Ethical Teachings of Christianity and Buddhism

The issue of ethics is central to the teachings in both Christianity and Buddhism. In particular, these two religions—like many other world religions of the east and west—concentrate on human ethics through belief, worship, and practice. Similarities and differences are evident in both theory and practice between the two religions. Therefore, this paper aims to introduce the basic views of the two religions on ethical issues of humanity as well as the differences between Christian and Buddhist ethics as related to ideas of sin, the model and notion of ethics, and the codes of ethics.

In almost all religions, human beings are considered “beings of sin”—or, at the very least, being “living in sin.” Without sins as characteristics of humanity, it is possible no doctrine of religious ethics would exist. According to both Christianity and Buddhism, the specific characteristics of human beings are sinful, guilty, and imperfect; the appearance of religious principles of morality is considered the way through which humans may purify themselves and make themselves perfect and pure. Historically, the births of Jesus Christ or the Buddha were welcomed as “good news” to human beings and for the sake of human beings since, from the religious perspectives, Jesus Christ was born to bring the message of love and salvation from God while the Sakyamuni Buddha brought the message of compassion and wisdom as well as the path to enlightenment to humanity. The essential question for humans, however, focuses on determining first what those messages really are: Should these messages deal with the problem of human sins?

From the Christian viewpoint, all human beings are related to the original sin—the first in human history—created by Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden; this original sin has been passed down from generation o generation down to the present generation. The story, of course, can be understood both literally and figuratively, but the most significant teaching implicit in the story is that the nature of original sin is human’s disobedience to God. The term disobedience here provides a connotation of ethics. In fact, a person is considered guilty if he or she disobeys an order or regulation from his or her school, the laws of society, or even any social conventions. However, in this context the humans (Adam and Eve) in the Garden of Eden disobeyed God’s warning by eating the forbidden fruits. Clearly, if God is perceived as the model of ultimately perfect ethics (as we will see), then disobeying God equates to being sinful.

In truth, human beings have always had problems in obeying not only God, but also the standards of certain regulations in both religious and secular aspects. As such, sin in the Christian view is not only the original sin passed down to us from Adam and Eve, but also disobedience within the heart of each individual in practicing or following the divine spirit, moral rules, or any ethical codes of certain beliefs. Therefore, Christian ethics are based upon the practice of not only believing in God, but also obeying God’s teachings. Dr. Kenneth A. Locke, in his paper on religious ethics, said, “In the Bible a sin is not so much the violation of a taboo or the transgression of an external ordinance as it is an action and/or thought which touches upon and distorts a human’s personal standing with God. To commit a sin is to alienate oneself from the divine.”^{^[1]} His statement, to a certain extent, clearly asserts that in the spiritual relationship between humans (creatures) and God (Creator) any alienation from the divine can be considered as a sin. According to Christianity, God is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end of all existences.

In Buddhism, however, no such original sin exists. The Buddha said that all human beings are born from ignorance and craving^{^[2]}; as a result, human beings are born and reborn constantly in a circle of birth and death called samsara. The Buddha’s enlightenment is the full destruction of ignorance and craving of his own person. In the hymn of victory, the Buddha proclaimed his spiritual achievement as realizing the truth of human sufferings:

According to this personal experience of the Buddha, the original causes of humanity’s sin—imperfection, impurity, and bad karmas—did not result from either another or the outside, but from within the mental formations of each individual. The most obvious idea of human ethics in the whole structure of Buddhist thought is that sin is made up of oneself; thus, it can also be purified by oneself. In the Dhammapada, the Buddha said, “By oneself alone is evil done, by oneself alone is evil avoided, by oneself alone is one purified. Purity and impurity depend on oneself. No one can purify another.”^{^[4]} Consequently, the basis upon which Buddhism develops the teachings of ethics exists nowhere other than the mind and its volitional actions (karma).

