How do Buddhists make moral

decisions?
 The puzzle of ethics
• How to behave toward oneself and toward other individuals is a
matter of making choices: whether to be friendly or unfriendly;
whether to tell the truth or lie; whether to be generous or
greedy; whether to get yourself a job and pay your taxes or
rely on the welfare state for your needs; and so on. These and
all other questions about how people should act toward
themselves and towards others is what creates the puzzle of
ethics. We want to know which is morally the best choice
available to us in the varied circumstances of life. What we mean
by this is that we want to know which choices will promote our
well being and that of others and create a harmonious society
based on freedom and respect.
• The hard thing about this is that it seems very difficult to have
that sort of knowledge, given the wide-ranging spectrum of
circumstances each one of us is faced with and the diversity of
life. Religions claim to have cracked the problem and offer their
own distinct solutions on how to be a good person.
 People draw on a variety of
sources of authority to help
How do people make
them make a decision. For
moral decisions?
example:
• scripture
• religious leaders and the
official teaching of their
religion
• personal conscience
• reason
There are two types of morality
that affect the decisions people
make - absolute morality and
relative morality.
• Absolute morality
• Relative morality
 Two kinds of morality
Absolute morality
• If you believe in absolute morality you
will have faith that there is a right way
of doing things which applies to all
situations regardless of culture,
particular personal circumstances, or
any other considerations. Absolute
morality is usually linked with a great
authority, e.g. God.
• How would a follower of this sort of
morality respond to the divine
commandment 'Do not take human life‘,
say? They would try to make sure that
they were not involved in any such act.
This would affect their views on issues
such as war, abortion and euthanasia.
They would say for example that
abortion is wrong in all circumstances.
Relative morality
• If you believe in relative morality you
would agree that different courses of
action might be needed in different
situations.
• How would a follower of this sort of
morality respond to the commandment
'Do not take human life'? They would
agree that taking a life is wrong, but
they would look at a range of other
issues as well. They might argue that
killing might be the best course of
action in some cases. They might for
example say that abortion is justified,
if continuing the pregnancy would
result in the birth of a very disabled
child, or if the mother had been raped.
 Buddhism has no absolutes. The moral
precepts are just guidelines for action which
a person may use to avoid causing suffering to
Preventing Dukkha himself and others.
One of the primary aims of Buddhism is to
prevent dukkha, loosely translated as
suffering or unsatisfactoriness.
The problem with this approach is that it is
difficult to know, in the varied circumstances
of life, which actions will prevent harm to
oneself and/or others. Additionally there
does not seem to be a course of action that
could eliminate suffering completely.
Buddhists have therefore to assess each
situation separately and judge which course
of action will cause the least possible harm.
This is also why Buddhists describe moral
action as skilful. You need to develop the skill
of responding appropriately to the various
situations.
 Summary of main Buddhist
ethical points
• Ethical action must always be motivated by ahimsa, the wish not to
cause harm.
• Other main ethical concepts are: metta (loving kindness), dana
(generosity), karuna (loving compassion).
• Buddhist rely on developing the skills of right action or upaya kausala on
the five precepts and the six paramitas (or perfections) of generosity,
patience, wisdom, honesty, positive energy, and mindfulness.
• The Noble Eightfold path is the primary guide of ethical conduct for all
Buddhists and involves right speech, right action, right livelihood.
• In Mahayana, advanced bodhisattvas are permitted to use skilful means
(upaya kausala) in exceptional circumstances to override traditional
values or precepts, by applying their great wisdom and compassion for
the spiritual benefit of others.
• For Theravada monks, the main ethical guidelines are the 227 precepts
of a monk.
 The five precepts
Refrain from:
• harming living things
• taking what is not given
• sexual misconduct
• lying or gossip
• taking intoxicating substances eg drugs or
drink
 A relative morality
There are no universally
agreed ways in which to
assess what are the
right courses of action
in problems that face
our modern societies.
Buddhists have reached
different conclusions
about how to respond on
issues like euthanasia,
abortion, genetic
engineering, medical
research and so on.
 Engaged Buddhism
Buddhist ethics are based on getting rid of the three poisons –
greed, hatred and ignorance. This is not only on a personal level but
also on a social level. The latter is the main concern of what has
come to be known as engaged Buddhism – Buddhism that is
concerned about people and the way they live and which engages in
trying to improve life for them.
Thich Nhat Hahn is a Zen Buddhist from Vietnam associated with
engaged Buddhism who was nominated for the Nobel Peace prize by
Martin Luther King, Jr, in 1967.
 The first Precept directs Buddhists not
Abortion to take life. In the Pattimokkha, the 227
rules for bhikkhus, one of the four most
serious offences is the deliberate killing
of a human being.
Is abortion killing a human being?
Buddhism teaches that killing is unskilful
if:
• The object is a living being
• It is known to be a living being
• There is intention to kill
• The killing is active (i.e. the being is
not left to die naturally)
• Death results.
 Buddhists believe that life
Life begins at starts at conception and
conception that the foetus is already a
human being.
Buddhism believes in rebirth
and teaches that individual
human life begins at conception.
The new being, bearing the
karmic identity of a recently
deceased individual, is
therefore as entitled to the
same moral respect as an adult
human being.
Damien Keown, Science and
Theology News, April 2004
However, there is no single Buddhist view on abortion:

