This document provides an overview of Buddhism including its origins in India, key figures like Buddha, and its spread throughout Asia. It outlines the main teachings of Buddhism such as the Four Noble Truths about suffering and its cessation. The document discusses Buddhist practices, concepts of karma and rebirth, the two main sects of Buddhism, and how Buddhist ethics and morality are based on principles of non-harming and purifying the mind. Examples of how Buddhism approaches ethical dilemmas like punishment, euthanasia, and war are also summarized.

1. Buddhism
PAF 204
ETHICS in Public Affairs
BBUUDDDDHHIISSMM
Prepared by:
SONEPHAVANH LIEMPHACHANH
WILLY RUIN
11 October 2014

2. OOuuttlliinnee ooff PPrreesseennttaattiioonn
 Overview of the religion
 Life of Buddha
 Sects of Buddhism
 Practices and Belief of Four Noble Truth
 Karma
 Ethical principle
 Case study

3. OOvveerrvviieeww ooff BBuuddddhhiissmm
 Buddhism of the World Religion
 India 2500 years ago
 Followers are widely known in ASIA
 In India influenced by Hinduism

4. SSpprreeaaddss ooff BBuuddddhhiissmm
Prince Shotoku of Japan
(572-622) desired to learn
Buddhism from China in
Dang dynasty to encourage
his people to become strong
The Buddhism then widely
spread in Asia

5. BBuuddddhhiissmm SSpprreeaaddss ttoo AAssiiaa

6. TThhee LLiiffee ooff BBuuddddhhaa
 Prince Siddhardtha Guatama
founder of Buddhism 2500
years ago
 He is the son of King
Suddhodana and Queen
Mahamaya
 He saw people outside the
palace crying, aging, sick and
dead
 Age 29 , left palace to find the
truth of life

7. MMaahhaayyaannaa aanndd HHiinnaayyaannaa
THE TWO SECTS OF BUDDHISM:
 Mahayana: more interpretative, believe in deity,
(China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea)
 Hinayana (Theravada): monk chanting Pali
Canon dialect in temple, do not believe in god
(Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Sri
Lanka)

8. NNoobbllee TTrruutthh
Four Noble Truth that are stated in the
concepts of Buddhism:
Noble truth of Sufferings: birth, decay
(aging), disease and death are sufferings. There
are 3 types of sufferings:
Basic or ordinary suffering (physical
and mental);
Due to changes; and
Due to poor condition and belongs to
the hardship states.

9. NNoobbllee TTrruutthhss
Noble truth of origin of sufferings:
is carving “Tanha” for:
sensual pleasures (greedy and
attachment);
existence (anger); and
carving for non-existence (madness,
give up with right desire)

10. NNoobbllee TTrruutthhss
The Noble Truth of the way to the cessation of
Suffering:
To avoid sufferings is to realize the Eight Path.
Categorized in 3 major parts:
Wisdom
Morality
Meditation/Concentration

11. The Noble Truth of the way to the
cessation of Suffering:
Wisdom
1. Right view and understanding (Karma, ten
subjects of believing and 4 noble truth)
2. Right thoughts: Right thoughts of Sacrifice to
fight with greediness and sensual desire,
benevolence for welfare of all being and fight
bad works, harmlessness to fight with cruelty
and selfishness)

12. The Noble Truth of the way to the
cessation of Suffering:
Morality
3. Right speech – Avoid false speech, insulting
speech, harsh words and abusive language, idle
chatter and frivolous talks (speech should always
be moral benefit to all)
4. Right actions – Avoid killing and injuring,
taking things without owner permission
(stealing), sexual misconduct and abuse of sense

13. The Noble Truth of the way to the
cessation of Suffering:
Morality (cont.)
5. Right livelihood
 Avoid dealing in weapons and arms;
 Avoid dealing sexual relations and human trafficking
(e.g prostitution and slavery);
 Avoid abusing human and animals (e.g hitting
people, playing with animals)
 Avoid dealing in alcoholic drinks, additive drugs; and
 Avoid dealing in poison.

14. The Noble Truth of the way to the
cessation of Suffering:
Morality (cont.)
6. Right efforts
 Effort to prevent damages from health, things
and states;
 Effort to avoid (solve) damages of life, things and
states;
 Effort to develelope stronger state, things and
healthier life; and
 Effort to appreciate and promote stronger
state/things and healthier life.

