Principles of law and morality in buddhist teachings
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Date
2018-04-03
Authors
Heenbanda, E.H.M.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Peradeniya
Abstract
Two thousand six hundred years ago, the Buddha proclaimed the Buddhist philosophy of law and moral philosophy to the Indian community. In this study, we intend to derive the Buddhist philosophy of law from two sources, namely, from the primary sermons in the Sutta Pitaka and from the rules of the Vinaya Pitaka. According to tradition, the Buddha did not promulgate rules of Vinaya within the first period of 20 years of the Sāsana. In this period bhikkus, bhikkunis and lay people regulated their external and internal activities according to the primary sermons, which contained moral norms. They practiced morality (sila), concentration (samā dhi) and wisdom (pan͂ ṇ͂ ͂ a) to attain their final goal of nibbā na or emancipation. Then the Buddha decided to disseminate disciplinary rules after the monastic order began to expand with the hope of safeguarding purity of the Buddhist monastic community. Eventually, the body of rules that was formulated expanded to become the Vinaya Pitaka, which introduces rules to the clergy within a framework of Buddhist legal philosophy. It is obvious that sufficient attention has not been paid to the Buddhist legal philosophy in the modern world. Yet the Buddhist legal system can be viewed under six important systems: Moral Welfare System, Self-Controlling System, Mind Controlling System, Reformative Theory, Reformative Punishment and Justice Systems which can even be applied to the modern legal systems. The main objective of this research is to introduce those systems to the modern world, and this literature-based research is, therefore, a study of primary discourses dealing with discipline in the Sutta Pitaka and the rules of Vinaya in the Vinaya Pitaka and other primary and secondary sources that are relevant to this research.
Description
Keywords
Buddhist Laws , Moral Philosophy , Legal System
Citation
Proceedings of the PGIHS Research Congress (PGIHS-RC-2018), University of Peradeniya, p.15