...Most Western and Japanese Buddhists come away

believing in the permissibility of abortion, while many
other Buddhists believe abortion to be murder.
James Hughes
The Dalai Lama has said:
Of course, abortion, from a Buddhist viewpoint, is an
act of killing and is negative, generally speaking. But it
depends on the circumstances.
If the unborn child will be retarded or if the birth
will create serious problems for the parent, these are
cases where there can be an exception. I think
abortion should be approved or disapproved according
to each circumstance.
Dalai Lama, New York Times, 28/11/1993
 It's personal and dependent on the particular
circumstances.
Buddhists are expected to take full personal
responsibility for everything they do and for the
consequences that follow.
The decision to abort is therefore a highly
personal one, and one that requires careful and
compassionate exploration of the ethical issues
involved, and a willingness to carry the burden of
whatever happens as a result of the decision.
The ethical consequences of the decision will also
depend on the motive and intention behind the
decision, and the level of mindfulness with which
it was taken.
 While it's pretty obvious why
abortion is considered to
Abortion and karma generate bad karma for the
mother and the abortionist it
may not be so obvious why it
generates bad karma for the
foetus.
The foetus suffers bad karma
because its soul is deprived of
the opportunities that an
earthly existence would have
given it to earn good karma,
and is returned immediately to
the cycle of birth, death and
rebirth. Thus abortion hinders
its spiritual progress.
 Euthanasia refers to voluntary
euthanasia, that is, the deliberate taking
of a person’s life, at their request, in
Euthanasia
order to end the suffering caused by
terminal illness. On the face of it,
euthanasia fulfils the conditions of an
unskilful killing: it is the intentional and
active cause of the death of a living
being. It therefore breaks the first
precept.

However, one may argue that euthanasia

is not murder, as it is motivated by love
and compassion, rather than hatred or
self-interest, and that voluntary
euthanasia is carried out at the request
of the dying person to end their
suffering.
Most Buddhists (like almost everyone else) are against involuntary
euthanasia. Their position on voluntary euthanasia is less clear.

