An Introduction to Buddhist Ethics: Foundations, Values and Issues

Harvey, Peter (著)

作者

Harvey, Peter (著)

出版日期

2000.06

頁次

500

出版者

Cambridge University Press

出版者網址

http://www.cambridge.org/

出版地

Cambridge, UK [劍橋, 英國]

叢書名

Introduction to Religion

資料類型

書籍=Book

使用語言

英文=English

關鍵詞

Karma=Kamma; 一闡提=icchantika; 尸羅=戒=command=Precept=sila=morality=rule=discipline=prohibition; 心靈=Spiritual; 佛教人物=Buddhist; 佛教宗派=Buddhist Sects=Buddhist Schools; 佛教倫理學=Buddhist Ethics; 佛教經典=Buddhist Scriptures=Sutra; 佛學研究=佛教學=Buddhist Studies=Buddhology; 長行=契經=修多羅=Sutra; 涅槃=Parinibbana=Nibbana=Nirvana; 密續=Tantra; 菩薩=Bodhisattva

摘要

This systematic introduction to Buddhist ethics is aimed at anyone interested in Buddhism, including students, scholars and general readers. Peter Harvey is the author of the acclaimed Introduction to Buddhism (Cambridge, 1990), and his new book is written in a clear style, assuming no prior knowledge. At the same time it develops a careful, probing analysis of the nature and practical dynamics of Buddhist ethics in both its unifying themes and in the particularities of different Buddhist traditions. The book applies Buddhist ethics to a range of issues of contemporary concern: humanity's relationship with the rest of nature; economics; war and peace; euthanasia; abortion; the status of women; and homosexuality. Professor Harvey draws on texts of the main Buddhist traditions, and on historical and contemporary accounts of the behaviour of Buddhists, to describe existing Buddhist ethics, to assess different views within it, and to extend its application into new areas.

List of plates xii
Acknowledgements xiii
List of abbreviations xiv
A note on language and pronunciation xix

Introduction 1
1. The shared foundations of Buddhist ethics 8
Sources of guidance to Buddhists 8
Rebirth and karma 11
The realms of rebirth 12
Karma and its effects 14
The status and working of the law of karma 16
The ‘karmic fruitfulness’ of actions 17
Karmic fruitfulness and motive 19
The Saṅgha as the best ‘field of karmic fruitfulness’ 21
Karma and fatalism 23
Flexibility in the working of karma 24
Delayed results of karma 24
The effect of character 25
Remorse and the acknowledgement of fault 26
Rebirth, karma and motivation 28
The Four Noble Truths 31
Suffering 33
Impermanence 34
Not-Self and respecting others 36
The Noble Eightfold Path 37
Noble persons 39
The place of ethics on the Path 40
Wise, skilful, wholesome actions 42
The Arahat as ‘beyond fruitful and deadening actions’ 43
Philosophy of action 46
Criteria for differentiating good and bad actions 46
Comparisons with Western ethical systems 49
Intention, knowledge and degrees of unwholesomeness in actions 52
Conclusion 58

2. Key Buddhist values 60
Giving 61
Sharing karmic fruitfulness 65
Keeping the lay precepts 66
The first precept: non-injury 69
The second precept: avoiding theft and cheating 69
The third precept: avoiding sexual misconduct 71
The fourth precept: avoiding lying and other forms of wrong speech 74
The fifth precept: sobriety 77
The nature of the precepts and precept-taking 80
Partial precept-taking and the issue of precept-breaking 82
Taking extra precepts 87
Monastic values 88
Celibacy 89
The role of monasticism 91
The monastic code of discipline 92
Harmony, sharing and spiritual companionship 96
The ethics of inter-personal relationships 97
Parents and children 98
Other relationships 99
Marriage 101
Lovingkindness and compassion 103
Social ethics 109
Social cohesion and equality 109
Engaged Buddhism 112
Political ideals 113
‘Human rights’ and Buddhism 118
Conclusion 122

3. Mahāyāna emphases and adaptations 123
The path of the Bodhisattva 123
Compassion and wisdom in the Mahāyāna 124
The arising of the thought of enlightenment 126
Developing the Bodhisattva perfections 128
The ethics of the Bodhisattva 130
The Bodhisattva precepts 132
Skilful means and overriding the precepts 134
Compassionate killing 135
Compassionate stealing, non-celibacy, and lying 139
Who may perform such acts, and are they obligatory? 140
Specific strands of Mahāyāna thought and practice 140
Tantra 141
Pure Land Buddhism 142
Zen 143
Nichiren Buddhism 145
Mahāyāna reassessment of monasticism 146
Conclusion 148

4. Attitude to and treatment of the natural world 150
Humanity’s place in nature 150
Non-harming of animals 156
Animal sacrifice 157
Meat eating 157
Meat eating in early and Theravāda Buddhism 159
Meat eating in Mahāyāna Buddhism 163
Animal husbandry 166
Pest control 166
Animal experimentation 168
Positive regard, and help, for animals 170
Plants, trees and forests 174
Conservation and environmentalism 177
Conclusion 185

5. Economic ethics 187
Lay economic ethics 187
Right livelihood 187
Moral and spiritual qualities aiding worldly success 189
Appropriate uses of income 190
Buddhist giving and its socio-economic impact 192
The Buddhist attitude to wealth 195
Economic ethics for rulers 197
The justice of economic distribution 201
The monastic economy 203
Buddhism and capitalism: Weber’s ‘Protestant ethic’ thesis 206
The case of Japan 210
‘Buddhist economics’ 215
The purpose of economics and a critique of consumerism 219
Critiques of capitalist and Marxist development models 222
Buddhism and economics in the modern world 225

ISBN

9780521553940 (hc); 0521553946 (hc); 9780521556408 (pbk); 0521556406 (pbk)

相關書評

點閱次數

1579

建檔日期

2009.07.03

更新日期

2025.09.10

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序號
181884

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