Buddhism and Morality
With Buddhism being non-theistic in nature, that is sharing no belief in a personal deity and or omnipotent creator, what and where is the source of its moral teachings? Based around this statement my paper will be comprised of the issue around the foundation of Buddhism’s moral and ethical compass based on its lack of a deity that seems to be the driving force behind other theistic religions. Along with this I will analyze how and why a particular set of rules/guidelines bring about a strong foundation of compassion and look into the possible cases of this moral structure crumbling for an individual and community and the case that it presents.
With the Buddhism movement starting sometime around (in most recent opinions) 486-483 BCE to around 411-400 BCE by Siddhārtha Gautama; the ‘Buddha ‘or the ‘enlightened one’, his teachings are to this day the foundation of the Buddhist religion and philosophy. It is believed that after Siddhārtha’s death his teachings were rehearsed by a representative body of disciples, later systematized into a threefold division of Sutta, Vinaya and Abhidhamma, throughout time broken up into a number of separate schools and this day consist within the three main canons; Pāli Canon, Chinese Buddhist Canon and the Tibetan Kangyur. Within all three of these scriptures lie the fundamental aspect and teaching of karma where all moral and ethical decisions rest upon. Karma, the Sanskrit word meaning ‘action’ or ‘deed,’ is the principle of thought that one’s actions result in synonymous manifestations in this life or the next. This karma is the driving force behind the wheel of suffering and rebirth for every being; whether they choose to participate in good deeds (kusala) or bad deeds (akusala) these actions have repercussions. The belief is that these actions produce seeds within the mind that result in fruition of internal or external experiences within their current life or the one after. This concept works with the paradigm of
With the Buddhism movement starting sometime around (in most recent opinions) 486-483 BCE to around 411-400 BCE by Siddhārtha Gautama; the ‘Buddha ‘or the ‘enlightened one’, his teachings are to this day the foundation of the Buddhist religion and philosophy. It is believed that after Siddhārtha’s death his teachings were rehearsed by a representative body of disciples, later systematized into a threefold division of Sutta, Vinaya and Abhidhamma, throughout time broken up into a number of separate schools and this day consist within the three main canons; Pāli Canon, Chinese Buddhist Canon and the Tibetan Kangyur. Within all three of these scriptures lie the fundamental aspect and teaching of karma where all moral and ethical decisions rest upon. Karma, the Sanskrit word meaning ‘action’ or ‘deed,’ is the principle of thought that one’s actions result in synonymous manifestations in this life or the next. This karma is the driving force behind the wheel of suffering and rebirth for every being; whether they choose to participate in good deeds (kusala) or bad deeds (akusala) these actions have repercussions. The belief is that these actions produce seeds within the mind that result in fruition of internal or external experiences within their current life or the one after. This concept works with the paradigm of