The Nature of Buddhist Ethics

Damien Keown examines early and later schools of Buddhism to provide a comprehensive account of the structure of Buddhist ethics. The importance of ethics in the Buddha's teachings is widely acknowledged, but the pursuit of ethical ideals has up to now been widely held to be secondary to the attainment of knowledge. Drawing on the Aristotelian tradition of ethics, Keown argues against this intellectualization of Buddhism and in favor of a new understanding of the tradition in terms of which ethics plays a central role.

Damien Keown is Reader in Buddhism in the Department of Historical and Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths College, University of London.