A formal reflection on the Buddhist Ethics course

Ven. Sumanacara

Ethical knowledge and conduct is an essential part of Buddhist teachings. In

Buddhism ethics is not discussed as a part of a religious practice; it is simply a tool for an
error free healthy life. A person’s ethical behavior is correlated with his or her level of
understanding how one is related to the external world. Therefore, Buddhism emphasizes
a cultivation of ethical conduct based on understanding or wisdom, the knowledge of
cause and effect.

Basic principles of Buddhist Ethics, application of these principles in real life and
day to day decision-making was discussed throughout the course, with examples drew
from the whole Buddhist world. Through class discussions, we investigated the
systematic structure of ethical thought in both the Theravāda and the Mahāyāna. The
course is also emphasized comparisons between Buddhist and Western ethical views.
Attention was given to the problems of the proper description of Buddhist ethics in a
comparative perspective.

This course explored some of the most difficult ethical issues confronting the world
today from the perspective of the cultural traditions of south-east Asia. We discussed first
on Buddhist ethical theory and then on its application to contemporary moral issues—
particularly within the context of Theravāda Buddhism.

All the lectures of this course were followed by discussions led by the instructor. A
series of relevant readings and a full page note sheet had been selected for us, and it was
essential that we prepared for class by reading these topics before the discussion.
Readings of “An Introduction to Buddhist Ethics” by Peter Harvey included topics such
as shared foundation of Buddhist ethics, key Buddhist values, Mahayana emphases and
adaptations, attitude and treatment of the natural world, war and peace, abortion and
contraception, sexual equality, homosexuality and other forms of queerness, economics
ethics. However, due to differences in the level of concern in each tradition under
discussion, not all topics considered equally.
 Active class participation was expected of everyone, and we students felt free to
voice our critical opinions regarding what we had read. Preparation also included an open
mind about what are often emotional issues, and no preaching of any kind will be
permitted.

As we learned in this course, ethics is mainly deals with questions of morality and
codes of conduct that help guide our actions. When it comes to whether an action is
deemed ethical, that depends a great deal on the underlying principles of the ethical
system in question.

In Buddhism, for example, the Buddha’s distinction between skillful and unskillful
actions seems like a middle way approach. With the Buddha, just/skillful actions aren’t
simply judged to be just/skillful based upon their consequences, but also because there’s
something inherently just/skillful about the actions themselves. In Buddhism, this would
be due to the quality of the intentions behind the actions.

The underlying principles behind Buddhist ethics are kamma — the idea that certain
actions produce pleasant, painful or neutral feelings/results— and the principle
of ahiṃsā or harmlessness. The basic premise behind kamma is that there’s a cause and
effect relationship between our actions and how they’re experienced. In the Suttas, the
Buddha defines kamma as intentional actions of body, speech and mind that have the
potential to produce certain results, which, in turn, have the potential to produce pleasant,
painful or neutral feelings.

Pragmatically speaking, actions are deemed ‘unskillful’ (akusala) if they lead to

self-affliction, to the affliction of others or to both. Actions that don’t lead to self-
affliction, to the affliction of others or to both are deemed ‘skillful’ (kusala). Therefore,
the distinction between skillful and unskillful actions is based upon how their results are
experienced—not only by ourselves, but by others as well.

Psychologically speaking, however, the quality of the intentions behind the actions
is what ultimately determines whether they’re unskillful or skillful. Intentional actions
rooted in greed, hatred or delusion produce painful mental feelings, while intentional
actions rooted in non-greed, non-hatred and non-delusion produce the opposite. Then
there are acts rooted in both that bring mixed results. By bringing kamma to an end via
the noble eightfold path, however, and eliminating the skillful/unskillful dichotomy
altogether, the mind is said to become free and undisturbed.

Essentially, Buddhist ethics focuses on the moral character of the individual, and
revolves around seeing our desires for happiness and freedom from pain in all living
creatures. If we don’t respect that in them, how can we ever expect the same? This is
especially true regarding human beings. Here I agree with the Buddha that, besides some
rare and special cases, there’s no one that’s as dear to us as ourselves, that all beings
essentially want to be happy in their own way (according to their specific capacities), and
that it's a fairly decent and logical reason to desire their happiness as well as our
own. Nevertheless, Buddhism is a type of ‘religious individualism’ in that the teachings
on kamma focus on individual actions and their consequences, so ethics are more or less a
personal matter that each individual must explore and develop on their own; although
guidance is certainly advised.

The way I see it, Buddhist ethics aren’t entirely black or white, i.e., they aren’t seen
in terms of ethical and unethical as much as skillful and unskillful. In Buddhism, all
intentional actions are understood to have potential consequences, and actions that cause
harm to others and/or ourselves are considered to be unskillful and something to be
avoided. But the Buddha never condemns people merely for making unskillful choices or
breaking the precepts; he simply urges them to learn from their mistakes and to make an
effort to renounce their unskillful behavior with the understanding that skillful behaviors
leads to long-term welfare and happiness.

All in all, I learned that Buddhist ethics to be less judgmental and more forgiving
than many other systems when it comes to making mistakes, as well as ingenious and
profoundly simple from a theoretical point of view. But more importantly, I find it to be
practical and extremely effective when sincerely adopted and put into practice.