How should Buddhists behave? Good moral conduct in Buddhism

 

Good Moral Conduct

·        In Buddhism, karma is governed by the rule of intention, meaning that if one has a good intention for the actions that they perform, then they will receive good karma. This is true even if their action accidentally brought about negative consequences. The Buddha emphasised that people must have Kusala intentions (healthy intentions) rather than Akusala intentions (unhealthy intentions). This means that people should follow the eightfold path – having the right intention, the right effort, the right livelihood, and performing right actions are all key. It is also important that people are not acting for a selfish reason – they should be intending to help others as well as aiming to escape Samsara themselves.

·        Some might argue that Buddhist followers cannot have free will as so much of their personality is determined by karma and rebirth. However, the Buddha would view Buddhists as being morally responsible for their own actions, and free will does exist in Buddhism despite karma, samsara and paticassamuppada appearing to determine certain aspects of one’s life and character. People are still free to make moral choices and to determine if their own intention and actions are moral and fit with the Eightfold Path.

·        All Theravada Buddhists must agree to abide by the five moral precepts which govern their behaviour and help people to live a moral life. These are focused on sila (morality) and are: to abstain from killing; false speech; taking what is not given; misuse of sensual pleasures and substances that cloud the mind. All lay Buddhists and monks and nuns must follow these rules, and if a monk or nun were to be found to be breaking the precepts they may be expelled from the Sangha.

·        All Mahayana Buddhists must follow 6 perfections which help them on the way to becoming a bodhisattva, the ultimate goal for Mahayana Buddhists. These are 6 morally preferable characteristics which are distinct from the 5 precepts of Theravada Buddhism – they are: wisdom; generosity; morality; zeal (enthusiasm and passion); meditation and patience. These are obviously different to the 5 precepts of Theravada Buddhism because they are much broader and could be more open to interpretation, but it is still possible to see how the 6 perfections should guide a Mahayana Buddhist in how to behave morally.

Ahimsa

·        Ahimsa is a key part of Buddhist moral behaviour – it refers to non-violence and suggests that Buddhists should always be peaceful. Like karma, it is governed by the rule of intention – accidentally harming an animal such as an insect is not seen as a morally bad action, but purposefully hurting another being is morally wrong according to the doctrine of ahimsa.

·        Ahimsa can be shown in may ways – for example Buddhists are called in the Eightfold Path to have a right livelihood or career. Due to the teaching of ahimsa, it would be seen as morally reprehensible for a Buddhist to choose a career as a hunter or butcher, as these jobs are based on harming animals – this would create bad karma.

·        When it comes to the treatment of animals, many Buddhists believe that they will be repaid in future lives if they mistreat animals. Most would therefore reject any action which harms animals, such as animal testing, hunting and wearing animal skins/fur. This is because an animal is not going to be in that form forever, and in the future could be a God or human, so they should be treated as such. Some Buddhists may choose to be vegetarian, although it is not possible in all places (for example the climate in Mongolia and Nepal means that many Buddhist followers must eat meat in order to survive as there are not enough crops). Monks may accept meat if it is donated to them by the laity, and the Buddha himself is thought to possibly eat meat, although it is hard to prove this through historical evidence. In some cultures such as China followers of Buddhism choose to be vegetarian.

·        Many Buddhists are completely against war because of the doctrine of ahimsa. Harvey suggests that a soldier who dies in battle is said to be immediately reborn as an animal or in hell, suggesting that fighting in a war is immoral for Buddhists. However, although monks and nuns are peaceful, lay Buddhists may choose to fight for their country in self-defence, for example in Thailand the army is well respected as they protect the community. Nevertheless, all Buddhists are against the use of weapons of mass destruction because of the way that they indiscriminately destroy life – particularly precious human rebirth where people are able to escape samsara through nirvana. The extent of the suffering is also huge and should be avoided in the eyes of Buddhists. Although not all Buddhists adopt it, Pacifism is seen to be the ideal – for example, the Emperor Ashoka in the 3^rd Century was said to give up military conquest when he converted to Buddhism, suggesting that this is the aim of the doctrine of ahimsa.

·        When it comes to the embryo and the unborn child, Buddhists are often against abortion as they believe that life begins at conception, and one of the 5 moral precepts is to abstain from killing. Peter Harvey argues that abortion “cuts of precious human rebirth” so it is seen as being morally wrong according to ahimsa. Abortions are also said to cause bad karma, so they should be avoided. However abortion may be accepted in some extreme cases, such as when the mother’s life is in danger, and abortion also became common in post-war Japan where there was a great deal of nuclear fallout, suggesting that sometimes abortion is permitted, even though the action would still cause bad karma for the mother and the doctors.