Moonpaths

Ethics and Emptiness

The Cowherds

The first book to take seriously the problem of the conventional status of reality in Mahayana Buddhist philosophy for ethics
Combines careful textual analysis and doctrinal exposition with philosophical reconstruction and reflection

Moonpaths

Ethics and Emptiness

The Cowherds

Description

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.

Moonpaths

Ethics and Emptiness

The Cowherds

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

References
Index

Moonpaths

Ethics and Emptiness

The Cowherds

Author Information

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. They are united by a commitment to rigorous philosophical analysis as an approach to understanding Buddhist metaphysics and epistemology, and to the union of philology and philosophy in the service of greater understanding of the Buddhist tradition and its insights.

They are: Amber Carpenter, Jay L. Garfield, Charles Goodman, Stephen Jenkins, Guy Martin Newland, Graham Priest, Mark Siderits, Koji Tanaka, Sonam Thackchöe, and Jan Westerhoff.

Contributors:

Amber Carpenter, University of York
Jay L. Garfield, Yale NUS College and Smith College
Charles Goodman, Binghamton University
Stephen Jenkins, Humboldt State University
Guy Martin Newland, Central Michigan University
Graham Priest, Graduate Center, City University of New York
Mark Siderits, Seoul National University
Koji Tanaka, Australian National University
Sonam Thackchöe, University of Tasmania
Jan Westerhoff, University of Oxford and University of London

Moonpaths

Ethics and Emptiness

The Cowherds

Reviews and Awards

"How does one square Buddhist ethics with the circle of the doctrine of emptiness? This is, arguably, the single most daunting challenge for those interested in Mahayana thought. This important and timely book, a collaboration between buddhologists and philosophers, is the most significant and sophisticated response to the problem to date." --Robert Sharf, Professor of Buddhist Studies, University of California, Berkeley