States of mind

The most common position is that voluntary euthanasia is wrong,

because it demonstrates that one's mind is in a bad state and that
one has allowed physical suffering to cause mental suffering.
Meditation and the proper use of pain killing drugs should enable a
person to attain a state where they are not in mental pain, and so
no longer contemplate euthanasia or suicide.
Buddhists might also argue that helping to end someone's life is
likely to put the helper into a bad mental state, and this too should
be avoided.
Buddhists would stress the importance of helping the patient to
overcome suffering through spiritual and medical means rather
than through such extreme and irreversible solutions as the taking
of his/her life. This attitude may conform better to the principles
of metta, karuna and dana.
 Buddhists regard death as a
transition. The deceased person will
be reborn to a new life, whose quality
Euthanasia and karma will be the result of their karma.
This produces two problems. We
don't know what the next life is going
to be like. If the next life is going to
be even worse than the life that the
sick person is presently enduring it
would clearly be wrong on a utilitarian
basis to permit euthanasia, as that
shortens the present bad state of
affairs in favour of an even worse
one.
The second problem is that
shortening life interferes with the
working out of karma, and alters the
karmic balance resulting from the
shortened life.
 Euthanasia as suicide
Another difficulty comes if we look at voluntary euthanasia
as a form of suicide.
The Buddha himself showed tolerance of suicide by monks in
two cases. The Japanese Buddhist tradition includes many
stories of suicide by monks, and suicide was used as a
political weapon by Buddhist monks during the Vietnam war.
But these were monks, and that makes a difference. In
Buddhism, the way life ends has a profound impact on the
way the new life will begin.
So a person's state of mind at the time of death is important
- their thoughts should be selfless and enlightened, free of
anger, hate or fear.
This suggests that suicide (and so euthanasia) is only
approved for people who have are in an advanced stage of
spiritual development and that the rest of us should avoid it.
 Passive euthanasia is
allowing a person to die
Passive Euthanasia
naturally by withholding
treatment that keeps him
or her alive artificially.
Here, no action is taken to
bring about death, and
therefore it is not
unskilful. Indeed, it is said
that Buddha himself had
the option of extending his
life when he became fatally
ill, but decided not to.
 Buddhist attitude towards life and
death
Buddhists think this life is only one of
many we will live. When the physical
body dies, its mental energy goes on to
be reborn in another body. Friends and
family who have loved the dead person
want to help them on their way to a
good rebirth and many of the rituals
associated with a Buddhist funeral are
designed to do that.
  Encourage dying person to
read or chant from the Suttas
in order to create good Karma
Theravada Buddhism
and a fortunate rebirth.
 After death bikkhus will be
invited to recite passages
from the scriptures over the
deceased. Family will present
them with food so that they
can create merit to pass on to
the departed.
 The body in its coffin is
surrounded by light in the
form of candles and incense.
 Water is poured over a hand
of the deceased as a symbol
of purification.
It is traditional in Buddhist
societies to cremate dead
bodies rather than to bury
them. This usually takes
place three days after
death (in Theravadin
countries). During this time
the body lies in the home
where it can be visited by
friends and relatives. This
includes night-time vigils
when people watch over the
body.
On the day of the funeral
• The body leaves the house in a formal way.
Green leaves are usually placed on the floors
and stairs from which the coffin will pass.
• Elders of the community and bhikkus lead the
procession towards the place of creation.
• Bhikkhus carry a length of ribbon which leads
back to the body in the coffin so that the
deceased continues to benefit from the
presence of the monastic Sangha.
• At the place of cremation bhikkhus chant
passages from the Suttas.
• The body is cremated.
 Tibetan Buddhism
In Tibetan Buddhism it is traditional to
read the Bardo Thodol (or Tibetan book
of the Dead) to the dying in order to
prepare them for the passage to their
next life. This is a book of advice given to
someone who is dying. It explains the
various stages through which he or she
will go before taking on another life.
Traditionally, this may take just a
moment, or as long as 49 days.
 Sky burial
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6hSK8Cl
uxQ
Explain how the Tibetan sky burial expresses
Buddhist beliefs in the three universal truths.
• The corpse is led to a special place where the
body of the deceased is carved into pieces and
offered to the vultures. (annicca and anatta)
• This also shows the interdependence of all
things as the vultures are nourished by the
meat of the corpse.
• The death of a loved one and the subsequent
fate of the body confronts us with the truth of
dukkha. There is nothing in this life that lasts
for ever or on which we can rely for everlasting
happiness.