Moonpaths: Ethics and Emptiness

by The Cowherds

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.

Genres: Buddhism, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Logic

274 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2015

Reviews

[Ellison · Rating 5 out of 5]

12 essays on Buddhist ethics (and ethics in general) by the Cowherds a group of mostly western Buddhist scholars. Some not quite as good as others, the last three excellent and easy to follow. Good guide to further reading. Ends with Graham Priest quoting John Donne, 'no man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main...' All suffering is connected.

[David Beers · Rating 4 out of 5]

12 essays, each an exploration of the ways dependent origination and Madhyamaka support a Buddhist system of ethics. I found one of the most interesting to be Guy Newman’s essay “How Does Merely Conventional Karma Work?” based on the Prasangika Middle Way approach. Some people see a conflict between the doctrines of karma and emptiness, whereas Newman shows to the contrary how these two logically require each other in the writings of Nagarjuna, Chandrakirti and Tsongkhapa. Enlightening!