15. The Noble Truth of the way to the
cessation of Suffering:
Morality (cont.)
7. Right mindfulness
Keep well the 4 foundation of mindfulness: -
mindfulness of
 Body (physical act. and exercises);
 Feelings (be fair with feelings);
 Consciousness (know what you are thinking);
 Mental objects and phenomena (observing what
are happing allows to be well prepared)

16. The Noble Truth of the way to the
cessation of Suffering:
8. Right meditation (concentration)
Effort of meditation effectively
develops mindfulness in item (7),
and the efforts item number (1-6)
will be steadily enhanced

17. KKaarrmmaa
Karma is “course of actions”
 Kusala Karma (good karma) is
wholesome course of actions, leads life
beautiful, pure, clear, happy and peaceful
 Akusala Karma (bad karma) is
unwholesome course of actions leads life
with worries, pain, depressions, anxious
and insecurity

18. KKuussaallaa KKaarrmmaa
1. be generous as usual,
2. be moral as usual,
3. meditate for wisdom,
4. reverence or respect others,
5. services and offer helps,
6. regards to of relative’s merit,
7. rejoicing in other merits which means appreciating people’s
good deeds,
8. understand Dhamma doctrine,
9. Explain the Dhamma doctrine clearly, and
10. strengthening oneself and each other’s view.
Do it in right time, place, situation, and person.

19. AAkkuussaallaa KKaarrmmaa
(1) Killing;
(2) Stealing;
(3) sexual misconduct and abuse of the senses
(drugs);
(4) Lying and slandering (insulting), harsh speech,
frivolous talk;
(5) Greediness;
(6) bad works and
(7) false views (cause and effects)

20. BBuuddddhhiisstt TTrraaddiittiioonn
 New year
 Alms giving on important day
 Offering foods to monk in temple
 Buddhist Chanting
 Meditation and Yoka

21. What The Buddha told
his people before his Nirvana?
“Don't blindly believe what I say. Don't believe me because
others convince you of my words. Don't believe anything you
see, read, or hear from others, whether of authority, religious
teachers or texts.“
“Find out for yourself what is truth, what is real. Discover that
there are virtuous things and there are non-virtuous things.
Once you have discovered for yourself give up the bad and
embrace the good.“
~ The Buddha
www.noble-buddhism-beliefs.com

22. BBuuddddhhiisstt SSyymmbboollss

23. MMoorraalliittyy aanndd EEtthhiiccss
 Founded on the unchanging laws of nature and
the unchanging law of kamma or cause and
effect  its principles are useful and
acceptable up to the current world
 Essentially practical in that it is only a mean
leading to the final goal of ultimate happiness
 Each individual is expected to work on his
own deliverance by his understanding and
effort  salvation is the result of one’s own
moral development

24. MMoorraalliittyy aanndd EEtthhiiccss
Morality in all Buddhist precepts
can be summarized in three simple
principles:
 to avoid evil
 to do good – non-harming attitude
towards self, other people and all
living things
 to purify the mind  meditate

25. MMoorraalliittyy aanndd EEtthhiiccss
Good vs Bad:
 Is based primarily on karma (force) and
rebirth (fact); without these concepts there
could be no concept of good and bad.
 Everything we are is the result of our past,
and how we have dealt with or failed to deal
with that determines our state of mind.
 Buddhist views the teachings as a form of
therapy for impure minds.

26. MMoorraalliittyy aanndd EEtthhiiccss
Good vs Bad:
 Actions that have their roots in greed,
hatred and delusion that spring from
selfishness foster the harmful delusion of
selfhood; these actions are demeritorious
or unskillfull or bad  called Akusala
Kamma;
 All actions rooted in the virtues of
generosity, love, and wisdom are
meritorious  called Kusala Kamma

27. MMoorraalliittyy aanndd EEtthhiiccss
Good vs Bad: based on volition
 Volition is the intentions of actions
 All actions originally are considered
neither good or bad but only the
intentions and thought make them so.
 This doesn’t mean the religion encourages
to commit the conventionally regarded
sins, e.g. to commit murder with a good
heart; killing is mind dominated by greed
or hatred

28. MMoorraalliittyy aanndd EEtthhiiccss
Recognizes the objectivity of moral
values; the consequences of actions
occur in accordance with the natural
laws, regardless of the attitude of the
individual towards the act.
While ethical relativism is recognized
in Buddhism, it doesn’t suggest
undermining the objectivity of values.

29. EEtthhiiccaall DDiilleemmmmaass
 Punishment
 Fundamentally believes in the cycle of birth and
re-birth (Samsara) and teaches that if capital
punishment is administered it will have
compromising effects on the souls of both
offender and the punisher in future
incarnationsinhumane treatment of an offender
does not solve their misdeeds or those of
humanity in general
 Best approach to an offender is reformatory
 if the crime is particularly serious, the person
may be banished from the community or country

30. EEtthhiiccaall DDiilleemmmmaass
 Euthanasia and Suicide
 Voluntary euthanasia is wrong, because it
demonstrates that one's mind is in a bad state and that
one has allowed physical suffering to cause mental
suffering; also, those who administer euthanasia may
likely develop bad mental state, which should be
avoided.
 Buddhist regard death as transition, if the next life is
even worse, it is wrong on a utilitarian basis to permit
euthanasia, as it shortens the present bad state for an
even worse one.
 Suicide, which is use as a political weapon, is allowed
to monks who already have achieved enlightenment

31. EEtthhiiccaall DDiilleemmmmaass
Treatment on Animals
 Buddhism is an animal-friendly religion.
However, they have the belief that there
exist as non-human animals which is a
result of past misdeeds thru rebirth.
Because of the misdeeds, they were
spiritually inferior to human beings and
so were entitled to fewer rights than
human beings; some used this belief as an
excuse for the exploitation and
mistreatment of animals.

