RLT4070

Buddhist ethics: society and politics

Ian Mabbett and Padmasiri De Silva

12 points
* 2 hours per week
* Second semester
* Clayton

Objectives Students will be expected to acquire and demonstrate familiarity with the key Buddhist texts and their interpretation, as well as skill in analysing and writing about their relation to a wider ethical, social and political context.

Synopsis This subject will adopt a historical framework and will address the perennial historical problems involved in assessing written sources as evidence of the past. There will be attention to ethical and social doctrines in early Buddhist texts, and their implications for questions of politics, in the light of the society of the time. Within this framework, the subject will adopt an interdisciplinary approach, exploring a number of philosophical and political issues. It will examine the Buddhist ethical doctrines and theories critically and comparatively in the light of Western philosophical issues. There will be close study of the following areas: (i) the place of morality within the Noble Eightfold Path; (ii) the individual and society; (iii) the ethics of the householder and the monks; (iv) the Buddhist ethical ideas and the criteria for evaluating action. The subject will highlight selected issues of social concern such as human relationships and emotions, women and family, race, caste and identity orientations, equality, freedom and human rights, ethical issues pertaining to the environment, and death and dying.

Assessment Exercise (1000 words): 10%
* Two research essays (3000 words each): 30%
* Examination (2 hours): 60%

Recommended texts

Carrithers M The Buddha OUP, 1983
Collins S Selfless persons: Imagery and thought in Theravãda Buddhism CUP, 1982
Conze E Buddhism: Its essence and development Cassirer, 1957
De Silva P Introduction to Buddhist psychology Macmillan, 1991
Jayatilleke K N Khamma, man and law Buddhist Research Society, Singapore
Rahula Walpola What the Buddha taught Gordon Fraser, 1978
Saddhatissa H Buddhist ethics Allen and Unwin, 1970