My second Philosophy paper, a comparative essay between an Eastern and Western Religion, from this past fall semester. I did keep learning things I hadn't known before.
I earned a 95% on this one, too.
Philosophy 200
November 21, 2013
Ethics
and Morality within Eastern and Western Religions
When comparing and
contrasting Eastern and Western Religions, in this case Buddhism and
Christianity, ethics and morality play a vital role, albeit those virtues
originate from different sources. Ethics are commonly defined as a set of
principles of right conduct or a system of moral values. Morality is defined as
the quality of being in accord with standards of right or good conduct. The
concepts of ethics and morality are knit very closely together. It leads one to
ask, ultimately,
where does good and upright moral conduct originate and how
does it affect society?
A Buddhist is
taught to develop good conduct or ethics by training in the "Five Moral Precepts."
According to Buddhist teachings, each action performed must be studied to
determine whether it would be harmful to oneself or to another, with all
actions considered harmful to be avoided. Buddhists begin teaching these five
concepts to their children at a young age, allowing them to begin practicing
ethical living while still growing into adulthood.
The Five Precepts,
which are also called trainings, are as follows:
“1. I undertake the precept to
refrain from destroying living creatures.
2. I undertake the precept to
refrain from taking that which is not given.
3. I undertake the precept to
refrain from sexual misconduct.
4. I undertake the precept to
refrain from incorrect speech.
5. I undertake the precept to
refrain from intoxicating drinks and drugs which lead to carelessness (Insight) ”
These are training
rules, which, if broken, the Buddhist should become aware of the offense,
leading to an examination of how to avoid such an offense in the future. The
practicing Buddhist would emphasize the use of a skillful mind that would
enable him to avoid any situation or action that might cause any type of
suffering or remorse to himself or others.
Buddhism places a great emphasis on 'mind' and tries to cultivate a calm
and peaceful awareness; therefore, feelings of remorse, anxiety, and guilt are considered
mental anguish and are to be avoided.
Additionally,
Buddhists follow the Eightfold Path, also called the Middle Path or Middle Way.
It is the system of following eight divisions of the path to achieve spiritual
enlightenment and cease suffering:
1. “Right
understanding: Understanding that the Four Noble Truths are noble and true.
2. Right
thought: Determining and resolving to practice Buddhist faith.
3. Right
speech: Avoiding slander, gossip, lying, and all forms of untrue and abusive
speech.
4. Right
conduct: Adhering to the idea of nonviolence (ahimsa), as well as refraining
from any form of stealing or sexual impropriety.
5. Right
means of making a living: Not slaughtering animals or working at jobs that
force you to violate others.
6. Right
mental attitude or effort: Avoiding negative thoughts and emotions, such as
anger and jealousy.
7. Right
mindfulness: Having a clear sense of one’s mental state and bodily health and
feelings.
8. Right
concentration: Using meditation to reach the highest level of enlightenment (Gellman and
Hartman) .”
Furthermore,
Buddhism is a tradition that focuses on personal spiritual development and is grounded in a fundamental belief in the inherent
dignity of all life. Buddhists strive for a deep insight into the true nature of life
and do not worship gods or deities whereas in the monotheistic western religion
of Christianity, spiritual development is considered something that one cannot
do by his or her own will, but can only be accomplished through the power of
Christ and the Holy Spirit’s internal work.
For example,
The Ten Commandments were set forth so as to show what holiness is, since
purity, rightness and goodness are attributes of God. “The point of the Ten Commandments is to show us
how bad we are and how desperately in need of a Savior we are. The Ten Commandments were never given as a set of guidelines to live
by. They were given to show us our utter failure in the eyes of God. The Ten
Commandments then, by virtue of the fact that they expose our sins to our
minds, lead us to hope in someone other than ourselves for our salvation (Rick Walston) ,” that being Christ Jesus.
As a Christian, the standard is perfection: “ Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is
perfect (Bible Matt
5:48) ”
A Christian believes that the sanctification process continues as he lives his
life to God’s glory, studying scripture in order to know truth, and denying
sinful fleshly desires. Although a Christian will not reach perfection on this
side of heaven, he strives to do the best he can each day, which honors and
brings glory to God, with the hope that his witness will draw others toward Christ.
Since no human is perfect and will fall into sin or unintentionally hurt another,
Jesus spoke frequently about forgiveness of sins in the context of asking
others to forgive us when we cause a hurt in their life and freely forgiving
those who have caused us pain or suffering. Although both Christians and
Buddhists strive to not cause harm to others, a Buddhist is careful to be
peaceful and not cause strife for anyone else, whereas a Christian realizes
that unintended sins against others will occur, but one can find redemption and
forgiveness through Christ’s atoning death on the cross. However, both
religions agree that it is best not cause anyone suffering in the first place.
Secondly, In the
Eastern religions there is noticeable amount of moral reverence shown when it
comes to how parents, family, and elders are respected and treated. Children
are taught these concepts early in life. Proof of this can be seen in Buddhist
teachings. The Itivuttaka, a collection of 112 short discourses of sayings of
the Buddha, offers the following example: “This was said by the Blessed One,
said by the Arahant, so I have heard: "Living with Brahma are those
families where, in the home, mother & father are revered by the children. 'Brahma'
is a designation for mother & father. 'The first devas' is a designation
for mother & father. 'The first teachers' is a designation for mother &
father. 'Those worthy of gifts' is a designation for mother & father. Why
is that? Mother & father do much for their children. They care for them,
nourish them, introduce them to this world. So the wise should pay them homage,
honor with food & drink, clothing & bedding, anointing & bathing
& washing their feet. Performing these services to their parents, the wise
are praised right here and after death rejoice in heaven. (Windisch 106) ."
