modernity; religious ethics; next life; the other; Lotus Sutra
摘要
Today, the modern value systems that once held sway have fallen apart, and people throughout the world are wandering in an aimless state. Amidst this, we are pressed to ask, “What kind of a new ethics might we construct?” We need to consider the possibility of an ethics that focuses on the religious view of humankind (previously ignored by modernity), that goes beyond this life, and includes the next life. In this article, I examine the way of being of bodhisattvas in Mahāyāna Buddhism via the Lotus Sutra. According to the Lotus Sutra, human existence is one that necessarily relates with the other, and this relationship is not confined to this life, but continues from past lives to future lives. Here, I refer to this as “bodhisattva as existence.” On this basis, it is possible to think of an ethics of “bodhisattva as praxis” that considers the benefit of others even after death. This view of bodhisattvas in the Lotus Sutra lives on in Japanese Buddhism and can be said to point to a new possibility for ethics today.
目次
I. From Fiction to Science, from Science to Religion 57 A. Loss of Hope 57 B. Is It Right to Separate Religion and Politics? 58 C. Is Peace Universally Sought? 60
II. The Problem of Views of Life and Death and the Other World 61 A. A New Ethics and View of the Next Life 61 B. The Discourse in Modern Japan on the Next Life 62 C. The Vagueness of the Japanese View of the Next Life 64 D. How Buddhism Sees the Next Life 64
III. The Possibility of Bodhisattva Ethics 65 A. The Formation of Bodhisattva Philosophy 65 B. The Bodhisattva Theory of the Lotus Sutra I: “Bodhisattva as Existence” in Part I 67 C. The Bodhisattva Theory of the Lotus Sutra II: “Bodhisattva as Praxis” in Part II 69 D. The Concrete Praxis of Bodhisattva Ethics 70
