章節試閱
"hapter Two
The Definition and Categories of Buddhist Normative Ethics
1. Introduction to the Study of Ethics
1.1 Definition and Categories
The study of ethics is research about knowledge in ethics (Chinese倫理; lún lǐ) and morals (Chinese道德; dào dé). In Chinese, the term ethics was first found in the chapter “Yue Ji” (Chinese樂記; yuè jì) of the book Li Ji (Chinese禮記; lǐ jì). It stated that, “A sound (yīn) is what occurs in one’s mind; a music (yuè) is a person who understands ethics.”
According to Xu Shen’s explanation in his book Shuo Wen, the word ‘Lun’ in the words ‘lun li’ (ethics in Chinese) means seniority or order. It also implies ‘path’, which can be extended to mean theory or principle. The word ‘Li’ means methods and principles. Thus, the two words ‘lun li’ form a compounded word that reinforces the meaning of each other. In ancient Chinese language, any theory or norm of conduct related to human relationships is classified under ‘ren lun’ (human ethics；Chinese人倫).
In Chinese etymology, there is a slight difference between ‘lun li’ and ‘dao de’. ‘Lun li’ refers to the norm of conduct among people. ‘dao de’ refers to the values and attitudes within oneself. ‘Lun li’ emphasizes the interactions amidst society. ‘Dao de’ places more emphasis on individuals. Thus they may also be rendered ‘morality’ or ‘virtue’ in English. However, in modern Chinese they are often treated as synonyms.
Comparing to the Greek ‘ethos’ and Latin ‘mores’, the Chinese normally translate ‘ethos’ as ‘lun li’ and ‘mores’ as ‘dao de’. However, from an etymological standpoint, both ‘ethos’ and ‘mores’ refer to normative ethics, or customs and habits in practice. Hence, the study of ethics is also called moral philosophy. Following the introduction of the contemporary Western study of ethics to China, where much research on ‘normative behavior’ is focused, Chinese render the study of ethics as the study of lun li, in accordance with the meaning of ren lun, human ethics.
Since scholars of both the East and West do not incline to differentiate the above two terms strictly, I will thus follow this norm and treat ‘ethics’ and ‘morals’ as synonyms in this book.
In short, ‘ethics’ is a set of norm systems. The study of ethics is a study that researches this norm system. The ethics discussed in the study of ethics are not confined to norm behavior or theory of human relationships only. It also covers two other aspects: general ethics and professional ethics.
a) General ethics
These are the norms that are suitable for all members in society. Taking into consideration the object of behavior, we can further subdivide these ethics into three types:
I. Individual ethics: These are the ethics regarding how an individual deals with circumstances in one’s life.
II. Individual-public ethics: These are the ethics in relation to the mutual communication between individuals and others, individuals and the public or society, individuals and the country, individuals and humankind, and even the communication among organizations (such as among countries or societies, associations, etc.)
III. Environmental ethics: individual-public ethics place emphasis on the relationship between oneself and others. However, what we confront are not only human beings, but there is also the environment around us. The environment encompasses animals and plants, as well as non-living things. How should we deal with them? Norms regarding this are called Environmental ethics.
b) Professional ethics
Members of a particular profession, such as doctors, nurses, scientists, entrepreneurs, soldiers, teachers, counselors, reporters and so forth have corresponding ethics for each profession; I.e., medical ethics, technological ethics, enterprise ethics, military ethics, teaching ethics, counseling ethics, mass media ethics, etc. These ethics were originally part of individual-public ethics; however, after adding rules for the professional roles that individuals play, they become independent ethics. These ethics deal with the norm that each individual professional area or occupation should observe, and also deal with ethical conflict resolution. These conflicts may come from two aspects:
i) internal problems of a profession
ii) problems that arise due to the interrelationship between a profession and the society.
1.2 Connotations and Classification
a) Positive ethics, obligation ethics, and descriptive ethics
The rationale for why an individual or a society actually believes how a person should behave or live (although it may not be realized) is called positive ethics (or positive morality).
The ideals or principles that an individual or a society should believe in regarding how a person should behave or live, is called obligation ethics (or obligation morality).
