“In other words, the dhamma, or the doctrine, and the vinaya, or the discipline, make the whole of Buddhist ethics. The dhamma deals with ideals and principles, whereas the vinaya deals with rules and circumstances in which these ideals and principles are practiced and realized. The vinaya here denotes not only the monks’ or nuns’ discipline, but also the spirit of these rules and regulations.”
Origin
This paper, “Foundations of Buddhist Social Ethics” was originally entitled “Foundations of Buddhist Social Ethics in Contemporary Thailand” and subsequently published in Thailand under the title “Social Dimension of Buddhism in Contemporary Thailand.” It was a commissioned paper presented on June 19, 1981, at the “Moral Values in Comparative Perspective” conference, which was sponsored by the Berkeley/Harvard Cooperative Program in Comparative Religion, and held at the Graduate Theological Union, UC Berkeley, June 17–20, 1981. The essay then appeared as the sole chapter of the first section in Ethics, Wealth and Salvation: A Study in Buddhist Social Ethics, edited by Russell F. Sizemore and Donald K. Swearer, and published by the University of South Carolina Press in 1989. Also included in the present collection is the original volume editors’ section introduction.
[Webmaster: copied from the Preface of “Vision of the Dhamma: A Collection of Buddhist Writings in English“]
Read the introduction from the editor of “Vision of the Dhamma: A Collection of Buddhist Writings in English” at Original Volume Editors’ Section Introduction
No Comments
Comments are closed.