Moonpaths Ethics and Emptiness

The Mahayana tradition in Buddhist philosophy is defined by its ethical orientation--the adoption of bodhicitta, the aspiration to attain awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. And indeed, this tradition is known for its literature on ethics, which reflect the Madhyamaka tradition of philosophy, and emphasizes both the imperative to cultivate an attitude of universal care (karuna) grounded in the realization of emptiness, impermanence, independence, and the absence of any self in persons or other phenomena.This position is morally very attractive, but raises an important problem: if all phenomena, including persons and actions, are only conventionally real, can moral injunctions or principles be binding, or does the conventional status of the reality we inhabit condemn us to an ethical relativism or nihilism?

In Moonpaths, the Cowherds address an analogous problem in the domain of epistemology and argues that the Madhyamaka tradition has the resources to develop a robust account of truth and knowledge within the context of conventional reality. The essays explore a variety of ways in which to understand important Buddhist texts on ethics and Mahayana moral theory so as to make sense of the genuine force of morality.

The Cowherds are an international collective of scholars in Buddhist Studies. They worked together first on Moonshadows: Conventional Truth in Buddhist Philosophy, an investigation in Madhyamaka epistemology.

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Why Ask About Madhyamaka and Ethics - Jay L. Garfield and Graham Priest

1. The Many Voices of Buddhist Ethics - Charles Goodman and Sonam Thakchöe
2. Aiming at Happiness, Aiming at Ultimate Truth - In Practice - Amber Carpenter
3. The Dismal Slough - Koji Tanaka
4. The Santideva Passage: Bodhicaryavatara VIII:90-103 - Jay L. Garfield, Stephen Jenkins, and Graham Priest
5. Buddhist Ethics in the Context of Conventional Truth: Path and Transformation - Jay L. Garfield
6. Waking into Compassion: the Alambana of Karuna - Stephen Jenkins
7. Does "Buddhist Ethics" Exist? - Mark Siderits
8. From Madhyamaka to Consequentialism: A Roadmap - Charles Goodman
9. The Prasangika's Ethics of Momentary Disintegration (Vinasa Bhava): Causally Effective Karmic Moments - Sonam Thakchöe
10. How Does Merely Conventional Karma Work? - Guy Newland
11. The Connection between Ontology and Ethics in Madhyamaka Thought - Jan Westerhoff
12. Compassion and the Net of Indra - Graham Priest

Appendix: Bodhicaryavatara-pañjika VIII. 90-103 by Prajñakaramati, commenting on Santideva's Bodhicaryavatara - Charles Goodman and Mark Siderits

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