Descriptive ethics, which places emphasis on the study of history, anthropology or sociology, uses positive ethics as its research object. That is, it investigates the practical connotation and ethical ideology of human society in actual practice, as well as its historical causes and social backgrounds.
The study of ethics is philosophically inclined to go further in questioning the reasons behind positive ethics; that is, investigating the principles of morality. The process may involve criticism or reflection (and moral judgment) on positive ethics. In other words, this is a study that, based on its observation and analysis of positive ethics, constructs a theoretical system for obligation ethics.
For example, the study of Chinese feudal concepts of women during the Middle Ages and its influence is an example of descriptive ethics that is historically inclined.
To record the practical influence of the feudal concept of women in a particular village, or the differences in its influences in urban and rural areas in Taiwan at present, is a descriptive ethics that adopts a sociological or anthropological approach.
To further investigate the origin of the feudal concept of women, which may also involve rational criticism and reflection on the ideology, is a normative ethics and metaethics discussion, which takes the philosophical approach.
b) Normative ethics and metaethics
Normative ethics and metaethics are two ethical studies that adopt the philosophical approach. The relationship between normative ethics and metaethics are like the relationship between a language and its grammar.
I. Normative ethics
Normative ethics investigates the basic principles of the norm of our conduct, as well as ethical judgment in daily life when we are confronted with morality issues. This is a study of the wholesomeness (good) and unwholesomeness (evil) of our conduct; the right and wrong of our behavior. What normative ethics wishes to discuss is the obligation principles of the ethical behavior. However, it is not telling us ‘what we should do’, but investigates the various systems of thought, and the reasoning behind why we should do it.
A concrete ethical judgment (for example, Mr. San should not kill Mr. Si) and an abstract moral principle (for example, do not kill), together form an ‘ethical sentence’. Normative ethics is a study based on the meaning of obligation ethics, which forms and proves these ‘ethical sentences’. Contemporary analytic philosophy systematically investigates which types of mind-sets and behaviors are ethical and which are not. What are the reasons behind them? Are there adequate ethical reasons? This study that researches the principles of morality is called the study of normative ethics.
The study of normative ethics can be further subdivided:
First is fundamental ethics, which investigates the fundamental theories of normative ethics. This includes a set of moral rules that is complete and applicable to everyone. These are rules that help to justify the rightness and wrongness of our behavior.
The second type is applied ethics, which apply moral rules investigated by fundamental ethics to various practical areas in life. They help to clarify and solve specific moral issues confronted in practical life.
II. Metaethics
This ethical study takes ethical justification and morality rules as its research objects. It is a study that analyzes the meanings and special characteristics of ethical phrases or words (for example, wholesome) and the ethical sentences formed by ethical phrases (for example, helping others is a wholesome act). This is called the study of metaethics.
What metaethics is concerned with is not the structure or proof of ethical phrases and sentences, but about whether these ethical phrases and sentences can be defined. In addition, it also examines whether moral judgment is a subjective, emotional view or an objective truth. In other words, it is trying to find out whether the nature of ethics as described by ethical phrases is objectively real, and can be recognized. Or is it unreal, and therefore unable to be recognized?
Metaethics developed after the rise of the contemporary study of analytical philosophy. The traditional study of normative ethics already presumed the objective values of moral truth. Thus, what traditional normative ethics researchers investigated was not whether ethical principles had objective foundations or were reasonable. Rather, their research was based on what the objective foundations or valid reasons that support ethical principles are. As such, the traditional normative ethics researchers tended not to doubt the pre-set objective values. They were inclined to objectivism and neglected the subjective implication of the moral truth.
In this book, we will focus our discussion on a normative ethics study of Buddhism. We may adopt the ‘meta’ approach of analysis to explore the ethical phrases if so needed. However, that is not the core aim of this book. Thus, we will not be setting aside specific chapters for a complete and systematic discussion of Buddhist views with respect to a metaethics approach.
2. Religion, Ethics and the Study of Religious Ethics
From ancient times to today, ethics has not necessarily relied on religion to exist. People who believe in religion and people who do not believe in religion still have their norms of conduct on how they should live and how they should treat others.
