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A Buddhist Theory of KillingCanonical Buddhist Discourse on Killing

A Buddhist Theory of Killing: Canonical Buddhist Discourse on Killing [This chapter focusses on the guiding norms concerning intentional killing and its prohibition encoded in the first Buddhist precept. These are embedded in a broader theoretical structure which includes explicit and implicit value-claims concerning life and sentience, and the ways in which they’re understood in proto-biological and ethical terms, especially with regard to the suffering (dukkha) attending them. Early Buddhist norms around killing involve claims for the constitution of life, as well as value-hierarchies between different kinds of sentient being instantiating it, which given differing attributions of sentience guides the moral evaluation of killing as well. Criteria for intentional killing, in both theoretical and legal modes, also entail moral quandaries arising from the early Buddhist metaphysical frameworks in which this discussion occurs, questions taken up through early Buddhist history by such interlocutors as Vasubandhu, Buddhaghosa and Nāgārjuna. The precept prohibiting killing is seen to encode a general principle of the amelioration of suffering, which entails the recognition of moral agency in intention (cetanā), itself determining the moral valence of acts and so their instantiation of kamma, or moral consequence. Hence, concerns to ameliorate suffering, by means of kamma-laden acts, are seen to centrally undergird the moral evaluation of killing in the canonical record of early Buddhism.] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

A Buddhist Theory of KillingCanonical Buddhist Discourse on Killing

Kovan, Martin
Springer Journals — Jun 21, 2022
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21 pages

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Publisher
Springer Nature Singapore
Copyright
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022
ISBN
978-981-19-2440-8
Pages
23 –44
DOI
10.1007/978-981-19-2441-5_3
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

[This chapter focusses on the guiding norms concerning intentional killing and its prohibition encoded in the first Buddhist precept. These are embedded in a broader theoretical structure which includes explicit and implicit value-claims concerning life and sentience, and the ways in which they’re understood in proto-biological and ethical terms, especially with regard to the suffering (dukkha) attending them. Early Buddhist norms around killing involve claims for the constitution of life, as well as value-hierarchies between different kinds of sentient being instantiating it, which given differing attributions of sentience guides the moral evaluation of killing as well. Criteria for intentional killing, in both theoretical and legal modes, also entail moral quandaries arising from the early Buddhist metaphysical frameworks in which this discussion occurs, questions taken up through early Buddhist history by such interlocutors as Vasubandhu, Buddhaghosa and Nāgārjuna. The precept prohibiting killing is seen to encode a general principle of the amelioration of suffering, which entails the recognition of moral agency in intention (cetanā), itself determining the moral valence of acts and so their instantiation of kamma, or moral consequence. Hence, concerns to ameliorate suffering, by means of kamma-laden acts, are seen to centrally undergird the moral evaluation of killing in the canonical record of early Buddhism.]

Published: Jun 21, 2022

Keywords: Buddhist first precept; Dukkha; Kamma; Human and non-human sentience; Life-theory; Cetanā; Moral agency; Moral causation

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