Buddhist Ethics: A Very Short Introduction by Damien Keown

Buddhist Ethics: A Very Short Introduction Reviews

• 
  Ahmad Sharabiani

  Buddhist Ethics: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions #130), Damien Keown
  
  The latter half of the twentieth century witnessed a growing interest in Buddhism, and it continues to capture the imagination of many in the West who see it as either an alternative or a supplement to their own religious beliefs.
• 
  Lauren

  What does Buddhism say about animal welfare? suicide? homosexuality?
  
  As it turns out, it's pretty complicated - of course it is, it's ethics!- and not universal across Buddhist traditions. From some previous readings, I knew some basics of Buddhist views on sexuality, marriage, celibacy, and feminism, but this book gets a bit deeper (although one criticism - likely due to the "very short" nature in the title - is that so many examples seem cherry-picked to prove the thesis, where I am certain that there is much more to the story).
  
  The chapter that stood out for me was the one on suicide and euthanasia. The indelible 1960s image of the Vietnamese monks on fire leads the chapter, framing this self-immolation as an ancient practice. While several modern Buddhist countries have ritual suicide or 'voluntary death' traditions, e.g. seppuku in Japan, the book argues that this practice came into regional Buddhism through indigenous culture. Euthanasia is also a complicated issue, as monks and nuns were traditionally caretakers for the dying, and there are several accounts of euthanasia using the central precept of compassion.
  
  3/5 stars - some interesting things covered, even though it did seem "cherry-picked" to fit in as much as it could in less than 200 pages.
  
• 
  Nick Imrie

  The biggest fact I've taken away from Damien Keown is that Buddhism is a lot more conservative than we realise in the West. Because Buddhism came to us via 60s hippies, it has a reputation as being an anything-goes, left-wing religion, which isn't really the case.
  
  For example, Buddhist attitudes about sex are pretty much the same as Christian (which gets villified for being an prudish, sex-negative religion). In both religions, celibacy is the best state of being, and if you can't stay celibate then you should marry. Sex acts that aren't reproductive are pretty much verboten, so Buddhism has similar attitudes to homosexuality as Christianity.
  With regards to abortion, Buddhism is, if anything, stricter than Christianity. Christianity, at least, doesn't say much specifically about when or how the soul enters the body. But Buddhist texts are quite explicit that the soul enters the body at the moment of conception, so there can't really be any doubt that abortion is murder. The enforcement and application of that kind of rule isn't so clear though. Most monks seem to be happy to leave it as a matter for secular authorities, and there's a fierce dispute in Japan, about the appropriateness of religious services for the souls of the aborted, which is a new practise adapted from services for miscarriage.
  
  As in his previous VSI book about Buddhism, Keown is writing for the Western audience and trying to highlight how our instictive patterns of thinking about rights, ethics, and religion don't really map onto Eastern ways of thinking. He makes some interesting speculations about whether the difference is caused by the difference in origin. Western philosophy arose in turbulent Greek democracies, while Buddhist ethics arose in strict monarchies.
  
  The chapters focusing on individual ethical conundrums was a good way to do it in a very short introduction, I can only imagine that an attempt at a comprehensive comparison of how Buddhist ethics are reasoned out, and all the subjects they touch on, would be massive. I wasn't sure about the topic of cloning though. Most religions have very little to say about cloning, because it couldn't even be imagined by early man, and the things that people say about it are often daft. But the chapter on suicide, including the protest suicides in Vietnam, or the Japanese ritual seppuku, was very interesting and demonstrate neatly how different strands of Buddhism are influenced by local traditions and religions. Keown does a good job of making clear that there is no one Buddhism. It's a vast collect of different philosophies all springly from the same source. While at the same time he shows how there are general trends that bring all these Buddhisms together. Skillfully, he does this with constantly interrupting himself to remind you #notallbuddhists.
• 
  Istvan Zoltan

  A very handy, easy to read and clear introduction to Buddhist ethics.
  My students found it helpful as an assigned reading, before delving into more complex texts on Buddhist ethics. It doesn't presuppose any knowledge of Buddhist philosophy in general.
• 
  Xinefan Phy

  The author's understanding of Buddhism is at times incomplete and his access to sources seems deficient. For example, there are many instances in ancient texts about the Buddha's past lives where he sacrificed his life for the sake of other beings (even animal beings), which the author should've taken as reference for arguments in the "Suicide" or "Animal" chapters.
  