On the contrary, must religions, including Buddhism, touch on issues of ethics or morality? Or, could religions narrow the scope of ethics and allow their members to only concern themselves with individual ethics (ethics that are related to an individual’s situation in life), and not touch on individual-public ethics (ethics that are related to others and the public) and environmental ethics (ethics that are related to the world one is living in) at all? This is what we discuss here in this section.
In Christianity, there is a debate over the ideas between ‘spiritual-belonging’ and ‘world-belonging’. In Buddhism, there is also an argument between two paths of practice, ‘other-worldly’ or ‘world-integrated’. This is an old, controversial topic of discussion. However, back to our question, even for hermits who emphasize cultivating ‘spiritual-belonging’ or ‘other-worldly’ practice, for them to stand in this world and fulfill their wish of benefiting themselves, they cannot avoid taking into consideration individual-public ethics and environmental ethics. Otherwise, they may encounter great rejection, or even disturbance from society. As such, they will find themselves in difficult situations, making it impossible to practice in seclusion.
Secondly, from a more positive point of view, religion cannot leave the issue of ethics aside, be it to fulfill the teaching of ‘love’ in Christianity, or the ‘loving kindness and compassion’ of Buddhism; or to promote the teaching so that it gains the acceptance and acknowledgement of people in the world; or to realize the ideal of giving assistance to the world and people.
All of this derives from analytical thinking, at a rational level. From a deeper point of view, since our life is rooted between the sky and the earth, how can we not think about the environment that we are living in, and our relationship with others? How can we have no feelings for the grandeur of the mountains and hills, the surges of the rivers and oceans, the vast and boundless stars and sky, the flying and movement of the birds, animals, insects and fish, the vitality of the grass, plants, flowers and fruits? If we do have thoughts and feelings towards these, then we should also have thought of ways of dealing with these objects that we confront, be it other people, the public and organizations, animals, plants, or even the non-living things in our environment. Research on ways of dealing with these objects is in fact the origin of the study of philosophy and religions.
In the teachings of Christianity and Buddhism, discussions of ethics or morality cannot be avoided. From their individual perspectives, the theologians or theological scholars of Christianity develop their unique theological ethics or moral theologies. Therefore, systematic and analytical research on the ethical views of any religion can be named the study of religious ethics. If we narrow the scope and carry out a systematic and analytical study on Buddhism’s ethical views, this is then called the study of Buddhist ethics.
In the West, the Christian faiths have been very self-aware, and have constructed a complete set of moral theologies. This is because there is a need for the Hebrew religion, which originated in western Asia, to have a positive dialogue with Greek philosophy, which is the indigenous thought of the West. In addition, Greek philosophy had long established its ethical study system since the time of Aristotle. As such, the great teacher of scholasticism of medieval times, Thomas Aquinas, integrated Greek philosophy and Hebrew theology, and used Aristotle’s philosophical approach to construct a study of morality that covered both theological law and natural law.
As Buddhism of the East does not have this background as such, its ethical study is still at the stage of positive ethics, of recording and narrating, although there is an abundance of ethics and morality-related information in the ancient Buddhist scriptures. There is also some contemporary research of Buddhist ethics taking the historical approach. Such research is investigating the living, social, and economic ethics of various Buddhist areas during the Buddha’s time, or other eras, according to the information in Buddhist scriptures, or related historical information of Buddhist countries.
Among the Buddhist books and materials that I have read, I have not found any specific work that constructs a study of obligation ethics through a philosophical approach. Thus, in 1995, I adopted the philosophical approach, and wrote The Study of Buddhist Ethics for teaching material for my students.
"
"hapter Two
The Definition and Categories of Buddhist Normative Ethics
1. Introduction to the Study of Ethics
1.1 Definition and Categories
The study of ethics is research about knowledge in ethics (Chinese倫理; lún lǐ) and morals (Chinese道德; dào dé). In Chinese, the term ethics was first found in the chapter “Yue Ji” (Chinese樂記; yuè jì) of the book Li Ji (Chinese禮記; lǐ jì). It stated that, “A sound (yīn) is what occurs in one’s mind; a music (yuè) is a person who understands e...
