Journal of Buddhist Ethics

ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 27, 2020

True Love for the Artificial? Toward the Possibility of Bodhisattva Relations with Machines

Thomas H. Doctor
Kathmandu University Centre for Buddhist Studies at Rangjung Yeshe Institute

Given our increasing interaction with artificial intelligence and immersion in virtual reality, which epistemic and moral attitudes towards virtual beings might we think proper, relevant, and fulfilling? That is the basic question that this article wishes to raise. For the main part, it presents a descriptive analysis of our current situation, which is meant to expose features of artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR) that seem both salient and easily aligned with central Buddhist concerns. Developed without any requirement for, or expectation of, the existence of real subjects and selves, Buddhist views and practices clearly resonate with the assumptions of unreal mind and mere appearance that are associated with AI and VR. Yet Buddhists famously also declare that the illusion-like nature of things does not negate, but in fact entails, universal care and deep meaning. I conclude by suggesting that such doctrinal claims may be tested for practical relevance in the present and emerging world of interconnectivity and illusion.

Read article

ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 27, 2020

Climate Justice: Some Challenges for Buddhist Ethics

Simon P. James
Durham University

It has often been suggested that the Buddhist teachings can help us to meet the moral challenges posed by the climate crisis. This paper, by contrast, addresses some challenges the topic of climate justice presents for Buddhist ethics. Two arguments to the effect that Buddhist ethics is incompatible with calls for climate justice are considered and rejected. It is then argued that for Buddhists such calls must nonetheless take second place to the paramount concern with overcoming suffering.

Read article

ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 27, 2020

Buddhist Law in Burma: A History of Dhammasattha Texts and Jurisprudence, 1250-1850. By D. Christian Lammerts. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2018, xi + 288 pp., ISBN 978-0-8248-7260-1 (hardback), $65.00.

Reviewed by Nyi Nyi Kyaw

Read article.

ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 27, 2020

International Webinar Series on Buddhism and International Humanitarian Law

First in the series: Exploring Convergences Between Buddhism and International Humanitarian Law: An Introduction

Wednesday December 16th, 4:00-5:30 p.m. Bangkok/Jakarta time (9:00-10:30 a.m. UK time; 2:00-3:30 p.m. EST).

Speakers:
Prof. Peter Harvey, University of Sunderland, Emeritus
Prof. Kate Crosby, King’s College London
Dr. Asanga Tilakaratne, University of Colombo, Emeritus
Dr. Sunil Kariyakarawana, Buddhist Chaplain for the UK Armed Forces
Andrew Bartles-Smith, International Committee for the Red Cross, Regional Manager for Humanitarian Affairs in Asia

Moderator: Dr Pyi Phi Kyaw, Shan State Buddhist University

With simultaneous translation into Sinhala, Thai, Burmese, Indonesian

For information on the Webinar, and how to register so as to get the Zoom link for the event, click here: https://www.icrc.org/en/event/webinar-series-convergences-between-buddhism-and-ihl

ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 27, 2020

Prescribing the Dharma: Psychotherapists, Buddhist Traditions, and Defining Religion. By Ira Helderman. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2019, x + 318 pp., ISBN 978-1-4696-4852-1 (paperback), $29.95.

Reviewed by Orly Tal

Read article.

ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 27, 2020

Women in British Buddhism: Commitment, Connection, Community. By Caroline Starkey. London: Routledge, 2020, x + 212 pp., ISBN 978-1-138-08746-0 (Hardcover), $155.00.

Reviewed by Sarah-Jane Page

Second of two reviews of the Review Section: Lives of Ordained Women.

Read article.

ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 27, 2020

Gender and the Path to Awakening: Hidden Histories of Nuns in Modern Thai Buddhism. By Martin Seeger. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2018, xvii + 341 pp., ISBN 978-616-215-147-7 (Paperback), $40.00.

Reviewed by Elizabeth Angowski

First of two reviews of the Review Section: Lives of Ordained Women.

Read article.

ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 27, 2020

Nothingness in the Heart of Empire: The Moral and Political Philosophy of the Kyoto School in Imperial Japan. By Harumi Osaki. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 2019, xii+ 292 pp., ISBN 978-1-4384-7309-3 (hardback), $85.00.

Reviewed by Matteo Cestari

Read article.

ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 27, 2020

Tilling the Fields of Merit: The Institutionalization of Feminine
Enlightenment in Tibet’s First Khenmo Program

Jue Liang and Andrew S. Taylor
University of Virginia

This article documents the history and social effects of the khenmo (mkhan mo) program at Larung Gar (Bla rung sgar), the first institution in Tibet to systematically grant nuns advanced Buddhist degrees. We argue that Jigme Phuntsok (’Jigs med phun tshogs, 1933-2004), Larung’s founder, started the program in hopes of challenging the public perception of women as incapable of advanced learning. Legitimating nuns as a field of merit for donors represented an important step in his larger project of changing the status of nuns and women in Tibetan society more generally. We begin with a brief history of Larung, demonstrating how Jigme Phuntsok’s singular vision of gender equality in Buddhist education and practice led to the arrival of thousands of nuns to his small encampment. We proceed to give an overview of the khenmo program, including its curriculum and degree requirements. We conclude with an examination of the social effects of the khenmo movement, exploring how the presence of educated nuns is changing both women’s self-understandings of their own practice and lay attitudes toward women’s religious capacities. Read article

ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 27, 2020

The Fifth Corner of Four: An Essay on Buddhist Metaphysics and the Catuṣkoṭi. By Graham Priest. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018, xx + 172 pp., ISBN 978-0-19-875871-6 (Hardcover), $60.00.

Reviewed by Ronald S. Green

Read article.

ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 27, 2020

Seeding Buddhism with Multiculturalism: The Transmission of Sri Lankan Buddhism in Toronto. Advancing Studies in Religion 6. By D. Mitra Barua. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2019, xvi + 280 pp., ISBN 978-0-7735-5657-7 (Paperback), $34.95.

Reviewed by Elizabeth Kim Guthrie

Read article.

ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 27, 2020

Violent Karma Stories in Contemporary Sinhala Buddhism

James Stewart
Deakin University

Buddhism is a religion normally respected for its message of non-violence. In this article I will discuss how images of violence are used as a means to compel Buddhists to act in accordance with Buddhist ethical principles. This will be shown through the examination of a contemporary newspaper series from the popular Sinhala language Lankādīpa Irida periodical. In it, we find a series of karma stories that illustrate how examples of violence can be found in modern Buddhistic narratives, both in written and pictorial forms. In this article it will be argued that these modern narratives have a precedent in much earlier, and in some cases ancient, Buddhist writings and art. I will argue that these modern narratives deviate from canonical karma stories in that they focus on the maturation of karma in this life while the former focus on the afterlife. The purpose of these modern stories is to assure the reader of the reality of karma and to entertain the reader with gruesome stories that feature the death of moral transgressors. Read article

ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 27, 2020

Readings of Śāntideva’s Guide to Bodhisattva Practice. Edited by Jonathan C. Gold and Douglas S. Duckworth. New York: Columbia University Press, 2019, 320 pp., ISBN 978-0-231-19267-5 (Paperback), $30.00.

Reviewed by Stephen Harris

Read article.

ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 27, 2020

Chinese Esoteric Buddhism: Amoghavajra, the Ruling Elite, and the Emergence of a Tradition. By Geoffrey C. Goble. New York: Columbia University Press, 2019, 336 pp., ISBN 978-0-231-19408-2 (Hardcover), $70.00.

Reviewed by Joseph P. Elacqua

Read article.

ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 27, 2020

The Saṃgha and the Taxman: A Tibetan Regent’s Economic Reforms and the Ethics of Rulership

William K. Dewey
Rubin Museum of Art

This article examines how Tibetan Buddhists believed a state should be governed justly by considering the political agenda of the regent Ngawang Tsültrim (1721–1791) and how he was influenced by the Indian nītiśāstra tradition and similar indigenous traditions of ethical rule. Nītiśāstra originally, under Kauṭilya, promoted wealth and power. Later proponents (both Hindu and Buddhist) more strongly emphasized the primacy of Dharma and justice for the poor, and in this form it most influenced Tibetan Buddhist political thought, including the legislative decrees of Ngawang Tsültrim. He tried to relieve the Tibetan peasants from the heavy tax and labor obligations of the Tibetan social system, and otherwise pursued economic justice. In so doing, he also wanted to ensure that resources continued to flow to the Saṃgha, the supreme field of merit. Accordingly, the decrees targeted aristocratic rather than monastic corruption. They prioritized the maintenance and reform of existing economic obligations over economic development or redistribution of wealth. Ngawang Tsültrim’s decrees demonstrate a tension within the nītiśāstra tradition which can also be found when today’s religions (including socially engaged Buddhism) pursue goals of social justice. These goals may conflict with the goal of spreading the faith, and especially with the social and financial structures that support religious institutions, but may be responsible for social ills. Read article

ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 27, 2020

American Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Modernity. By Ann Gleig. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2019, 362 + xii pp., ISBN 978-0-300-21580-9 (Hard Cover), $35.00.

