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Summary

　　Buddhist ethics can be compelling by the sheer force of its principal doctrines.  It focuses on the nature of the elusive but dynamic nonself (anaatman) doctrine and brings together such concepts as the middle way (madhyama-pratipad), relational origination (pratiitya-samutpaada) and the nature of emptiness (`suunyataa).  But more basic to the understanding of these concepts is the need to practice the well known Eightfold Noble Path that finally caps in meditative discipline (samaadhi) that breaks open into the perception of things under the aegis of emptiness.  The result is a rare vision, an insight (praj~naa) and compassion (karu.naa) for all living and nonliving creatures.

　　The dynamic nonself is important in that it exhibits the contemporary significance of the content of a doctrine expounded by the historical Buddha.  Without this doctrine, it would not be possible to develop Buddhist ethics.  It compels us to perceive our contacts, association and actions in a group or social setting in a broader, deeper and flexible ways.  The nature of emptiness allows this perception.  More specifically, the awareness of others in mutually binding and dynamic ways give rise to a unique form of moral sense.  It binds people together in ways that are gainful and harmonious, thus perpetuating and sustaining a healthy and productive society.

Key words:　　　　 1. Dynamic Nonself  2. Emptiness  3. Ethics  4. Middle Way  5. Relational Origination

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　　Buddhism is at once both a religion and a philosophy.  The fact that  it has this dual nature is one of the wonders in the ideological world.  It is even more surprising when one considers the fact that as a religion there is no deity or a higher being to speak of and as a philosophy there is the inclusion of meditative discipline as a necessary ingredient in the way of life.  To the westerner, this poses an awkward situation, but my perception of this dilemma is that such a situation arises because the viewer has a limited understanding of Buddhism rather than seeing it in its fuller and deeper implications.  It is often said that it takes a lifetime to understand Buddhism because its tenets are not only for the intellect alone, but it also challenges one to truly implicate its doctrines into one’s own way of life.   In this sense, Buddhism is profoundly practical in its deeper nature of things.  Historically, it would seem that at the beginning, there was neither a religion nor a philosophy sharply distinguished and with a distinct following of either.  The quest for the enlightened life was a general quest by all Indians of whatever persuasion.  It crossed ideological borders facilely and there was no restrictions set up to prevent or restrict any devotee from moving about freely to achieve his goal.  There were freelance truth seekers (sadhus) everywhere in what may be called an especially open and tolerant ambiance.  It was in such a world that Siddhartha Gautama appeared.

　　The historical Buddha’s enlightenment (nirvaa.na) revealed a surprisingly new message to the world.  He taught the well known Fourfold Noble Truth: (1) Life is suffering, (2) there is a reason for the suffering, (3) there is a cessation of suffering, and finally (4) there is a way to the cessation of suffering.  The teaching was very simple and direct: life is a bundle of suffering from the minute one is born, but there is a way out of suffering.  Later on, the teachings were committed to writing (suutras) and commentaries on them (`saastras) as well as disciplinary rules of conduct (vinaya) appeared, especially at selected places of gathering for instruction and

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training called the sanghas.  For a long time, the sanghas were the centers of Buddhist learning and propagation.  It promoted vigorous training for the ideality of life, a life geared for the ultimate salvation through self-enlightenment.  As the sanghas grew in size and number, correspondingly and in time, the notion of an unlimited content of self-enlightenment arose to inject new perspective and meaning into the ideality of life.  Now the content included not only matters on sentient beings but nonsentients as well.  Thus, perception was no longer limited but unlimited or open in terms of taking in the grand sweep of things.  In many ways, this was really a return to the original enlightenment of the Buddha who probed into the profound content as it really is in the dynamics of life itself.   So now the mere truth seeker has become a participant in the grand scheme of things, although he may not be cognizant of his real situation as yet.   From the ideal of truth seeking, we now see a movement toward a grander perspective of things that takes in the whole world as the grounds of human function.  This perspective is known as the Bodhisattva Ideal.  For those who understand fairly well the doctrines of Buddhism, it becomes a further challenge to incorporate greater and deeper realms of beings and nonbeings.  In this essay we will probe into this challenge as a way of bringing forth a viable Buddhist form of ethics.