The author argues that the Zen Buddhist tradition has yet to develop a strong social ethic, but that its roots in the Mahayana tradition can provide a basis for developing such an ethic. The author cites the Huayan cosmology of interpenetration of phenomena, the example of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, the teaching of compassion, and the Bodhisattva Precepts as ample grounds for Buddhist action in the area of social justice.