Reviewed by John Pickens

Read article.

ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 27, 2020

Morality and Monastic Revival in Post-Mao Tibet. By Jane E. Caple. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2019, 232 pp., ISBN 978-0-8248-6984-7 (Hard Cover), $65.00.

Reviewed by Annabella Pitkin

Read article.

ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 27, 2020

The Buddha versus Popper: When to Live?

Jongjin Kim
Korea University
Rohit Parikh
The Graduate Center and Brooklyn College, City University of New York

We discuss two approaches to life: presentism and futurism. We locate presentism within various elements of Buddhism, in the form of advice to live in the present and not to allow the future to hinder us from living in the ever present now. By contrast, futurism, which we identify with Karl Popper, advises us to think of future consequences before we act, and to act now for a better future. Of course, with its emphasis on a well-defined path to an ideal future ideally culminating in enlightenment, Buddhism undoubtedly has elements of futurism as well. We do not intend to determine which of these two approaches to time is more dominant in Buddhism, nor how the two approaches are best understood within Buddhism; but simply we intend to compare and contrast these two approaches, using those presentist elements of Buddhism as representative of presentism while contrasting them with those elements of futurism to be found in Popper and others. We will discuss various aspects of presentism and futurism, such as Ruth Millikan’s Popperian animal, the psychologist Howard Rachlin’s social and temporal discounting, and even the popular but controversial idea, YOLO (you only live once). The primary purpose of this paper is to contrast one with the other. The central question of ethics is: How should one live? Our variation on that question is: When should one live? We conjecture that the notion of flow, developed by Csikszentmihalyi, may be a better optimal choice between these two positions. Read article

ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 27, 2020

Can an Evil Person Attain Rebirth in the Pure Land? Ethical and Soteriological Issues in the Pure Land Thought of Peng Shaosheng (1740-1796)

Hongyu Wu
Ohio Northern University

In Pure Land literature in China, it is not uncommon to find accounts about morally flawed or evil persons attaining rebirth in the Pure Land. The rebirth of evil persons in the Pure Land, in fact, is an issue that can work both for and against Pure Land proponents. On the one hand, the soteriological inclusiveness of evil persons can be employed by promoters to prioritize Pure Land belief and practice over other forms of Buddhist thought and practice. On the other hand, belief in the saving power of Amitābha Buddha might discourage people from doing good or, even worse, legitimize evil behavior—a point that critics both within and outside the Buddhist community were quick to point out. The moral failures of Pure Land practitioners surely garnered criticism and hostility that were directed both toward the individual and toward the Pure Land teachings—and, as Pure Land beliefs and practices in China were not sectarian, the misconducts of the Pure Land practitioners could eventually damage the reputation of the whole Buddhist community. This paper focuses on Peng Shaosheng, a Confucian literatus turned Buddhist layman and a prominent advocate of Pure Land practice, to examine how he employed a syncretic approach by drawing on concepts such as karmic retribution, sympathetic resonance (ganying), no-good (wushan), and ultimate good (zhishan) to develop a scheme that neither denied the saving power of Amitābha Buddha and supremacy of Pure Land practice nor endorsed “licensed evil.” Read article

ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 26, 2019

A Yogācāra Buddhist Theory of Metaphor. By Roy Tzohar. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018, 296 pp., ISBN 978-0-19-066439-8 (Hardcover), $105.00.

Reviewed by Joy Brennan

Read article.

ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 26, 2019

Identity, Rights, and Awareness: Anticaste Activism in India and the Awakening of Justice through Discursive Practices. By Jeremy A. Rinker. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2018, xi + 211 pp., ISBN 978-1-4985-4193-0 (Hardcover), $95.00.

Reviewed by Gajendran Ayyathurai

Read article.