Buddhist Ethics: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) 2nd Edition by Damien Keown (PDF)

Description

With over 520 million followers, Buddhism is now the world’s fourth largest religion. Over the last seventy years or so there has been a growing interest in Buddhism, and it continues to capture the imagination of many in the West, who see it as either an alternative or a supplement to their own religious beliefs.For complex cultural and historical reasons, ethics has not received as much attention in traditional Buddhist thought as it has in the West. In this Very Short Introduction, Damien Keown explores how Buddhism approaches a range of moral issues of our age, including our relationship with our environment, our treatment of animals, and our stance on abortion, on sexuality and gender, on violence and war. This new edition also includes a discussion of the ethical challenges posed bycutting-edge developments in science and biomedical technologies, including neuroscience, artificial intelligence, transhumanism, and gene editing.ABOUT THE SERIES:The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Arrived on time. Product as described. Good introduction into the topic. Clear, layered, good summary of important points.

⭐Enjoyed the application of Buddhist theories to modern day issues. Although lacking in depth, it does provide a good fundamental analysis of key issues like abortion and cloning and how Buddhism would view such practices. Somewhat dry but short and insightful for beginners of Buddhism.

⭐I loved this book. It was a quick read but extremely informative and covers a wide array of topics from Buddhist point of view such as: abortion, vegetarianism, animal welfare, sexuality and lots more. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in Buddhism.

⭐I enjoyed this book wholeheartedly. I got the audio book and the performance was outstanding. I have knowledge of Buddhism, but wanted to become specifically acquainted with Buddhist Ethics perspectives. I found some passages fascinating. I’m considering buying the print version so I can make notes. Highly recommended.

⭐Didn’t like it. Couldn’t relate to it.

⭐The main part of this book presents a diversity of views of different Buddhists about sexuality, just war, terrorism, abortion, suicide, euthanasia, cloning and stem cells. The description of Buddhism s such covers only twenty pages. This is not a book for beginners. In order to evaluate these different views the readers need considerable knowledge about Buddhism. Just to take one example, the concept of “emptiness.” This is a very important subject difficult to understand. “Emptiness” refers to the concept that nothings exists without a cause, that nothing is permanent, that everything is interdependent, in other words there exists nothing “on its own” usually referred to as “inherently”. “Emptiness” is presented in the book as a concept that can provide justification for taking life of others with equanimity. This was the opinion of a Japanese nationalistic Buddhist in the context of war. This in my view is not a helpful illustration of “emptiness”. In the context of war the Dalai Lama believes self-defense is justified.The author does indicate that the book requires prior knowledge and also that those that want to develop a more comprehensive understanding should read “Buddhist Ethics” by Hammalawa Saddhatissa and “Introduction to Buddhist Ethics” by Peter Harvey with which I completely agree. I also suggest ” Beyond religion”, “Ethics for a whole world” by the Dalai Lama.This diversity of views the author presents on the subjects treated is not unique for Buddhism. That is the same in Christianity and Islam. All spiritual traditions have some extremist adherents with views that are far removed from the intentions of the founders. In summary the book is interesting for those that would like to compare different Buddhist views on very important ethical issues with the differing views in other spiritual traditions.

⭐This is the second “A Very Short Introduction” book on Buddhism that I have read. Focusing on “Buddhist Ethics, Keown does a yeoman’s job of not merely repackaging the information in his previous short introduction to “Buddhism”. Keown Describes the tenants of Buddhism, classifies the “ethics” of Buddhism using the Western canon of ethics and then takes on six applied areas. Each are is looked at from the Western and then Buddhist ethical point of view:1) animal s and the environment, 2) sexuality, 3) war and terrorism, 4) abortion, and 6) cloning. The discussion of cloning alone is a reason for reading this book.I don’t want to make the review longer than the short book. Read this book and you will dramatically increase your self-awareness of the ethics within!

⭐Whether you are a student of Buddhism or a casual interested layperson, this is the book for you! Easy to read and a good companion volume to his introductory text which goes with this book. As suggested, read the intro book first to get the most out of this sister volume that focuses on ethics.

⭐Keown is without doubt a leading scholar in this area and makes the topic accessible to his readers. He makes very difficult subject matter understandable and interesting. I highly recommend this book and this author.

⭐Good book to find about Buddhist Ethics. Needs concentration but is worth the effort.

⭐Loved it

⭐Excellent

⭐Excellent

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