As Buddhism continues to spread in the west, its views on contemporary issues are increasingly sought. Both its own followers and those outside the tradition are curious about how this ancient Asian tradition will respond to the moral dilemmas confronting the modern world. This innovative volume examines a range of contemporary moral issues from a Buddhist perspective. It brings together the views of leading scholars on a range of controversial subjects including human rights, animal rights, ecology, abortion, euthanasia, and contemporary business practice, in an attempt to lay the foundations for a Buddhist response to some of the most pressing challenges of today and the next millennium. Six of the chapters address specific issues in applied ethics, namely human rights, animal rights, ecology, abortion, euthanasia, and contemporary business practice. Two chapters explore the sources, nature, and proper classification of Buddhist ethics, and trace its ethical teachings back to their ancient roots in order to discover the appropriate foundations for Buddhist ethics in the modern world.
The contributors to this volume have undertaken a major work of revision and reinterpretation. The topics discussed are rarely mentioned in ancient sources, and have received scant attention down the centuries within the tradition itself. The contributors endeavour to generate a response to new problems that is consistent with the spirit of Buddhist values and in harmony with its extensive scriptural tradition. Down the centuries, Buddhism has reacted productively to its encounter with new cultures, and there is every reason to expect a productive dialogue as it engages the attention of the west at the turn of the second millennium.