32. EEtthhiiccaall DDiilleemmmmaass
Contraception
 Acceptable if it prevents conception;
but not those that work by stopping
development of fertilized egg
 Buddhists actively seeking
enlightenment should not use birth
control in order to pursue sexual
pleasure.

33. EEtthhiiccaall DDiilleemmmmaass
War
 Precept: “avoid killing, or harming any
living thing.”
 However, it may be allowed if it is
intended to punish those who disturb
the public order.

34. Buddhism aanndd tthhee EEtthhiiccaall TThheeoorriieess
Utilitarian
 Focuses on the consequences of actions taken
by an individual whether it has elements of
GOOD or the right things to do; if we do the
right we must maximize its utility
 Although Buddhism advocates pursuit for the
right actions for good life, it contradicts this
theory per its principle of the “middle way”
or the path of moderation

35. Buddhism aanndd tthhee EEtthhiiccaall TThheeoorriieess
 Deontological
 States that the “intentions” of an individual’s
actions suggested whether the deed is morally
good or not.
 Buddhism believes that all actions originally is
neither good or bad, what makes it so is the
primary intentions of the doer. However, this
theory is strict in its motivation in doing what is
right based on the moral law even in the expense
of something. This is in great contrary with
Buddhism who considers ethical relativism

36. Buddhism aanndd tthhee EEtthhiiccaall TThheeoorriieess
 Contractarian
 Dealt on the “hypothetical contract” under the
veil of ignorance.
 Buddhism is founded on the unchanging laws of
nature and the unchanging law of cause and
effect.This theory contradicts in such that
realities of a person is already rooted from the
previous life and probably this religion may not
have the principle of the original position.
 E.g. a newly born is already previously identified
his/her future per the karmic seed planted by his/her
previous life.

37. Buddhism aanndd tthhee EEtthhiiccaall TThheeoorriieess
 Virtue
 Emphasizes the role of one's character and the virtues
that one's character embodies for determining or
evaluating ethical behavior.
 Layperson is a non-ordained member of the church.
Being inside the temple they are required to do set of
virtues: places the Dhamma first, enjoys giving,
disregards beliefs in superstitions and omens, wont
accept any other teacher, guards his deeds and words,
not envious or jealous, doesn’t live a Buddhist live by
deception, and has gone for refuge to the Buddha,
Dhamma, Sangha

38. Buddhism aanndd tthhee EEtthhiiccaall TThheeoorriieess
Feminism
 Speaks about equality with women and
voiced a set of rules to morality which
understands different realities of men and
women; valuing equality and quality of
opportunities.
 Buddhism though generally practices
equality as it promoted deeds without
bearing to class and gender, Buddhist nations
tend to, due to tradition, see women lower
than that of men.

39. Buddhism aanndd tthhee EEtthhiiccaall TThheeoorriieess
Rationale
 Morality (whatever is harmful to self and
other is morally bad)
 The most fundamental characteristics of
Buddhism are to be calming, generous
thru wise giving (to suffering people),
overcome problems with deep
concentration, not mood.
 Winning is for all and oneself not for one
or for few groups.

40. Buddhism aanndd tthhee EEtthhiiccaall TThheeoorriieess
Rationale
 Non-violence is used to solve problems, real
Buddhists are to solve problems by
techniques (tactics), calming and goodness
 Offerings helps thru giving necessary basic
livings to suffered people; respective (monks
as a teachers, parents, grandparents, relatives
and heroes)
 Giving things or helping people to do bad
things means to commit with sin.

41. CCrriittiiccss // OObbsseerrvvaattiioonnss
 Most of the Buddhist monks do not translate
chants being narrated in temples to common
languages easily understandable by the temple
goers. The tendency is to leave the temple
without understanding.
 There is no teaching about how to equally
treat women in Buddhism. This consequently
resulted to a generally lower disposition of
women in the community. One reason for this
is due to tradition. This conflicts the concept of
equanimity.

42. SSeellff IImmmmoollaattiioonn
 Case Study
 Refers to killing oneself as a
sacrifice. While usage since
the 1960s has typically
referred only to setting
oneself on fire, the term
historically
 Historically refers to a
much wider range of
suicidal options, such as
leaping off a cliff, starvation
 Self immolation is often
used as a form of protest
for the purposes of
martyrdom..