Early Buddhist Ethics

Early Buddhism was an ethical system first and foremost. But what was it? What ethical system did the Buddha propose? We will look at the ethics of early Buddhism with a focus on his advice to a general lay audience as well as the role of karma and intention. We will also consider the meta-ethical question of how or whether early Buddhist ethics is grounded or foundationalized.

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✅ Video mentioned:
The Hierarchy of Pleasures in Early Buddhism --    • The Hierarchy of Pleasures in Early B...  

✅ Sutta mentioned:
https://suttacentral.net/an6.63/en/su...

✅ Secondary sources referenced:
C.A.F. Rhys Davids (trans.) A Buddhist Manual of Psychological Ethics (Dhammasangani) 1900. — https://amzn.to/3OXLOHX

Damien Keown, The Nature of Buddhist Ethics (1992). — https://amzn.to/43sFY5Y

Abraham Vélez de Cea “The Criteria of Goodness in the Pāli Nikāyas and the Nature of Buddhist Ethics,” Journal of Buddhist Ethics, 2004. https://blogs.dickinson.edu/buddhiste...

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00:00 Intro
01:01 The near and far end of Buddhist ethics
01:43 The “near end” of ethical advice
02:36 The role of karma
04:10 The role of intention
05:40 The role of sense pleasures
07:04 The alternate path
08:00 The role of wisdom
08:43 The role of the sangha of monastics
10:22 The metaethics of early Buddhism

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