  There're also many stories in which Buddhist followers and even the Buddha himself used their compassionate power to tame and calm the aggressors. That would be an apt addition to the discussion in the chapter on war and violence. In the "Abortion" chapter, the author was surprisingly simplistic and one-dimensional in his arguments, which indicates that he might personally have a "pro-life" stance.
  
  It was a good read nevertheless. After all, ethics is also ultimately non-self (anattā), so there's no such thing as an "absolute" ethics that could be applied in every situation.
• 
  Trung Rwo

  Cuốn sách nhỏ của ĐH Oxford đem tới những dẫn luận cơ bản nhất về các vấn đề đạo đức gây tranh cãi dưới quan điểm của Phật Giáo, cung cấp những cái nhìn khá toàn diện. Do là bàn về đạo đức, nên có lẽ khó có một câu trả lời rành mạch đơn giản cho các vấn đề như ăn chay, môi trường, tình dục, chiến tranh, phá thai, tự tử và nhân bản vô tính mà cuốn sách đề cập.
  
  Tuy vậy, dưới cách viết không thiên vị, đem tới cả pro lẫn con của từng vấn đề, cùng sự hỗ trợ của nhiều nguồn tư liệu uy tín, cuốn sách rất thích hợp cho những ai muốn tìm hiểu về Phật Giáo, cũng như để chính những Phật tử hiểu hơn về bản chất thật sự của tôn giáo của mình.
• 
  Bernie Gourley

  Most people, if they know anything about Buddhist ethics, have heard of the Eightfold Path (right + view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration.) However, just knowing that can lead to the impression that Buddhist ethics are blurry and that it’s all a matter of doing as one pleases within one’s personal interpretation of rightness. This concise guide offers an overview of the Buddhist ethics and morality, focusing on issues of global and modern interest (as opposed to those issues only of interest in places where Buddhism is practiced or at the time in which Buddha was teaching – i.e. issues like abortion, vegetarianism, war, suicide, and cloning and not subjects like caste, traditional family roles, etc.)
  
  The first two chapters present a broad overview, and the rest focus on particular ethical issues. I found the second chapter beneficial; it asks how Buddhist ethics fit in the categorization scheme employed by Western Philosophy. I considered it useful even though the answer was that Buddhist ethics aren’t neatly contained by this way of thinking, but rather can be seen as a mix of multiple approaches. (e.g. Buddhism has sets of precepts – ala deontology, has a karmic doctrine that is arguably consequentialist, and, also, has elements similar to the virtue ethics of ancient Greece.)
  
  Chapters three through eight investigate specific issues: animal rights and environmental ethics (ch. 3,) sexuality and gender (ch. 4,) war and violence (ch. 5,) abortion (ch. 6,) suicide / euthanasia (ch. 7,) and upcoming technologies that will change what it means to be alive and conscious (i.e. cloning, artificial intelligence, cryogenics, and CRISPR.) As with chapter two, there’s often no tidy answer. For one thing, the author tries to contend with what is common across various sects, and this is often reflected in the laws of countries, laws which are only partially informed by Buddhist philosophy. Also, it’s not like the Buddha had anything to say on many of these issues, which either weren’t issues (e.g. cloning) or were considered radically differently (e.g. gender.) Still, one does get an idea of how these questions relate to ideas such as karma and dharma, and how contemporary Buddhist thinkers might begin to consider them.
  
  One will note that there are ethical territories that aren’t addressed (e.g. justice / punishment, ethics of governance, business ethics, etc.,) but a brief guide needs filters, and this one chose to focus heavily on modern, individual ethical questions of broad international interest.
  
  If you’re looking to better understand Buddhist ethics, this book is worth reading.
  
• 
  Teo 2050

  2020.10.14–2020.10.14
  
  Contents
  
  Keown D (2020) (03:46) Buddhist Ethics - A Very Short Introduction (2e)
  
  Acknowledgements
  Preface
  
  List of illustrations
  • 1. Map of Buddhism in Asia
  • 2. The Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, the embodiment of compassion
  • 3. Buddha head in tree roots, Wat Mahathat, Ayutthaya, Thailand
  • 4. The wheel of life
  • 5. Mipham
  • 6. Jizō Bosatsu
  • 7. Mizuko Jizō memorial at Raikoji (Kamakura, Japan)
  • 8. Suicide of Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc in Saigon, 1963
  • 9. A robot modelled after the bodhisattva Kannon (Avalokiteśvara) gives its first teachings at the Kodaiji temple in Kyoto on 23 February 2019
  • 10. Ray Kurzweil believes the Singularity is close at hand
  
