Vesak Full Moon Poya on Wednesday:

Right moral judgement, the Buddhist viewpoint

By Lionel Wijesiri

Ethics, or morality, is the way in which we judge our actions. If we consider any action “right” or “wrong” we are making a moral judgement. If I make a decision to change my religion or if I disapprove of the US-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka, in either case my judgement is a moral one.

If I think it is “good” to meditate daily for one hour, or “unskilful” (when married) to have sexual relationship with another woman other than my wife, I am making moral judgements.

Whether I recognise it or not I am making moral judgements constantly.We live in an age of great confusion about ethics. At one and the same time we think of morality as being absolute, telling us what is right or wrong in some final way applicable to everyone, but also as relative, only reflecting our own opinions.

People regularly seem to say things like “l don’t want to make a moral judgement” but then proceed to make one. On one hand, we spend much of our time - far more than we would imagine - morally judging the character and behaviour of others.

On the other, we are also generally loath to make moral judgements about other people. We do not want to appear (or even to be) judgemental, but we also know that we do judge our fellows continuously, and believe this is often justified.

This confusion seems to be a result of a loss of faith in our traditional sources of ethics. We cannot merely accept what our parents and grandparents tell us is right nor accept the commandments given in holy books.

Moral judgement is an area of practical ethics that receives little contemporary attention, yet it is as central to morality as judging the state of the weather is to the question of whether one should carry an umbrella in his journey It is in this situation that Buddhism brings in one key idea that can help resolve this problematic situation: the Buddha’s Middle Way. The Buddha and the Buddhist tradition give a particularly clear expression to this principle.

Right behaviour

What does Buddhism teach us about moral judgement? The moral discipline portion of the Buddhist Eightfold Path is Right Speech, Right Action, and Right Livelihood.

The Buddha taught that Right Speech had four parts:

Abstain from false speech; do not tell lies or deceive.
Do not slander others or speak in a way that causes disharmony or enmity.
Abstain from rude, impolite or abusive language.
Do not indulge in idle talk or gossip.

Basically, Right Action refers to keeping the five precepts. The many schools of Buddhism have various lists of precepts, but the precepts common to most schools are these:

Not killing; not stealing; not misusing sex; not lying; not abusing intoxicants.

Right Livelihood is, first, a way to earn a living without compromising the Precepts. It is a way of making a living that does no harm to others. In the Vanijja Sutta (this is from the Sutra-pitaka of the Tripitaka), the Buddha said, “A lay follower should not engage in five types of business. Which five? Trade in weapons, business in human beings, business in meat, business in intoxicants, and business in poison.”

Moral teachings

According to Buddhism, moral teachings are not injunctions, commandments but guidelines for moral actions. They are more descriptive than prescriptive. The sole purpose of Buddhist ethics is to show the way and not to coerce.

From a Buddhist perspective, morally good and bad actions are neither rewarded not punished but simply have their corresponding consequences. It means behaving truthfully and honestly; behaving in a way to promote harmony and good will; using behaviours to reduce anger and ease tensions; using behaviour in a way that is useful to yourself and the rest of the world. Recognising and treading the Buddhist moral discipline is the right and privilege of any one who so desires, for all of us laymen, as far as we can in this lifetime as an unfailing guide line to our conduct.

This is to be projected to all our inter-personal relationships such as between wives and husbands, parents and children, teachers and pupils, brothers and sisters, friends and relatives, employers and employees, clergy and the laity, the governing and the governed and in international, inter-religious and inter-racial relationships and so on.

In the Rahulovada Sutta, the Buddha categorised all actions into four types: (1) the actions whose consequences are harmful to performers, (2) The actions whose consequences are good for the performers, but harmful for others.

(3) The actions whose consequences are neither good for performers nor for others, (4) The action whose consequences are good for performers as well as others. The last category of the actions is recommended as ethical and moral.

The doer of an action has to make a self-comparison before performing the act; he/ she should reflect on whether the consequence of the action he/she is going to perform will be pleasant to himself/herself. The Buddha made this explicitly clear in the Dhammapada ;

“All fear tremble at punishment, all fear death. Comparing to oneself, let one refrain from killing others, let one refrain from tormenting others”

The Adhipateya Sutta advises us to consider two more factors, namely: (1) Public opinion - (this advises the individual to examine whether what he is going to commit would be censored, particularly by the wise people in the society.)

(2) Correct moral reasoning - (it advises an individual to examine whether what he is going to do is in accordance to moral norm and to avoid all actions, which deviate from it.)

In the Kalamasutta, the Buddha taught the most pragmatic criteria to judge an action as either ethical or unethical. Here, the Buddha advised a group of people who were in confusion to decide what is moral and what is not, as they were exposed to different religious systems at that time and each was claiming his way as the best and ethical while disparaging others’ teachings.

In response to their question, the Buddha advised the audience neither to accept nor to reject anything merely relying on revelation, tradition, sacred scriptures, possibilities, respect for teachers, or rumour. Then He pointed out how to decide an action either as moral or immoral.

He said, “O! Kalamas, when you know for yourself, certain things are unwholesome (akusala), give them up… And when you know for yourself that certain things are good and wholesome (kusala), then accept them and follow them.”

The Buddhist perspective of morality is also well illustrated especially in the Sigalovada, Vyagghapajja, Parabhava, Vasala, Mangala, Metta suttas, to mention only a few sources.

The morality as elaborated by the Buddha is not difficult to understand or practise during every conscious moment of our life. It can to be practised by all of us incorporating it in our thoughts, words and actions in our day-to-day practical life. Buddhist criteria of judging an action are based on a pragmatic approach paying due consideration of the well-being and happiness of the performers and all human beings. Thus, the Buddhist criterion of moral judgement has universal acceptability.