作者序
"Author’s Preface
As a Buddhist monastic, I have been actively engaged in social awareness campaigns over the past ten years, including environmental preservation, human rights, and animal welfare. Although many difficulties arose, my confidence in the Buddha’s teachings on ethics gave me the energy to persevere, despite these many setbacks. Strong convictions in these ethical principles have been the source of immense power, enabling my colleagues and I to continue striving to achieve our aims.
During the course of my participation in social action and social criticism, I have regularly met with many conscientious people and pioneering academics having acute critical awareness, profound insight, and the capacity for clear argumentation. In addition to exchanging ideas, I have been able to offer some viewpoints that are entirely different from worldly perspectives, due to my training in Buddhist philosophy. These perspectives, based on Buddhist teachings, occasionally shed important light on particular issues.
From among all these exchanges, one impressed me the most. At an annual meeting of the Taiwan Philosophy Society (台灣哲學學會), I sat beside Professor Sechin Y.S. Chien (錢永祥) of the Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica (中研究社科所). I mentioned the animal protection campaign that had started in Christian communities in the West. Unexpectedly, he said, “It would be much more appropriate if the campaign was to be carried out by people like you!” Of course, I knew what he meant by “appropriate”. Compared to Christianity’s theory that God, humans, and animals have different statuses, the Buddhist theory of equality among sentient beings provides a strong theoretical foundation for treating humans and animals with equal kindness.
For more than ten years, in meetings with government officials, before legislative committees, and in interviews, public hearings, press conferences, and seminars, I have always offered opinions on social topics and ethical disputes from a Buddhist perspective. I often write short editorials and news commentaries on these topics and disputes. Most of these are published in Taiwanese newspapers and magazines, and sometimes in Buddhist media.
These seemingly fragmented editorials and commentaries are written from the perspective of the Buddhist teachings on dependent origination. From the theory of dependent origination to the derivative concept of protecting life, a thread of logical connections strings my thoughts together. With this understanding, I systematically organized all the ideas I had presented in my op-ed pieces, and the questions they raised, into a complete and detailed systematic theory.
In April of 1995, the former head of the Faculty of Religious Studies at Fu Jen Catholic University (輔仁大學) – the kind and scholarly Father Liou Da Cheng (陸達誠神父) – invited me to lecture, the following semester, on Buddhist ethics to fourth-year students in a course that is typically devoted to the study of Western philosophy. In more than ten years of teaching in Buddhist academic circles, I had not encountered any Buddhist institution that included a course on Buddhist ethics in its curriculum. Although there is no standard textbook for such a course available in Chinese, I accepted the invitation without any hesitation. One reason was the experience I had gained through being involved in ethical issues in the community. The other was the intellectual ferment in my mind regarding this field of study. During my routine period of secluded reflection during July and August of that year, I wrote the book preliminary to this one, entitled The Study of Buddhist Ethics. On the one hand, I intended the book to be a textbook for students. On the other hand, I intended it to provide Buddhists and a general reading audience with a systematic knowledge of individual ethics, group ethics, and environmental ethics, based on specifically Buddhist principles.
Before I wrote that book, although I was familiar with the word “ethics”, I had never concerned myself with its precise, formal definitions. In primary and junior secondary education in Taiwan, where Confucian thought predominates, courses in Life and Ethics, Morals and Civil Society, and so forth have long been compulsory. The conceptual framework and basic teaching materials used in senior high schools for presenting Chinese culture and learning are completely based on Confucian ethics. After becoming a Buddhist monastic, primarily through my study of the Buddha’s teachings, I encountered abundant materials on ethics from other sources. Some of these are philosophical in nature, while others discuss ethical norms and systems. In addition, many interesting stories found in various sýtras and ùåstras illustrate ethical principles.
Asian philosophies, Buddhist or Confucian, are replete with ethical doctrines. Both Buddhism and Confucianism set forth high standards of morality to which scholars and practitioners are expected to adhere. However, ethics as an independent course of study, or academic discipline, is well established primarily in the West. Therefore, at that time, it was a somewhat new field of learning for me. In other words, in both Asia and the West, there are sets of ethical norms or moral teachings applied in practice. Yet to formulate a stand-alone course on Buddhist ethics and construct a complete system of thinking based on Buddhist ethical norms and moral teachings was a very new discipline that I had never come across in my prior Buddhist training. In order to write that book, I thus began to read books on Western ethics and moral theology. Breaking away from the common, predominantly philological pattern of writing, my own unique approach in writing is more philosophical.