  Note on citations and pronunciation
  Language and pronunciation
  
  1. Buddhist morality
  • Dharma and karma
  • Box 1 The Four Noble Truths
  • Box 2 The Eightfold Path and its Three Divisions
  • Precepts
  • Box 3 The Five Precepts (pañcaśīla)
  • Vinaya
  • Virtues
  • Mahāyāna morality
  • Box 4 The Six Perfections (pāramitā)
  
  2. Ethics East and West
  • Three ethical theories
  • Particularism
  • Perfectionism
  • The absence of ‘ethics’
  • Box 5 Stoicism
  • Engaged Buddhism
  • Rights
  
  3. Animals and the environment
  • The moral status of animals
  • Plant life and wilderness
  • Equality or hierarchy?
  • Vegetarianism
  • Towards a Buddhist ecology
  • Box 6 Climate change
  
  4. Sexuality and gender
  • The dangers of sexual desire
  • Marriage
  • The third precept
  • Box 7 Ways in which the third precept can be broken, according to the ancient commentators
  • Box 8 Sex abuse scandals
  • Homosexuality
  • Box 9 Transgenderism
  
  5. War, violence, and terrorism
  • Classical sources on war
  • Buddhism at war
  • Box 10 From the Dhammapada (trans. Norman)
  • The just war
  • Terrorism
  
  6. Abortion
  • Buddhist embryology
  • Abortion and the precepts
  • Box 11 The third pārājika, the monastic precept against taking human life
  • Personhood
  • Box 12 The five aggregates (skandhas)
  • Abortion in Buddhist countries
  • Table 1. Legality of abortion in selected Asian countries (2017)
  • Thailand
  • Japan
  • Box 13 A hymn to Jizō often used in the mizuko kuyō liturgy
  • Box 14 Verse from a popular song about the mizuko kuyō ceremony
  
  7. Suicide and euthanasia
  • Box 15 Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnam: The Lotus in a Sea of Fire (1967)
  • Self-immolation
  • Box 16 The Brahmajāla Sūtra (Fan Wang Ching)
  • Suicide in Indian Buddhism
  • Box 17 The third pārājika, the monastic rule prohibiting taking human life
  • Euthanasia
  • Must life be preserved at all costs?
  
  8. Clones, cyborgs, and singularities
  • Cloning and genetics
  • Gene editing
  • Cryonics
  • Transhumanism
  • Neurodharma
  • Concerns
  
  Glossary
  References
  Further reading
  Index
• 
  David Pascual

  Buena obra. Te abre el apetito a un debate acerca de temas complejos y moralmente discutibles, ofreciendo el punto de vista del budismo reflejando asímismo la dualidad entre la teoría (lo que debería hacer u opinar un budista según las escrituras sagradas) y la práctica (lo que históricamente han hecho países y líderes budistas).
• 
  John Eliade

  Read most of Damien Keown's second VSI Buddhist book while I was in Bhutan researching "Buddhist Social Theory" at the Royal Thimphu College. Keown's work is very interesting and enlightening. Like the VSI series as a whole, it presents great launching points to begin to seek out answers for other parts of an incredibly complicated subject. This book loses two stars primarily because Keown, though he does an awesome job presenting eastern textual sources, still tries to fit an eastern peg into a western hole, which is an incredibly hard thing to do (and it should at least be commended that he did so in a balanced, interesting, and fair way).
  
  It's mostly his discussion on metaethics that can get confusing, hence the problem. Metaethics is a purely western subject which can confuse eastern-based readers. In Buddhist Social Theory, this chapter was extremely difficult for my Bhutanese classmates to wrap their heads around, and even for me it was difficult to truly understand the point of a discussion on metaethics and how it applies to Buddhism which has little to no distinction or history of a difference between "morality" and "ethics." (Indeed, here in Korea they teach a class that students have interpreted as both "Morals" and "Ethics" when I consult the dictionary. I gather this is a similar thing across Asia, and Keown makes this known in his short book). My suggestion would have been for Keown to put that chapter at the end and discuss the difficulty of applying western conceptions of ethics onto a complex philosophical network of systems like Buddhism. That said, good read. Make sure you read his first VSI on Buddhism, or perhaps Walpola Rahula's "What the Buddha Taught" first.
• 
  Nick

  Its a weirdly specific book to have a very short introduction. Ethics in the western conception didn't really exist in premodern Buddhism. A lot of this book is the product of Buddhists taking influence from Western ethics, or of Westerners interpreting Buddhism through the lens of enlightenment values, and Christian/humanist altruism. The whole notion that altruism, compassion, detachment, etc. are good because they lead to enlightenment is absent from much of this. Also tantra is mentioned, but not examined. Since classical Buddhism doesn't comment on very many specific moral issues, abstract and somewhat empty signifiers like "compassion" have to be interpreted, and then applied to moral problems.
  
