Buddhist Ethics in Impermanence

by M.V. Ram Kumar Ratnam

The book introduces readers to the fundamental ethical precepts of Buddhism. Buddhist ethics are significant and relevant to contemporary society, as these are not restricted to any caste, creed, race, region and language. The ethical precepts of Buddhism are flexible and autonomous in character. They are of a very practical character, such that they can be easily adapted and applied to modern times. The precepts are essentially taken from the sacred texts of Buddhism.
This volume comes in an attempt to highlight the philosophical and ethical bases of Buddhism. It classifies the ethical precepts of Buddhism in order to show their relevance to different categories of people — monks, nuns and Buddhist lay people as well as non-Buddhists. It brings out the autonomous character of Buddhist ethics and the ethical idealism of Buddhism to show that the precepts have a pragmatic character. It also reveals the Buddhist solution to problems in the world in general and individual societies in particular, problems of the nature of war, suicide, gender inequality which existed in ancient times and continue to exist today.
The book will be extremely useful to scholars and students of Buddhist philosophy and ethics.