With my knowledge and experience gained both in life and from my involvement in social issues, I searched for a formal framework to narrate my theory. The intellectual exercise that I undertook in writing The Study of Buddhist Ethics was entirely different from the process that scholars typically follow. Many scholars come up with new ideas during lengthy periods of committed teaching of a particular field of knowledge, and expound their ideas through written works that are based on a continual refining of ideas, rather than using experience of direct implementation and practical application of theory.
Thus, with my unique practical background, while writing that book I quite naturally addressed certain issues of contemporary concern such as gender liberation, politics, animal rights, and ecology; and wrote from a specifically Buddhist viewpoint. While that book, for some, may have lacked a familiar formalism, on the other hand it has specifically Buddhist responses to contemporary trends and issues in a global society.
More than seven years have passed since the first publication of The Study of Buddhist Ethics in November 1995. In the meantime, it has appeared in three editions throughout five printings, yielding more than 8000 copies . I have since conducted courses in Buddhist Ethics and the Study of Religious Ethics at the Faculty of Religion at Fu Jen University, Hsuan Chuang University, Department of Religious Studies (玄奘大學宗教研究所), and Hong Shi Buddhist College (佛教弘誓學院). In addition, in 2001, all of the lectures I gave in the Hong Shi Extension Education Department in Taipei were broadcast by Dharma Realm Satellite Television (法界衛星電視), as part of an educational program for Dharma Realm Buddhist Academy (法界空中佛學院).
I soon began to write academic papers and short commentaries specifically on applied ethics. The topics discussed included euthanasia, organ transplantation, stem cell research, cloning, surrogate motherhood, and more. Most of these topics concern the development of modern scientific medical treatments. Over the next seven years, despite the demands of teaching, I referred to many more materials on the topic, always using Buddhist views as a reference point for pondering ethical topics. Eventually, the contents of my courses moved beyond the original parameters of a system of values within a Buddhism framework to include constructive dialogue both with the study of ethics in general, and the ethics of Christianity. This has resulted in a deeper and more refined examination of the preliminary system of Buddhist ethics I constructed earlier.
Initially, I planned to revise and enlarge the scope of The Study of Buddhist Ethics; however, introducing new topics into the original framework would have disrupted the systematic exposition of basic principles, moral codes, human conduct, and ethical undertakings. Furthermore, the intended audience of the book was originally university students who lacked basic knowledge of Buddhist teachings, and Buddhist readers unfamiliar with the topic of ethics. Consequently, although I could not completely avoid using technical vocabulary, I tried to use terminology that was as straightforward as possible in order to facilitate readers’ understanding. To add new material to the book would have increased the complexity of the terminology and the complexity of the discussion of ethics and Buddhist precepts2, which would have posed obstacles for beginners.
I therefore decided to retain the original format of the book, and let it stand as an introductory textbook for the study of Buddhist ethics. Only minor revisions will appear in subsequent editions. Aside from the original book, I also began planning to write The Study of Buddhist Normative Ethics. In this book, the contents of its chapters and sections form their own system. I.e., readers who have not read The Study of Buddhist Ethics can read this book directly. On the other hand, this book also continues discussions established in the former book, and provides a more complete and extensive analysis of such topics, so that it becomes advanced reading material, building conceptually on The Study of Buddhist Ethics.
On October 10, 2002, I gave a lecture at Fu Dan University’s (复旦大學) America Research Centre in Shanghai in response to an invitation from Professor Wáng Léi Quán (王雷泉教授), the head of the Department of Religious Study. I entitled it “The Middle Path of Dependent Origination – A System of Thought Connecting the Buddhist Ethics and the Study of Precepts”. Upon returning to Taiwan, I formed half of the contents of the lecture into a thesis entitled “The Fundamental and Middle Level Principle of Religious Ethics – With Christianity and Buddhism as the Focus of Investigation” and made it a part of the chapters in The Study of Buddhist Normative Ethics. I delivered this thesis in the annual meeting of the Philosophy Society of Taiwan on December 14, 2002 at the auditorium of the Faculty of Philosophy at National Taiwan University (台灣大學). I had also submitted the whole article for publication in The Fa Guang Academic Magazine (法光學壇) in advance, as my offering to Buddhist readers. I planned to have the manuscript of the book completed during the winter holidays and have it published on March 29, 2003 – the first day of the 4th Seminar on “Buddhism for the Human World – Let the Light Pass On” which celebrated the 98th birthday of His Eminence, Venerable Master Yin Shun (印順導師).
