The course will begin with a brief discussion of the early Buddhist view of individual existence. Its purpose is to clarify the background against which the Buddhist teachings on the theory and practice of moral life are presented. This will be followed up with a detailed study of the following topics:
1. The significance of Buddhist ethical teachings in the context of Buddhism as a non-theistic religion.
2. The threefold foundation of Buddhist ethics: kammavada (advocacy and justification of moral life), kiriyavada (recognition of the efficacy of moral actions), and viriyavada (role of human effort in the practice of moral life).
3. Criteria of moral evaluation: the psychological criterion and the consequential criterion.
4. Guidelines for moral determination and moral action.
5. The role of the knowledge-factor in the practice of moral life.
6. The problem of one’s own good (atta-hita, sadattha) and the good of others (para-hita). Is the early Buddhist ideal of Arahanthood individualistic and self-centred?
7. The psychological basis of Buddhist ethics: the three levels of moral evil (anusaya, pariyutthana, vitikkama) and the threefold training (sila, samadhi, panna).
8. The Noble Eightfold Path and the practice of the Buddhist moral life.
9. The significance of the Noble Eightfold Path as the MiddlaWay (majjhima patipada) and the Doctrine of Dependent Origination as the “Middle Doctrine” (“majjhima desana”).
10. Buddhist ethics and Nibbana. Why Nibbana is described as cessation of kamma (kamma-nirodha).
（下學期課程英語授課）
導 師： Prof. Y.Karunadasa
導師簡介：
Professor Y Karunadasa is an internationally known authority on Pali Abhidhamma and Theravada Buddhism. He obtained his PhD from the University of London, and his published thesis, entitled Buddhist Analysis of Matter, has been reviewed as “the final word on the subject for many years to come.” He was twice the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, and for 11 years served as the Director of the Postgraduate Institute of Pali and Buddhist Studies of the same university. （Y Karunadasa 教授是國際知名的巴利文系毗曇學及上座部佛學權威。他以《佛教對色法的分析》(Buddhist Analysis of Matter)榮獲英國倫敦大學的博士學位。該論文出版後博得好評；曾被評為「於未來多年將能繼續成為此論題之定論」。他曾兩次受聘為斯里蘭卡克蘭尼亞大學文學院院長；並擔任過同校巴利文及佛學研究生院院長，任期長達十一年。）
課程編號：
開課日期：2004年09月20日
堂 數：約16堂
導 師： Prof. Y.Karunadasa
導師簡介：
Professor Y Karunadasa is an internationally known authority on Pali Abhidhamma and Theravada Buddhism. He obtained his PhD from the University of London, and his published thesis, entitled Buddhist Analysis of Matter, has been reviewed as “the final word on the subject for many years to come.” He was twice the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, and for 11 years served as the Director of the Postgraduate Institute of Pali and Buddhist Studies of the same university. （Y Karunadasa 教授是國際知名的巴利文系毗曇學及上座部佛學權威。他以《佛教對色法的分析》(Buddhist Analysis of Matter)榮獲英國倫敦大學的博士學位。該論文出版後博得好評；曾被評為「於未來多年將能繼續成為此論題之定論」。他曾兩次受聘為斯里蘭卡克蘭尼亞大學文學院院長；並擔任過同校巴利文及佛學研究生院院長，任期長達十一年。）
課程編號：
開課日期：2004年09月20日
堂 數：約16堂