In both Christianity and Buddhism, the ideal model of ethics takes the most important role in all aspects of religious morality. The focus of all teachings of ethics, in both religions, concentrates directly on the life and personality of Jesus Christ and the Buddha, respectively since their living embodiments are fraught with noble virtues and great loves which, by nature, go far beyond all capacities of human intellects and logical rationalism. In light of Christ’s existence, as history asserts, Moses has only one thing to do: to obey the will of God. Similarly, in the shadow of the Buddha, the five brothers of Kondanna become silent, honest, and humble. Indeed, this is the spiritual power that stems directly from the very person of Christ and the Buddha, respectively. No human language exists to describe it. The model of Christ and the Buddha in the history of the two religions is always the foundation and spiritual aspiration for all religious disciplines in Christianity as well as in Buddhism. However, different notions of ethics exist between the two religions.

For the Christian concept of a moral life, love (agape) is the central notion implicit or explicit in the Christian Bible as well as in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, the only son of God. God is love, and love is God. In the fourteenth century, Dante glorified God as “l’amor che muove il sole e l’altre stelle” (the love that moves the sun and all the stars). Indeed, love is the nature of God’s heart or love constitutes the heart of God.^{^[5]} From this viewpoint, the Christians believe that God’s grace and His forgiveness of sinful humanity are the holy power by which they can cultivate ethical virtues and their end goal: God’s salvation. In fact, sins, forgiveness, belief, and God’s love serve as the cradle from which Christians established their moral standards for believers. However, most agree that, “for [the] Christian faith, [the] right belief and right conduct must go together; and that a true Christian is best recognized by his or her deeds rather than his or her statements of faith.”^{^[6]}

The case is quite different in Buddhism, in which the model of ethics is evidently the Buddha’s personality; as such, his life becomes the standard of ethics for all Buddhist schools (Hinayana and Mahayana) setting up moral codes. However, the notion of Buddhist morality is not based upon the Buddha himself or even the holy power of Buddha; rather, it is based on his teachings of causes and effects as well as karma. According to these teachings, each individual must take responsibility for his or her actions. A person’s good (positive) or bad (negative) karma is the actual effect of his or her thoughts and actions. The Buddha, to a certain extent, can be defined as love or grace, but he definitely would not be able to rescue a sinful being or give that being salvation, unless the individual practices the dharma and follows the spiritual directions drawn out by the Buddha. In fact, the term forgiveness is not afforded any specific position within the Buddhist teachings of ethics except to be involved in the teachings of compassion, one of the essential aspects of the entire teachings of Buddhism. The Buddha encouraged his followers to “make an island of yourself, make yourself your refuge; there is no other refuge. Make truth your island, make truth your refuge; there is no other refuge.”^{^[7]}

Questions about the biblical teaching of ethics inevitably lead Christians to mention the Ten Commandments, which are extensively related to the “Sermon on the Mount for Moses” originally mentioned in the Torah. Although the Ten Commandments teach moral lessons, they are actually quite generic on the one hand while also quite common compared to other religious teachings on the other hand. Moreover, the Christian Bible does not address the difficulties found in modern times, such as stem cell research, cloning, nuclear and biological weapons, or international politics. Such issues, in reality, significantly influence the existence of the Church, the pinnacle of the entire body of Christianity. According to Locke, “the Ten Commandments contain more than a list of moral guidelines…Indeed, of these Commandments, only the last six actually address moral activity. The first four are concerned with correct belief and worship.”^{^[8]} However, from an ethical perspective, the final six commandments (not to murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness against a neighbor, or covet a neighbor’s house, wife, ox—i.e., property) are particularly necessary for people to protect their lives of happiness. Other than that, all aspects of human ethics relate directly to the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Consequently, many biblical interpretations have emerged, resulting in divisions of Christianity into forms such as Eastern Orthodoxy, American Methodism, Latin Catholicism, or Anglicanism.