I thus originally planned to write in seclusion without outside interruptions. However, unexpectedly, I still could not totally avoid all worldly affairs. Firstly, during that winter holiday, there was debate between Professor Lin Jian De (林建德教授) and teachers of Contemporary Chan (現代禪). The basis of the debate was my teacher Venerable Yin Shun’s philosophy. Since it was an important matter, I could not help following its development, and wrote a rather formal and complete response.2 In addition, I responded actively to issues facing the Tzu Chi organization, and engaged in animal welfare projects during this time.
Therefore, although my writing plan could not help but be delayed as I continued to be an activist, at the end of the day, those who had to suffer the most were my students, who had to carry out the editing and compiling by burning midnight oil. But those events, my respected friends who helped selflessly in the name of righteousness, and those lovely students who silently supported me, allowed me to prove some of the viewpoints in this book conclusively. For example, psychological egoism maintains that all human behavior originate from self-interest; and ethical egoism further emphasizes the idea that everyone must enhance one’s own benefit, and that everyone has the obligation to do everything that is beneficial to oneself. The viewpoints of these universal propositions are lopsided. In this world, there will always be those with the spiritual foundation of bodhisattvas, who always put aside their own affairs because of the needs of others. They cannot bear to see the suffering of others, and have the view that they must unconditionally sacrifice their own benefits for those of others. They are people who pursue the conviction of altruism. Their actions may even be beyond obligation.
Take Venerable Cheng Yen, as an example; thirty-six years ago (1966), because she felt for the sorrow and helplessness of disenfranchised native women, she made a resolution to establish her inspirational undertaking – the Tzu Chi Foundation. To date, she has assembled a colossal organization consisting of four million people who selflessly help the needy, and relieve the distressed, for the interest of others all over the world via hospitals and disaster relief projects. Even though she had to endure challenges, she herself dismissed them from her mind, and continued with her mission.
Although Venerable Cheng Yen and I are entirely different in our approaches to social issues, we both share a feeling of not forsaking others when it comes to people and events. This is what led to the serious delay of my plans to write this book. It was not until mid-February 1992, when the winter holiday drew to a close, that I started to reorganize and rewrite my past writings on applied ethics. Furthermore, in order to coordinate the graphic edition, proofreading and printing, the manuscript of this book was to be definitely completed before 17th March 2003. Because of my shortcomings, there are bound to be oversights and omissions. I cordially seek the readers’ forgiveness and valuable comments.
Phenomena do not arise independently. They arise relying on conditions. Besides thanking my predecessors in the field of ethics – for it was their cultivation that led to the plentiful fruits I have reaped – I would like to thank in particular Venerable Yìn Shùn and Venerable Shing Kuang (性廣法師).
Venerable Yin Shun had already constructed an extensive and profound theory of ‘Buddhism for the Human World’, with respect to the ideologies and systems of Buddha dharma. His methodology of study – using the three “seal” principles to study Buddha dharma (namely: all activities/actions are impermanent; all phenomena are selfless (combination of causes and conditions; there is no inherent self-identity; the no-self philosophy), and nirvåïa is tranquil and calm) – has greatly inspired my learning and research. All of these are sources of the thoughts in this book. To put it more accurately, this book is a further elaboration of the Buddhist ethics studies and the study of precepts having Venerable Yìn Shùn’s ideology as its foundation.
