This systematic introduction to Buddhist ethics is aimed at anyone interested in Buddhism, including students, scholars and general readers. Peter Harvey is the author of the acclaimed Introduction to Buddhism (Cambridge, 1990), and his new book is written in a clear style, assuming no prior knowledge. At the same time it develops a careful, probing analysis of the nature and practical dynamics of Buddhist ethics in both its unifying themes and in the particularities of different Buddhist traditions. The book applies Buddhist ethics to a range of issues of contemporary concern: humanity's relationship with the rest of nature; economics; war and peace; euthanasia; abortion; the status of women; and homosexuality. Professor Harvey draws on texts of the main Buddhist traditions, and on historical and contemporary accounts of the behaviour of Buddhists, to describe existing Buddhist ethics, to assess different views within it, and to extend its application into new areas.
- Written in a clear style, assuming no prior knowledge, yet is probing and analytical
- Draws together a growing body of material, integrates it and extends it
- The only up-to-date systematic introduction to Buddhist ethics available
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Reviews & endorsements
'Marks the beginning of a new era in the study of Buddhist ethics … an accessible and authoritative way in to a subject that is sure to become one of the major growth areas in Buddhist Studies.' Expository Times
'This volume will undoubtedly carve out a niche for itself in terms of the information it provides, for both the general audience and the serious scholar.' Religion
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Product details
- Date Published: June 2000
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9780521556408
- length: 500 pages
- dimensions: 226 x 152 x 28 mm
- weight: 0.73kg
- contains: 10 b/w illus.
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
1. Shared foundations of Buddhist ethics: sources of guidance to Buddhists
Rebirth and karma
The four noble truths
Philosophy of action
2. Key Buddhist values
giving
Keeping the lay precepts
Monastic values
Ethics of inter-personal relationships
Loving kindness and compassion
Social ethics
3. Mahayana emphases and adaptations: the path of the Bodhisattva
The ethics of the Bodhisattva
Skilful means and overriding precepts
Specific strands of Mahayana thought and practice
Mahayana reassessment of monasticism
4. Attitude to and treatment of the natural world
Humanity's place in nature
Non-harming of animals
Positive regard, and help, for animals
Plants, trees and forests
Conservation and environmentalism
5. Economic ethics
Lay economic ethics
The monastic economy
Buddhism and capitalism: Weber's 'Protestant Ethic' thesis
'Buddhist economics'
Buddhism and economics in the modern world
6. War and peace
Buddhist analyses of the causes of conflict
Solutions to conflict
Non-violent reflections on a violent world
The position of the soldier
Buddhist 'justifications' of and involvement in, violence
Buddhist action for peace in the modern world
7. Suicide and euthanasia
considerations and arguments against suicide
Suicide and the precepts
Euthanasia
8. Abortion and contraception
Embryonic life
Abortion and Buddhist principles
Contraception
Abortion in Buddhist cultures
Anti-abortion but pro-choice?: the relationship between morality and law
9. The status of women: women in early Hinduism
the effect of Buddhism
The spiritual potential and achievement of women
Gender, rebirth and the status of women
Views on spiritual statuses unattainable by women
Images of wise and wayward women
Ascetic wariness of the opposite sex
The ordination of women
Nuns and other female religious roles in Buddhist cultures
Lay women in Buddhist texts
Lay women in Buddhist cultures
10. Homosexuality and other forms of 'Queerness'
Sex change
Hermaphrodites
Pandakas
Homosexual acts
Homosexuality in Buddhist cultures.
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Instructors have used or reviewed this title for the following courses
- Buddhist Ethics
- Buddhist Philosophy
- Comparative Religious Ethics
- Introduction to Buddhist Ethics
- Religious Ethics
Author
Peter Harvey, University of Sunderland