The Nature of Buddhist Ethics

The book develops its argument through eight core chapters. Chapter 1, “The Study of Buddhist Ethics,” frames the methodological problem and reviews previous interpretations of Buddhist moral theory. Chapter 2, “Aspects of Sīla,” analyzes moral discipline through early Buddhist sources, including the precepts, monastic rules, the Noble Eightfold Path, and the relationship between morality, meditation, and insight. Chapter 3, “Ethics and Psychology,” studies the connection between moral action and mental states, focusing on wholesome and unwholesome roots, virtues, compassion, and meditation. Chapter 4, “The Transcendency Thesis,” examines and challenges the view that Buddhist ethics is ultimately surpassed or rendered irrelevant by liberation. Chapter 5, “Ethics and Soteriology,” clarifies how moral cultivation is structurally integrated into the path to nirvāṇa. Chapter 6, “Ethics in the Mahāyāna,” expands the discussion to bodhisattva ethics and Mahāyāna moral ideals. Chapter 7, “Buddhism and Utilitarianism,” critiques the attempt to classify Buddhist ethics as a form of utilitarianism. Chapter 8, “Buddhism and Aristotle,” advances Keown’s constructive comparison between Buddhist ethics and Aristotelian virtue ethics, positioning Buddhist morality as a teleological system centered on character, wisdom, and human perfection.