  Anyway, here is a funny quote from the chapter on cloning:
  
  "...The belief in karma introduces many conundrums and complexities of this kind, since both karma and DNA may be thought to account for how people come to be born with specific physical and mental characteristics. Which is correct: Buddhism or science? Other puzzling questions also arise, such as ‘Is it possible to clone a Buddha?’, and ‘Is there a Buddha gene?’. For the remainder of the chapter, I will explore some of these intriguing questions.
  
  When considering the possibility of cloning a Buddha, the starting point of our speculations must be whether or not the Buddha had a normal physical human body or whether in some way he transcended the conventional laws of nature, including those of genetics..."
• 
  Bojan Tunguz

  This is a very useful introductory book for anyone who is interested in Buddhist ethics, its principles and sources, and the answers it gives to some of the most pressing ethical questions of today. The first couple of chapters are dedicated to the historical origins and basic principles of Buddhist ethics. The bulk of the book, however, is aimed at someone who is already familiar with Western ethical traditions, and tries to show how the Buddhist teachings relate to those. In particular, the questions of animal and environmental rights, sexuality, war and terrorism, suicide and euthanasia, and cloning each get a separate chapter. In these chapters the naive impression of Buddhism as a very laid-back and permissive ethical tradition is challenged, and the author shows that the basic answers to those ethical dilemmas in Buddhism are not that far away from similar answers given in theJudeo-Christian ethics.
  
  Overall, this is a very enlightening and informative reading. I highly recommend it.
• 
  Frank Spencer

  Worth reading, as all very short introductions are. Tells as much about general ethics as it does about Buddhist ethics. chapters about animals/environment, cloning, sexuality, war/terrorism, suicide/euthanasia, and abortion
• 
  Jesse Field

  This text starts off quite promising, setting the stage for comparative ethics, helpfully defining descriptive ethics, normative ethics, and meta-ethics, and following up with meta-ethical discussions on the varieties of Buddhist ethics, like the ethics of altruism and ethics of engagement. It all seems rather practical and humane.
  
  But in the succeeding sections, I can discern no substantial Buddhist contribution to practical situations calling for description and norms. Whether it be protecting the environment, discussing sexuality, war and violence, abortion, suicide, or cloning, I don't detect any particularly interesting insight in any of the Buddhist responses described, with the possible exception of the mizuku ritual for post-abortion women to perform. I'm sure that helps, for those who can feel the sacredness of Jizo. And yet, does that not hearken more to Japanese animist practices than any Buddhist conceptions of families and individuals?
  
  But Buddhist sects and schools in the aggregate (which, granted, leads too easily to overgeneralization) have proven impractical for ecological consciousness, as well as vulnerable to warmongering. One could counter-claim that Western religious practice has hardly done any better. But still, we have no solid evidence that Buddhism is a tradition worth learning more about, much less practicing in any spiritual or even intellectual way. There wasn't much in this book about meditation, which is maybe more of a source of ethical precepts than the author offers.
  
  So, not one of the more satisfactory volumes in this massive series. Oh well, many more to get to.
  
  
• 
  Michael

  I enjoy the A Very Short Introduction series. I've read a bunch of them. I got this one for free somehow on line and read it today. I admit that I skimmed a little bit in parts that didn't interest me.
  
  Buddhism is both simple and profound. You can learn the basics in 15 minutes, then spend the rest of your life trying to apply them to your life. I would not characterize Buddhism as being a religion per se, although there are certainly Buddhists who do worship Buddha as a god. Pretty much, Buddhism is about your mind. Learn to live with your mind, understand your mind, train your mind, and everything else will be better. It's hard to argue with. No gods, no supernatural. Just you and...you.
  
