What Would the Buddha Do?

Catalog description

In every moment, we face one of life's most persistent questions: What should I do? What is the proper response to my present circumstances? Generations of Buddhists have sought the answer to this question within an ethical framework laid out by the Buddha more than two thousand years ago. This course is an investigation of the rich tradition of ethical thought that has arisen from their efforts, thus giving students exposure to a non-Western, non-theistic ethical tradition. Rather than starting with the categories of Western philosophy, we will develop an account that emerges from Buddhist sources. We will start with a working model of karmic acts—describing the status of agents and patients, the mechanics of karma, and the cosmological and religious contexts for such action. From there, we will turn to case studies of ethical negotiation in three realms of Buddhist practice: the Vinaya precepts governing monastic life, the altruism and skillful means of bodhisattvas, and the transgressive ethics of Buddhist tantra. Course readings are drawn from the Buddhist literature of India, Southeast Asia, China, and Tibet, and will include religious sermons and dialogues, monastic guidelines, meditation instructions, philosophical texts, and jataka tales. Class discussions will analyze how Buddhists have constructed moral arguments, paying special attention to the strategies for encouraging ethical action that are operative in the readings (including stories, oaths, ritual enactment, and logical analysis). Students will experiment with these strategies in written and oral assignments, culminating in formal in-class debates at the end of the semester.