 227 vows is designed to restrain physical and verbal action, the underlying purpose of the vows is to control the mind’s motivating unethical action. This survey will show that of the three roots of ignorance, aversion, and attachment, the vows are primarily directed to eliminating the root of attachment. The Buddha’s declaration of ethical rules was seen as one of his two fundamental responsibilities. He states in the Suttavibhaṅga: “The enlightened ones, the lords, question the monks concerning two matters, either ‘Shall we teach dhamma?’ or ‘Shall we d...

 Hanthana Philosophy E-Journal Volume II, University of Peradeniya, 2023

The proposition is divided into certain themes for the clearance of conveying and comparing different opinions regarding what it is indicated by Buddhists ethics. In order to identify what Buddhist implications regarding ethics are, the study has referred several suttas from sutta Piṭaka as primary texts. Secondly, several highlighted arguments held by the respective scholars have also been subjected to consideration throughout the study. Lastly, this article discusses how each of their arguments and assumptions become align and differs from different angles. Literature Review P.D.Premasiri in his article to Encyclopedia of Buddhism has given a broader perspective on ethics in Buddhism and there he mainly discuss about the terminology that is relevant with what it indicate by Buddhist ethics. One of his well noted arguments is his disagreement with the S.Tachibana"s interpretation on good and evil. Tachibana asserts that the Buddhist enlightened individual is above good and evil. According to P.D. Premasiri, Tachibana's interpretation of the pertinent pāli words that lead him to make these claims is completely inaccurate. (Premasiri 1990, 145). Contrary to Tachibana's theory, Premasiri pointed out that there is sufficient evidence in Buddhist texts to demonstrate that the ultimate knowledge acknowledged in Buddhism serves a moral purpose and also serves to eradicate evil inclinations. (Premasiri 1990, 145). Premasiri claims that it is difficult to accept Tachibana's claim that perfected saints transcend all moral divisions since, if true, Buddha would have to be different from all moral dispositions once he reached enlightenment. As he claims, after becoming enlightened, Buddha fully asserted the distinction between good and bad, right and wrong, and taught others about this distinction throughout his life. (Premasiri 1990, 145). In his work, "Fundamentals of Buddhist Ethics," Gunapala Dharmasiri asserts that after achieving liberation; the Buddha realized that ethics and insight are the two fundamental routes to enlightenment, giving ethics equal weight with wisdom. (Dharmasiri 2007, 2). He argues that there are four basic categories under which Buddhist teachings can be divided, including morality, which plays a significant role in describing Buddhist ethics. (Dharmasiri 2007, 2). The other three are 2 epistemology, theory of the universe, and Nirvāna. He also discusses the concept of Anattā, the dependent origination theory, and the interconnectedness and interdependence of everything. (Dharmasiri 2007, 18). According to M. Anesaki's "Buddhist Ethics and Morality", moral principles that included in Buddhism reveal clearly their ancestry from the common Hindu mental disposition, and they only slightly differ from the other religious organizations of India. (Anesaki 1912, 1) Meanwhile, he also discovers that Buddhism shows a fundamental difference from Brāhmanic morality in that it does not adhere to social institutions and traditions instead, it seeks the basis of morality from the universal truths that could possibly be experienced only through one's wisdom and attainment. (Anesaki 1912, 1) H.Saddhathissa emphasizes the distinctiveness of the ethical standards upheld by Buddhism. He stresses that any precepts or guidelines followed by monks or laypeople were not arbitrary decreed commandments but rather norms of training that were willingly observed as long as one was aware of their intended use (H.Saddhatissa 1970, 8). Ethical teachings in Buddhism help to develop the mind's capacity to resist sense craving. (H.Saddhatissa 1970, 9). Furthermore, by highlighting some of their aphorisms like "a good man is a happy man", he offers a philosophical investigation into some of the issues that were raised under normative ethics by well-known philosophers like Aristotle in his book "Buddhist Ethics". (H.Saddhatissa 1970, 18). A branch of philosophical ethics known as normative ethics analyzes ethical behavior and looks into issues like how one should behave morally. (Britannica 2023) When considering all of these remarks, it's crucial to keep in mind that although they all referred ideas like morality, the kamma concept, and the eight noble fold paths to describe what Buddhist ethics entail, there have been disputes over the incorrect interpretation of particular terms, which has obscured the true meaning of Buddhist ethics.