  In the overwhelming majority of examples, Buddhism is a belief system, or a philosophy, that teaches compassion, self-discipline, non-violence, and generosity. There are four Noble truths, eight paths toward reaching a higher state of being, and three ways to do it. So that's like 15 things to know. Maybe 19. You can write it on an index card, then use the next 40 years of your life trying to make it all work.
  
  So, Buddhist ethics? Care. Pay attention. Help. Control yourself. Go do that tomorrow for 24 hours then report back to me how you did.
• 
  Scott Goddard

  Okay, that's done. Buddhist ethics - not something I previously knew too much about, I will concede. At first, the author gives an overview of Buddhist philosophy, focusing on the main, fundamental values and beliefs.
  
  Next, it was time to get into the nitty gritty - the more dense subject of ethics per se, which was presented in a typology of three types.
  
  Now, with a knowledge of Buddhist values and the basics of ethics ascertained, the author proceeds to contextualise both aspects in relation to contemporary issues. Suicide; cloning; the environment; war and terrorism - to give a few examples.
  
  Maybe it was just from my perception, but I couldn't help but feel a particular bias from the author, against Buddhism. Overall, it a semi-decent read, and one that has enabled me to learn a new thing or two!
• 
  Duncan

  A good over view of the Buddhist perspective on different ethical considerations. The topics included are: animals and the environment; sexuality; war and terrorism; abortion; suicide and euthanasia; cloning. The author compares Theravada and Mahayana perspectives, and also compares Buddhist perspectives to Western Judeo-Christian perspectives.
  
  I read this book after the books in the series on 'Buddha', 'Buddhism' and 'Tibetan Buddhism', in that order. The 4 books gave a very good broad summary of Buddhism. I think this series of books is generally very well written, and now has hundreds of titles, covering all sorts of subjects, in 100-130 pages.
• 
  MOL

  Concise and to the point. The book was perfect for its aim - to present Buddist ethics in under 150 pages. Beforehand I had only passing knowledge of Buddha’s teachings and the book presented interestinng thought experiment on how his teachings reconcile present day issues such as homosexuality, cloning and euthanasia. I was surprised to learn that while christianity and buddism approaches such issues from completely different sides, more often than not the conclusion reached is glaringly similar.
• 
  Hasta Fu

  Once someone told me that Buddism is a very atheistic religion, I didn't believe in him. In the end, it seems that Buddha is not the God, he is only a teacher who shows us what to follow. One can evolve into a Buddha by virtue.
  
  The main teaching of Buddhism are compassion and empathy. Meditation and Mindfulness which don't sound like something useful, might do good to oneself over the longer term.
  
  The concept in Buddhism ethics is neither right or wrong, nor black or white.
• 
  Prashant Drolia

  The author has studied the text well but has no idea of the sub continent in practical terms. If he did, he would not ask about why there is no ethical writings from people of the subcontinent. This is because here each individual chooses his or her own ethics like they choose which god to venerate in their prayers. Therefore, there are many moral sayings and writings, and any individual can choose between these morals to form his or her own ethics.
• 
  Ariyajyoti Bhikkhu

  Buddhist Ethics: A Short Introduction has written concisely and precisely for those who wants to know Buddhism in particular and ethics in general. The Author encapsulated the Buddhist literature from various angles in relation to philosophy of Ethical theory. The writing is very provocative. I do recommend for those who wants to read for interest or even for research purpose.
• 
  Bethany

  A good overview and gives you almost a ‘sneak peak’ into what Buddhism is really about. Slow at times, but then sometimes non-fiction is. Nevertheless, a very factual, educational and intriguing book for anyone studying Buddhism or Eastern Philosophy/ Ethics!
• 
  Stephanie

  (Audiobook) this was an enjoyable listen! Short introduction (as the title states) to multiple topics (animal cruelty, karma, abortion, suicide, to name a few). It helps to have a basic understanding of Buddhism but not necessary. Little nuggets of information.
• 
  Camie

  This is a very good introduction.
• 
  Gianmichael Salvato

  
  
  Dry and boring as hell, this is an excellent primer and resource/discussion guide for the more in-deth and substantial texts on the subject.
• 
  Arvind

  Worth reading for the last chapter on Transhumanist and Cyborg ethics - topics in serious need of diverse global perspectives. The chapter mentions OpenAI's work.
• 
  Torzi

  Finally done!!! Very helpful introduction to Buddhist Ethics - aiding my extended essays on ecological ethics nicely!
• 
  Daniel Franco

  A good approach to the very new Buddhist Ethics