Ethics in Early Buddhism

The preface explains that the work is divided into three main parts. Part One, “Historical Background and Problems,” surveys pre-Buddhist Indian moral theories and examines key philosophical issues such as knowledge, fact and value, world and will, and individual and society. This establishes the intellectual context against which early Buddhist ethics is interpreted. Part Two, “The Moral Life, the Principle, and Justification,” studies the Buddhist path as a moral discipline through the Noble Life, the beginning of the way, the Eightfold Path, freedom, the moral principle, and the justification of moral life. Part Three, “Applications of the Principle,” applies Buddhist ethics to practical domains: society, economics, politics, law, justice, nature, and morals. The conclusion, “The Stream and the Lotus Pond,” brings together the book’s central argument about the dynamic and transformative nature of early Buddhist moral life.