In the Sigalovada Sutta,
a Buddhist code of discipline, the following suggestion is given. “In five ways
a child should minister to his parents as the eastern quarter [i.e., the
direction of the rising sun or birth]: 'Once supported by them, I will now be
their support; I will perform duties incumbent on them; I will keep up the
lineage and tradition of my family; I will make myself worthy of my heritage; I
will give alms on their behalf when they are dead.' In five ways do the
parents, thus ministered to as the eastern quarter by their child, act in
sympathy with him: they restrain him from vice, they exhort him to virtue, they
train hum to a profession, they contract a suitable marriage for him, and in
due time they hand over his inheritance (Thero III,
189) .
“
In the Path of
Purification one reads, “Consequently he should think about that person thus:
This person, it seems as my mother in the past carried me in her womb for ten
months and removed from me without disgust as if it were yellow sandalwood my
urine, excrement, spittle, snot, etc., and played with me in her lap, and
nourished me, carrying me about at her hip. And this person as my father went
by great paths and paths set on piles, etc., to pursue the trade of merchant,
and he risked his life for me by going into battle in double array, by sailing
on the great ocean in shops and doing other difficult things and he nourished
me by bringing back wealth by one means or another thinking to feed his
children (Nanamoli and
Buddhaghosa IX, 36) .”
It is clear that
the moral code of revering our elders is carried out in a very serious manner
in the Buddhist religion and culture. Educating children to recognize the love
and sacrifice made by caring parents is key in building an ethical and moral
generation. The entire society benefits as children are taught to respect and
care for their parents and elders, since these children will one day grow old
also, and will need their children to care for them.
Likewise, God
instructs Christian parents to teach their children discipline and
respect. The Bible offers as guidance to
parents the following three verses: “Fathers, do not provoke
your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of
the Lord (Bible Eph.
6:4) ,”
“The
rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his
mother (Bible Prov.
29:15) ,”
and “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not
depart from it (Bible Prov.
22:6) .”
To the young Christians God instructs, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right (Bible Eph. 6:1) ,”
Respect and caring
for one’s parents is also a Christian moral responsibility. "Honor your father and
mother"—which is the first commandment with a promise—"that it may go
well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth" (Ephesians
6:2-3). When Christians honor and care for their parents, they are serving God
as well. The Bible says, “The church should care for any widow who has no one
else to care for her. But if she has children or grandchildren, their first
responsibility is to show Godliness at home and repay their parents by taking
care of them. This is something that pleases God very much....But those who
won't care for their own relatives, especially those living in the same
household, have denied what we believe. Such people are worse than unbelievers (Bible 1 Timothy 5:3-4, 8) .”
It is clearly seen that Buddhists look to
their internal self to do the morally right thing by employing the Buddha’s
teachings of the Five Precepts and the Noble Eight –Fold path, whereas Christians
derive their moral and ethical code from what God has written in His Holy Word,
the Bible. The morals and ethics that result are amazingly quite similar and
can be summed up in the Golden Rule: Treat others as you would like to be
treated. The British academic philosopher Simon Blackburn states, “The Golden
Rule can be found in some form in almost every ethical tradition (Blackburn 101) ,” in both Eastern
and Western Religions. If this Golden Rule is followed, the result is a
peaceful and kinder society who cares for the needs of their fellow man. When
a nation drifts from practicing some form of religion, we see that society lose
respect and consideration for their elders and one another. Thereafter, a moral
decline begins as the society becomes more corrupt and inflicts endless kinds
of harm and suffering upon one another. It is no wonder that Buddha is quoted
as saying he didn’t start the philosophy, he was simply bringing the old ways
back. A similar cry is heard in America today, encouraging people to return to
the faith of our forefathers, that morality might return to our land.
Works Cited
Bible, Holy. The Holy Bible. Grand
Rapids: The Zondervan Corporation, 2001. Print.
Blackburn, Simon. Ethics: A Very Short
Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Book.
Gellman, Rabbi Mark and Monsignor Thomas
Hartman. Religion for Dummies. New York: Wiley Publishing Inc., 2002. Print.
Insight, Access to. "The Five
Precepts: pañca-sila", edited by Access to Insight. 5 November 2013.
We. 19 November 2013.
Nanamoli, Bhikkhu and Bhadantacariya
Buddhaghosa. The Path of Purification: Visuddhimagga. Onalaska:
Pariyatti Publishing, 1975, 1991. Print.
Rick Walston, Ph.D. Coffee Talk with
Professor Walston. 30 April 2001. web. 20 November 2013.
Thero, Pandit. P. Pemaratana. Sigalovada
Sutta: The Code of Discipline for Layman. Penang Buddhist Association,
1968. Print.
Windisch, Editor E. Itivuttaka.
Pali Text Society, 1975. Print.
