Buddhist Ethics
Buddhism had its origins between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE in India and is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Guatama also known as Buddha. Buddhist
Chapter 3 Understanding Ethical Problems 49
teachings come down to us through various ancient religious and philosophical writings in Sanskrit, and through subsequent interpretations and thought regard- ing these ancient works. Buddhism was very infl uential outside of India and is the dominant religious tradition in nations of the Far East such as Japan, China, Tibet, Korea, Vietnam, and Cambodia. In India, Buddhism is less widely practiced today than are other religious traditions such as Hinduism.
Like other formulations of ethical thinking in non-Western societies, Buddhist ethics can appear to be similar to the Western concept of virtue ethics. Buddhist’s speak of fi ve major vices: destruction of life, taking what is not given, licentiousness, lying, and taking intoxicants. Buddhism also speaks of virtues such as friendship, spir- itual development, learning, mastery of skills, fi lial piety, generosity, diligence, patience, and a sense of proportion or limits [ref to Dharmasiri book]. Buddhist teachings also emphasize the basic equality of mankind, and the interdependence of people on each other as well as our dependence on nature. Clearly, these virtues and vices have much in common with the virtue ethics systems developed by Western thinkers [ Dharmasiri, 1989 ].
Equally clear is how many of these virtues and vices speak to our roles in the engineering profession. For example, the desire to avoid destruction of life tells us that the safety of those who will use products and structures based on our engineer- ing work is important and closely parallels the statements in codes of ethics that tell us to keep paramount the health and safety of the public. Likewise, the Buddhist teachings against the vices of theft and lying have parallels in the codes of ethics relating to honesty and integrity. We should also examine the role that the Buddhist virtues of learning, mastery of skills, and diligence have in relation to engineering practice. The engineering codes of ethics often discuss the importance of continu- ous development of an engineer’s skills, and supporting others in developing their skills. It is interesting to note that many of those involved in the origins of the envi- ronmental movement beginning in the 1970s based their ideas on the Buddhist principals of the sense of limits and human’s basic interdependence with nature. Thus, the ideas regarding protecting the environment and sustainable develop- ment that appear in the most recent versions of the codes of ethics of professional engineering societies are similar to ideas found in Buddhist teachings. As with other non-Western professional engineering societies, those based in predominantly Buddhist countries are very similar to those of Western countries as can be seen in the codes of ethics reproduced in Appendix A.