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Preface

The last half century has seen a steady decline in the teaching, understanding and observance of religious, ethical and moral principles and ideas. The greed for money and material posses­sions, the overriding desire for personal advancement in day-to- day life, the wish to control other human beings, living things and the environment, both politically and economically, have been the characteristics of the path along which modern civiliza­tion has developed in recent years.

This development is contrary to the ordinary, just and reason­able nature of man. As a result, mankind is today confronted with enormous destructive forces. These forces are so powerful and compelling that the minds of most people, especially the young and the mentally weak, cannot grapple with them nor cope with them. Instead, they succumb to these forces. They take refuge in apathy, anarchy, drugs, alcohol and other conduct which leads to superficial feelings of well-being, but do not contribute to any long-lasting or substantial happiness. This decline in the religious, ethical and moral standards has caused a breakdown in the social fabric of mankind.

The only way one can retrieve the situation, the only sensible way forward, is to live according to the religious, ethical and moral standards accepted by one’s own traditions and in under­standing and compatibility with those of others.

This book analyses, examines and explains the ethical concepts from a Buddhist point of view. The emphasis is on the ethical concepts accepted by all the schools of Buddhism and, indeed, there is no difference between these concepts among the diffe­rent schools, either Theravada or Mahayana.

Contents

PREFACE

1.  DEFINITIONS AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Scope of the Study of Ethics

Indian Thought in the Sixth Century BC

2.  ORIGIN AND SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE OF THE HIGHEST STATE

The Enlightenment of the Buddha

Life of Gotama Buddha

The Paticcasamuppada

The Self and the Anatta Doctrine

Three Characteristics of Existence

The Mahakaruna of the Buddha

3.  THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE REFUGES

The Threefold Refuges

4.  SANCTIONS OF MORAL CONDUCT: THE PRECEPTS

The Five Precepts

The Eight Precepts

The Ten Precepts

5.  THE UNDERLYING IDEALS OF THE MORALITIES

Relating the Precepts to the Refuges

Position of the Laity in Early Buddhism

The Buddha’s Approach to His Teaching of the Moralities

Advice to the Individual Layman

6.  THE LAYMAN’S DUTIES TO HIS ASSOCIATES

Children and Parents

Husband and Wife

Teacher and Pupil

Servants and Workpeople

Duties Concerned with Means of Livelihood

7.  THE LAYMAN’S RELATION TO THE STATE

8.  THE ULTIMATE GOAL

Statements of the Aim

Nirvana, Nibbana

Freeing of Mind, Freeing of Insight

Origin of Attainment

notes 

index

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