Theravada Buddhism; ethics; sacrifice; Consequentialism; Charles Goodman
摘要
Interpreting Buddhist ethics in terms of western ethical theories is ever-expanding. Consequentialism is one of the suggested western ethical theories to compare with Buddhist ethics. Both from the western academia and Sri Lankan academia, Buddhist scholars have agreed to the proposal that Buddhist ethics shares common points with Consequentialism. With the objective of expanding the dialogue between Theravada Buddhist ethical theory and that of Consequentialism, the present paper examines the concept of 'sacrifice', one of the major components of Consequentialist ethics, in the Theravada Buddhist tradition and Consequentialism. First, the research examines the concept of sacrifice as discussed by the consequentialist philosophers such as John Stuart Mill. In the next step, the objections raised against the concept of sacrifice will be examined. Keeping the western philosophical explanation in view, the paper will next examine the concept in the Theravada Buddhist tradition. The discussion will address varying aspects of sacrifice; sacrificing one's life for the well-being of others and sacrificing minority for the sake of majority in the light of Buddhist literature. The paper points out that the concept of sacrifice in the sense of sacrificing one's happiness for the well-being of others is obviously present in Buddhist literature, and thereby Buddhism shares a common point of contact with consequentialism. The former tradition maintains unique features which are not found in the latter. This paper illustrates the views on sacrifice in the early stage of Buddhism extant in the Pali canon in the later stages of textual tradition. Further, the claim that sacrifice is a similar point between consequentialism and Theravada Buddhist ethics is revised and pointed out that Buddhist ethics in relation to sacrifice host some characteristics which are not common with consequentialism.
目次
Introduction 68 Literature survey 69 'Sacrifice' in Buddhism 70 Sacrifice of the innocent in Consequentialism 71 Golden rule 74 Self-sacrifice in Consequentialism 78 Self-sacrifice in Theravada Buddhist ethics 80 Sacrificing life for morals: a new dimension of sacrifice 85 Conclusion 86 Abbreviations 87 References 87
