{"title":"The Four Noble Truths","authors":"Jay L. Garfield","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190907631.003.0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190907631.003.0006","url":null,"abstract":"The four noble truths are the foundation of all of Buddhist thought, and especially ethical thought. This chapter examines Buddhist insight into the ways that suffering pervades every aspect of our lives, and the importance of the many different levels of suffering, including suffering from shame, suffering of change, and suffering of pervasive conditioning. The chapter also covers the Buddhist account of the origins of suffering, from the three pathologies of primal confusion, attraction, and aversion. Finally, it addresses the aspects of the eightfold path, and its applications as a way to attain the cessation of these forms of suffering.","PeriodicalId":38727,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Buddhist Ethics","volume":"121 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82650620","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Six Perfections in the Mahāyāna","authors":"J. Garfield","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190907631.003.0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190907631.003.0008","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter addresses ethical theory of the Mahāyāna tradition specifically, giving a brief background on its origin and framework. The chapter then focuses on the six perfections, or moral qualities, that are adumbrated in the account of the bodhisattva path. The six perfections are generosity, proper conduct (śīla), patience, effort, meditation, and wisdom. The chapter also addresses the elevation of karuṇā (care), one of the brahmavihāras, to its status as the central moral quality, and discusses the installation of the bodhisattva, a being who forgoes personal liberation order to facilitate the liberation of all others, as the moral ideal","PeriodicalId":38727,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Buddhist Ethics","volume":"62 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72394209","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Naturalism","authors":"J. Garfield","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190907631.003.0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190907631.003.0011","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter argues that naturalism is a virtue in an account of human experience, and thus desideratum in any ethical theory, and that Buddhist ethics is indeed naturalistic. In particular, its ethical orientation relies on no transcendent or transcendental concerns; its theory of the good is rooted in an account of human nature and the nature of the natural world, and its account of agency and responsibility is thoroughly causal. The chapter also discusses some of the aspects and implications of karma, including karmic fruition, the ways that our future lives are conditioned by our present ones, and the idea of collective karma.","PeriodicalId":38727,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Buddhist Ethics","volume":"648 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74737331","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Broad Structure of Buddhist Ethics","authors":"J. Garfield","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190907631.003.0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190907631.003.0002","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter argues that Buddhist ethics does not fit into any of the standard Western metaethical theories. It is neither an instance of a virtue theory, nor of a deontological theory, nor of a consequentialist theory. It is closer to a sentimentalist theory, but different from those as well. Instead, it defends a reading of Buddhist ethics as a moral phenomenology and as particularist, utilizing casuistic reasoning. That is, Buddhist ethics is concerned primarily with the transformation of experience, of the way we perceive ourselves and other moral agents and patients. This chapter also argues that the metaphor of path structures Buddhist ethical thought.","PeriodicalId":38727,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Buddhist Ethics","volume":"47 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86606984","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Engaged Buddhism","authors":"J. Garfield","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190907631.003.0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190907631.003.0012","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter enters the realm of contemporary moral discourse. It discusses the origins of the 20th- and 21st- century Engaged Buddhist movement, which attempts to construct a new understanding of Buddhism and of Buddhist ethics in a political sphere. The chapter also addresses the degree to which such a modernist movement can be considered Buddhist, the degree of continuity between Engaged Buddhism and earlier Buddhist ethical thought, and the impact of modern Western ethical and political theory on Engaged Buddhism. Special attention is devoted to the work of the 14th Dalai Lama, of Thich Nhat Hanh, and of Sulak Sivaraksa.","PeriodicalId":38727,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Buddhist Ethics","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72728163","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Methodological Introduction","authors":"J. Garfield","doi":"10.5040/9781782258711.ch-002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5040/9781782258711.ch-002","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter explores some of the methodological issues that arise from studying Buddhist ethics. It gives an overview of the four noble truths, and it argues that Buddhist ethical theory is grounded in the Buddhist metaphysical outlook captured by dependent origination, selflessness, and impermanence. It further argues that Buddhist ethics is an attempt to solve the ubiquity of suffering that is grounded in these three characteristics of reality, and that this solution is reflected in the eightfold path. Also addressed are the six realms of transmigration on the Buddhist Wheel of Life, and their applications to the forms of suffering.","PeriodicalId":38727,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Buddhist Ethics","volume":"53 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85184574","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Buddhist Ethics as Moral Phenomenology","authors":"J. Garfield","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190907631.003.0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190907631.003.0003","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter explains Buddhist ethics as moral phenomenology, that is, as a theory of the transformation of our moral experience of ourselves, others, and the world. It compares Buddhist “input ethics” to Western “output ethics” and explains how Buddhist practice aims at developing a less pathological, less egocentric view of our place in the world by cultivating a sense of interdependence. The discussion is grounded in Śāntideva’s Bodhicāryāvatāra, and explores his insights on anger, aversion, vice, and generosity. Śāntideva argues for the importance of developing our moral self-awareness, and changing the way we view suffering, both of ourselves and others.","PeriodicalId":38727,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Buddhist Ethics","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88740741","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Coda","authors":"J. Garfield","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190907631.003.0013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190907631.003.0013","url":null,"abstract":"This brief concluding chapter argues that Buddhist ethics constitutes a distinctive voice in ethical theory. While Buddhist ethical thought is distinct in both form and content from any of the major Western metaethical systems, it is supplementary to, rather than inconsistent with them. Buddhist ethics encourages us to look at the subjective, phenomenological side of ethics, and to foreground ethical perception and experience in our account of moral cultivation, as opposed to actions, rules, and consequences. By examining Buddhist ethical theory in conjunction with Western ethical theory, we can discover new questions that make our ethical debate richer than before.","PeriodicalId":38727,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Buddhist Ethics","volume":"52 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77591921","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Path as a Structure for Buddhist Ethics","authors":"J. Garfield","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190907631.003.0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190907631.003.0007","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter examines the use of the path metaphor in Buddhist ethics, connecting it to the emphasis on moral phenomenology and to the particularism of Buddhist ethics. It discusses how the concept of a path is used in Buddhist literature, in both the internal and external sense, as well as how these paths may be both followed and cultivated by practitioners. Various uses of this metaphor are addressed throughout the chapter, as well as the objectives and methods associated with each. Discussion includes the eightfold path, the path of purification, the graduated path, the bodhisattva path, and the tantric path.","PeriodicalId":38727,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Buddhist Ethics","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81656792","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Importance of Vow","authors":"J. Garfield","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190907631.003.0010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190907631.003.0010","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter addresses the role of vows in Buddhist ethics. Vows generate new moral perspectives, as well as new agent-relative moral considerations. Among the vows addressed are the lay vows, monastic vows, bodhisattva vows, and tantric vows. The chapter discusses the diverse Buddhist interpretations of the metaphysical status of vows, and the ways that they transform one’s moral landscape, changing the ethical status of actions. Also addressed here are the binding power of vows, including the roles of both initial intention and admitted exceptions, and the effects of transgressions, including atonement and confession, and the phenomenon of returning vows.","PeriodicalId":38727,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Buddhist Ethics","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73130130","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}