Buddhism and ecology: A virtue ethics approach1

Abstract

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1. This article is a slightly modified version of a paper first presented at a conference entitled 'Buddhist Ecology and Critique of Modern Society' at SOAS, London, 17–18 February 2005. 2. This paper was written before I had a chance to see the two recent major recent publications on Buddhism and virtue ethics by Simon James and David Cooper which have advanced the subject considerably (namely, Cooper and James 2005 Cooper, D. E. and James, S. P. 2005. Buddhism, virtue and environment, Aldershot: Ashgate. [Google Scholar]; James 2004 James, S. P. 2004. Zen Buddhism and environmental ethics, Aldershot: Ashgate. [Google Scholar]). 3. To these, Christianity added three more—the so-called 'theological virtues' of faith, hope, and charity. 4. Visuddhimagga I.20. 5. For references see Keown (2001 Keown, D. 2001. The nature of Buddhist ethics, Basingstoke: Palgrave. [Google Scholar], 48–54). 6. As Schmithausen has pointed out, many of the virtues such as ahi sā and mettā were directed towards individuals rather than species or eco-systems, suggesting that their original inspiration was non-ecological. However, this does not preclude these virtues taking on an ecological dimension now even if they have so far not done so. 7. Buddhist virtue ethics has, according to Whitehill, an advantage over its western counterpart in being both biocentric and ecological. In Buddhist thought, he suggests, membership of the moral community extends beyond the human species, although I suggest below that its scope is not as broad as some imagine. See Whitehill (2000 Whitehill, J. 2000. "Buddhism and the virtues". In Contemporary Buddhist ethics, Edited by: Keown, D. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press. [Google Scholar]). 8. As suggested by Celia E. Deane-Drummond (2004 Deane-Drummond, Celia E. 2004. The ethics of nature, Oxford: Blackwell. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], 43). 9. The preceding arguments against seeing vegetarianism as a moral obligation are suggested by Celia E. Deane-Drummond (2004 Deane-Drummond, Celia E. 2004. The ethics of nature, Oxford: Blackwell. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], 75). 10. For example, S.v.475; S.ii.263; A.i.35; M.iii.169. See Harvey (2000 Harvey, P. 2000. An introduction to Buddhist ethics: Foundations, values and issues, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], 29f). 11. See Lafleur (2000 Lafleur, W. 2000. "Enlightenment for plants and trees". In Dharma rain: Sources of Buddhist environmentalism, 1st ed, Edited by: Kaza, S. and Kraft, K. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications. [Google Scholar], 109–16). 12. Introduction to Acharya Buddharakkhita's translation of the Dhammapada. Available online from http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/khuddaka/dhp1/index.html (accessed 27 January 2005).