In contrast, Buddhism has its own collection of both monastic (monks and nuns) and lay disciple codes of moral conduct, called Vinaya texts, or the Buddhist moral codes. Vinaya is one of the Tripitaka (Sutta, Vinaya, and Abhidhamma) of Buddhist teachings. Of these Vinaya rules, the Pali Text Society’s Translation noted precisely 150 rules; the 75 Sekhiyas and 2 Aniyata were subsequently added to these 150 rules, resulting in 227 total rules for bhikkhus’ training.^{^[9]} The basic training rules for bhikkhus (monks) and bhikkhunis (nuns), however, are summarized in the modern Patimoksa, which includes 227 rules for bhikkhus and 311 for bhikkhunis.^{^[10]}

Yet, the most essential and popular disciplines for all the Buddhists (both monastic and lay persons) involve five precepts: 1) to refrain from killing or destroying living creatures; 2) to refrain from taking that which is not given; 3) to refrain from sexual misconduct; 4) to refrain from incorrect and harmful speech; and 5) to refrain from intoxicating drinks and drugs that lead to carelessness. The five precepts create a common ground for all schools of Buddhism; no difference or exception exists regarding the five precepts in either Hinayana or Mahayana Buddhism.

Interestingly, to a certain extent the last six commandments of Christianity and the five precepts of Buddhism are almost identical. Both groups focus on human ethics in their respective fields: the individual and society. Indeed, although the five precepts and Ten Commandments sound simple and easy to practice, in reality many people break one or two of the rules once or even many times in their lives.

Thus, in the eye of both Christianity and Buddhism, human beings are perceived as beings of sin or beings living in sin. Both Christianity’s commandments and Buddhism’s precepts see purity of the mind and action through the moral codes as the very basic step in ethics. Such purity is the only way to end all inner impurities and sufferings created within each person. If the end goal is to transform oneself from evil to divine, in Christianity this would be through the union with God, while in Buddhism it would be through the realization of Buddhahood. Regardless, purifying the mind and actions of each individual must always be the first step of any spiritual transformation.

^{^[1]} Kenneth A. Locke, “The Foundation for Ethical Behavior: A Christian perspective for a dialogue with Buddhism,” Hsi Lai Journal of Humanistic Buddhism 3 (2002): 327.

^{^[2]} Agganana Sutta, Digha Nikaya, No. 27.

^{^[3]} Dhammapada Sutta, Verses 153-154; see Suzuki 66.

^{^[4]} Acharya Buddharakkhita, trans., “Dhammapada,” A Handful of Leaves, CD-ROM, (1996): verse 165.

^{^[5]} S. Cromwell Crawford, ed., World Religions and Global Ethics (New York: Pafagon House, 1989) 192.

^{^[6]} Locke 324.

^{^[7]} Sister Vajira and Francis Story, trans., The Maha Parinibbana Sutta (Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society, 1988).

^{^[8]} Locke 327.

^{^[9]} Phra Sasana Sobhana, Introduction to the Patimokkha. See Nanamoli Thera, trans., Patimokkha: The rule for Buddhist monks (Bangkok: King Maha Makuta’s Academy, 1969) 13.

^{^[10]} The Patimoksa rules are grouped as follows: 1) Parajika: rules entailing expulsion from the Sangha (Defeat) (4 for bhikkhus, 8 for bhikkhunis); 2) Sanghadisesa: rules entailing an initial and subsequent meeting of the Sangha (13 and 17, respectively); 3) Aniyata: [indefinite] rules (2 and 0 respectively); 4) Nissaggiya pacittiya: rules entailing forfeiture and confession (30 each); 5) Pacittiya: rules entailing confession (92 and 166, respectively); 6) Patidesaniya: rules entailing acknowledgement (4 and 8, respectively); 7) Sekhiya: rules of training (75 each); and 8) Adhikarana samatha: rules for settling disputes (7 each).

Ethical Teachings of Christianity and Buddhism

By Khai Thien