11. Ethics.
The way of the Buddha is called the
Middle Path because it avoids the
extremes of the
pursuit of worldly desires or the practice of several
asceticisms. It must be adjusted to the infinitely varying
circumstances of
actual life. Evil actions are to be
avoided by following the Middle Path or
ethical prac-
tice. Only Pure-Land Buddhism has
been an exception,
with its belief that all living beings are sinful and
are
saved by the compassionate grace of Amitābha Buddha.
The fundamental principle of Buddhist ethics is that
all men should develop
an attitude of compassion
(maitrī,
literally “true friendliness”). If we allow the
virtue of compassion or love of neighbors to grow in
us, it will not occur
to us to harm anyone else, any
more than we would willingly harm ourselves.
The laymen should obey the five precepts which
admonish him (1) not to kill,
(2) not to take what is
not given, (3) to refrain from unlawful sexual inter-
course, (4) not to tell lies, (5) not
to drink intoxicating
liquors. (But in Tibet and Japan the fifth precept
is
often not observed.)
The duties which are stressed are those between
parents and children,
husband and wife, pupils and
teachers, friend and friend, master and
servants, and
laymen and monks. The virtues stressed are (1) gener-
osity, (2) benevolence, (3) cooperation,
(4) service; these
four are regarded as the fundamental ones for
social
life. Courtesy, sympathy, and honesty, etc., are also
encouraged.
From the time of the Buddha, Buddhism has stressed
the equality of man. The
Buddha said: “For worms,
serpents, fish, birds, and animals
there are marks that
constitute their own species. There are differences
in
creatures endowed with bodies, but amongst men this
is not the
case; the differences among men are nominal
only” (Suttanipāta 602-11). There was no discrim-
ination among the monks in the
early Buddhist order.
This sense of equality has been theoretically
preserved
throughout most Buddhist orders, although it has often
been
impaired due to political reasons.
