Karma, Moral Responsibility, and Buddhist Ethics

Abstract

The Buddha taught that there is no self. He also accepted a version of the doctrine of karmic rebirth, according to which good and bad actions accrue merit and demerit and cause beneficial or harmful events to occur in this life or the next. But how is karmic rebirth possible if there are no selves? The relevant philosophical issues inspired centuries of philosophical reflection and debate. This chapter will contextualize and survey some of the historical and contemporary debates relevant to moral psychology and Buddhist ethics. They include whether the Buddha's teaching of no-self is consistent with the possibility of moral responsibility; the role of retributivism in Buddhist thought; the possibility of a Buddhist account of free will; the scope and viability of recent attempts to naturalize karma to character virtues and vices; and how right action is to be understood within a Buddhist framework.

Cultural differences in control: How Thailand's order-centric legal mentality shapes its constraining lower-court practices

“…Notwithstanding the contradiction with another central Buddhist teaching of anatman (no-self) (Finnigan, 2022), many Thais seem not to concern themselves with the dilemma between free will and determinism in Buddhist philosophy and appear to settle with the easily comprehensible logic of karmic responsibility. Thus, the Thai traditional worldview equates status to virtues and trusts those in the superior position to wield power (see Streckfuss, 2011: 67–69) because ‘power does not corrupt and absolute power is absolutely virtuous’ (Winichakul, 2014: 86).…”

“…According to this conception, good consequences are attributed to good merits that are generated by good deeds, and the same rule applies to awful consequences and demerits from foul deeds. It is the accumulation of merits and demerits that determines each person's well-being in the present life and the next (Finnigan, 2022). Hence, despite the person's inability to control the conditions of her difficult present life, logically she still has only herself to blame because she accrued those causal demerits in her past rebirths.…”

Ajaran Buddha dalam Pengembangan Etika

“…Secara keseluruhan, Buddhisme, khususnya Buddhisme Humanistik, memberikan prinsip-prinsip dan praktik yang berkontribusi pada pengembangan etika dengan mempromosikan kasih sayang, perhatian, dan kesadaran terfokus. (Finnigan, 2022)mengkaji bahwa ajaran Buddha tentang karma dan kelahiran kembali adalah pusat etika Buddhis, karena tindakan baik dan buruk memperoleh pahala dan kerugian dan mengarah pada peristiwa yang bermanfaat atau berbahaya dalam kehidupan ini atau selanjutnya. Pemikiran moral Buddhis kompleks dan beragam, dengan poin-poin penekanan moral yang berbeda, cara penalaran moral, dan ketidaksepakatan tentang implikasi praktis dari ajaran Buddha.…”

The Buddha’s Lucky Throw and Pascal’s Wager

“…Indian Buddhists are at pains to show, however, that the Buddha's denial of self is consistent with the idea of rebirth determined by karma. (Finnigan 2022). According to one prominent account, persons are reducible to causally related configurations of physical and psychological elements and events; 'I' am 'reborn' in the sense that the chain of causal dependence that 'I' conventionally designates continues beyond the boundaries of a natural lifespan.…”