Venerable Shing Kuang is proficient in both teaching and meditative contemplation. Originally, she was determined to elucidate the teaching of meditation extensively and to write specialised books on meditation. Nevertheless, as she could not bear to see me working strenuously alone, such that she had to put aside her main project, and became duty-bound to join the ranks for protecting Buddhism and life in Buddhist ethics. She has recently completed her doctorate course at the Department of Philosophical Research in National Central University (中央大學) which excels in the Applied Ethics, to carry out ethics research. While I was refining the outline of this book, she collected many Chinese and Western works on ethics so that I could reduce the time I spent searching for materials. She has also provided many valuable suggestions during the drafting stage of this book, which has led to modifications to the sequence of the contents.
I also wish to thank Professor Lee Shui Chuen (李瑞全), the Head of the Philosophical Research Department of Central University. Through the recommendation of Venerable Shing Kuang, I had the pleasure of reading his masterpiece, The Life Ethics Studies of Confucianism. This book drew on the essential viewpoints of life ethics by assimilating modern Western ethics and absorbing the teaching of Principlism in particular. It also touches on the important points of various ethical studies and life philosophies. With a thorough understanding of the middle principle put forward by Principlism, it integrates and develops a middle principle unique to Confucianism, and establishes a study of life ethics with Confucianism (humanism variant) as the core. I am very interested in the pattern he used to construct the whole set of ideologies. Thus, I found the original English work of Principlism by following the clues in the book. Based solely on the four fundamental middle principles expounded and proved in the original book, I utilised them to inspect the study of Buddhist ethics. This has allowed me to make a deeper exploration into the Principle of Autonomy, and Principle of Justice, based on the Theory of Dependent Origination, besides the two principles that I had written of in my earlier book - the ‘Law of Cause and Effect’ and ‘Concept of Protecting Life’. As a result, there are enhanced discussions on problems related to ‘free will’ and ‘distributive justice’ in this book.
I also want to mention some friends and seniors in the circle of education. They are Professor Huang Tzung Le (黃宗樂), Prof. Gu Deng Mei (古登美), Prof. Ye Hai Yen (葉海煙), Prof. Chen De Guang (陳德光), Prof. Huang Yun Shi (黃運喜) and Prof. Jiang Tsan Teng (江燦騰). I also thank my friends in the media, Chief Editor Mr. Liou Yung Chang (劉永昌), Ms. Liang Yu Fang (梁玉芳) and Mr. Chen Shi Tsai (陳世財). Much gratitude also goes to several friends in the community, former legislative committee member Mr. Lin Ruei Tu (林瑞圖), the Deputy Minister of Education Fan Shiun Liu (范巽綠), lawyer Lai Hau Min (賴浩敏), lay devotee Chang Chang De (張章得), Mr. Li Yuan Sung (李元松), Mr. Li Jung Chih (李重志) and Mr. Guo Jian Meng (郭建盟). Without the voluntary help from these old friends, who stand by me through thick and thin, I may not even have the interest to write any theses related to ethics, let alone write this book.
I wish to thank Venerable Kung Ji (空寂法師), who edited the graphic edition, Venerable Yin Yue (印悅法師), who directed the team of proofreaders, lay devotees Loo Fei Chao (盧慧昭), Chen Wen Ling (陳文玲), and Wu Huei Man (吳惠曼), who participated in proofreading, and lay devotee Wang Tsai Hung (王彩虹), who took care of the publication, and the other monastics and volunteers of the Hong Shi monastery, who assumed the responsibility of operating the monastery so that we could carry out writing, compiling and proofreading free from administrative worries. My gratitude goes to all my teachers and friends who have long assisted me, and all my friends who strive together with me for social justice.
I solemnly transfer the merit of writing this book to all my teachers and friends who deserve respect and gratitude. I wish them good health, physical and mental well being, and wish for the growth of their wisdom and cultivation of virtue.
“May Venerable Yin Shun have unlimited longevity,
May the brightness of righteous dharma forever shine in the
world!”
"
"Author’s Preface
As a Buddhist monastic, I have been actively engaged in social awareness campaigns over the past ten years, including environmental preservation, human rights, and animal welfare. Although many difficulties arose, my confidence in the Buddha’s teachings on ethics gave me the energy to persevere, despite these many setbacks. Strong convictions in these ethical principles have been the source of immense power, enabling my colleagues and I to continue striving to achieve our ...
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