Buddhist morality forms the standards and principles of good behaviour manifested in verbal and physical actions according to the path of righteousness and self-discipline developing from within and not through fear of punishment. It is given in a nutshell in the little Pali verse. "Sabba papassa akaranam - kusalassa upasampada sachitta pariyodapanam - etam buddhanu sasanam" "If you wish to do a certain action, first reflect whether the action is likely to harm yourself or others or both. If the action is likely to cause suffering, refrain from doing it." "If the action is likely to cause happiness and no harm can arise from such a deed, do it again and again." The morality reflected and explained in these is not founded on any divine revelation. It is a rational practical code based on verifiable facts and individual experience. The individual is to practise this teaching in everyday life with effort and diligence and depend on oneself, cultivating self discipline and self-control, self-reliance and self-purification. There are no dogmas to be believed and followed blindly, without reasoning and putting to the test. Praying to the Buddha or other beings, the performance of superstitious rites and ceremonies, meaningless sacrifices and penance’s are not helpful. Morality in Buddhism provides human beings with guide lines of conduct of what it is good to do and what it is not good to do for the sake of oneself and of others. It is an in-looking or looking into the behaviour of the mind type of morality with an outside glass and a rotten and defiled interior. It guides the layman to achieve and enjoy material progress in harmony with spiritual satisfaction and upliftment. It guides us to calm our senses, avoid conflict between the mind and the heart, enabling us to get on with our work, duties and responsibilities with peace of mind and joy. (I cheated on this one): http://www.lankaweb.com/dhamma/view12.html
that's interesting. i definitely agree that the practical application of morality is in the onset of the choice to do act X or not. i'm with you on that. and i'm totally with you that it doesn't spring from fear of punishment....that's kinda why the cause and effect thing was confusing me, particularly as played out in the one post krosfyah where he talked about if you keep doing bad things and getting caught, then you'll stop doing those bad things. not sure that we would agree in total on the analysis of what is moral and what is immoral, given those definitions. but we wouldn't be that far off in real practical application. i can certainly think of instances where i might take on suffering in place of someone else...that wouldn't be maximizing my own happiness or reducing the suffering of myself in a given situation..and in some ways, might not totally reduce the suffering of the individual i take on suffering in place of...but nevertheless, i think you'd have a hard time arguing that sort of self-sacrifice was immoral because it brought suffering on myself.
What about instances where you suffer and someone else will beenfit? "do it again and again": Too much of anything is not good, we can all agree on that, right?
I totally agree with you, I was just analyzing krosfyah's post. So can we say that some people lack a sense of morality?
Do what is good, don't do what is not. Nobody says there won't be tough decisions. You are over-thinking it. I think you have to practice morailty to get good at it. You have to prepare yourself for the tough decisions. I't doesn't happen instantly. You have to clear the weeds from your mind and plant more positve seeds. It takes some time, but the process is the enlightenment.
