EASTERN ETHICS

LESSON THREE
For Oriental thinking,
philosophy and religion
is one and the same.
To understand its philosophy, one must study its religion. To study the
religion, one uncovers its philosophy.
 Religion in the WEST vs EAST

Divine Revelation Mystical Experience

In Western religion, morality comes from the “top” In Eastern religion, The purpose for morality here is
or God. The ultimate reason for human morality in to wipe bad dust off the mirror of the human mind so
the West is the nature of God. By knowing God’s that we can see God and have a mystical experience,
nature and His will can a person perform what is as God is hidden in nature. Morality is the way to
truly good for him, thus, what is moral. seek God through enlightenment.
The goal is sanctity.
The goal is mysticism.
In the West, man must be enlightened (by God’s
will) so that the will is better. In the East, the moral will have to be purified so that
the mind is clear, its vision of God clearer.
 The Four Major Religions of the East
01 02 03
CONFUCIANIS
HINDUISM BUDDHISM M
Atman is Brahman Self is an illusion The superior man is a virtuous
man

04
TAOISM
Abide by the ways of nature
01
HINDUISM
“Lead me from unreal to the real.”
Brahman: Ultimate Reality
● In Hinduism, the ultimate reality is called
Brahman. Brahman is a person in some
form of the religion, and in others it is not a
person, but the one and only reality, of
which we are all manifestations.
 Everything is Brahman!

Avatars – appearance
(reincarnations) of deities in human
or animal form to counteract
A particular evil in the world.
Atman: Aspect of
Brahman
● Atman is the immortal individual soul.
The soul is a manifestation or
representation of Brahman in a person.

● The action of the soul while in a body

affects the soul’s next life. Upon death,
the moves to another body also known as
transmigration.
 “Thou Art That”
“Tat Tvam Asi”
Atman is Brahman
Your soul is you, everything else is unreal and
temporary. Each Atman is Brahman.
Karma: Cosmic Justice
● An action, be it good or bad, affects
not only society, but the Atman as
well. An action today affects our souls
in the future (next life).

● “As you sow, you shall reap.”

Samsara: Rebirth
● Hinduism believes that we are born Death Birth
into an endless cycle of life and death
or rebirth.

● “As a person puts new garments, Desire Karma

giving up old ones, the soul similarly
accepts new material bodies, giving up
the old and useless.” – Bhagvad Gita
 Jati | Caste System
Manu-smriti or “Laws of Manu” it contains authoritatve codes of Hinduism (5 th century BC)

Brahmins Priests or teachers. They the lords of all castes. Represented by the head.

Kshatriyas Warriors. Represented by the arms.

Vaishyas Traders or merchants or landlords. Represented by the thigh part.

Shudras Manual laborers, commoners, peasants, servants. Represented by the feet.

Dalits Outcasts such as street swipers, latrine cleaners, and dead body handlers.

Rule #1: Rule #2:

Brahmins were the lord of all castes. Forbid moving along the castes.
Dharma: Duty
● Dharma is the duty of an individual is called to live their life
following established values and virtues. Each being has its
own dharma such as a lion’s dharma is to be a predator or a
king’s dharma is to rule well.

● Dharma also pertains to “order and custom” that makes life

and universe possible. For as long as everything in the
universe follows their dharma, everything is fine.

● By living your dharma, you live your best life. It is proper to

age and caste. The goal for a good life (for a person) is to
pursue prosperity and reputation (Artha) as well as pleasure
for both body and mind (Kama).
Moksha: Liberation
● The aim then of Hinduism is to achieve the
knowledge and unity of Atman and
Brahman, which is wisdom, salvation, and
liberation or moksha, through:
○ the four roads (yogas); and
○ prayer, “lead me from the unreal to the
real.”
To attain oneness in Brahman, he must purify the self from all
kinds of evil, impurity, and selfishness and realize that at its
core, any person is simply Brahman.

“As rivers flowing into the ocean find their final peace and their
name and form disappear, even so the wise become free from
name and form and enter into the radiance of the Supreme Spirit
who is greater than all greatness. In truth who knows God
becomes God.”
- Mundaka Upanishads
Yogas: Deeds
● Yogas means deeds or works or ways of
life. Each of these yogas is an interior
journey of self-discovery that leads to
Atman and thus to Brahman, and each is
for different personalities. Each has its
own moral code, and each code is similar
—purification from all kinds of evil and
impurity and selfishness—but the
psychological emphasis differs:
 Four “Roads” (Yogas) to Brahman
A mental, intellectual path by which you learn to
Jnana Yoga understand yourself differently and learn to detach
(Inquiry, Meditation) your thoughts from your body and your ego and its
desires.

A path to Brahman through ordinary daily work

Karma Yoga
and fulfilling your duties with a new motive, sheer
(Authenticity, Compassion, Positivity) obedience to your karma or fate.

Bhakti Yoga A personal, emotional path of love and attachment

(Chanting, Mudras, Mantras) to Brahman instead of yourself.

Raja Yoga
The careful, difficult, experimental and detailed
(Awareness and Transcendence of the Mind- path, that combines elements of all the others
Body complex)
Do not cling to life. Be
self-less.
Death in Hinduism is only a passing of one body to the next
through reincarnation, for the person to learn the lessons he
didn’t learn last time, to fulfill the karma, your destiny and
cosmic justice, to reap the rewards for virtue and punishments
for vice from his last life. Hindus believe that we should fear
death less, and love life less, then we naturally do because both
are only temporary and repeatable.

Detach from life and contemplate.

So, do you want to
be ?
02
BUDDHISM
“There is no self.”
Road to Enlightenment
Siddhartha Gautama, from the warrior caste of the clan of
Sakyas, realized the problem of life which is suffering.
● He saw the sufferings of old age.
● He saw disease seeping away the life of a person.
● There was death.
● The struggle of an ascetic monk seeking the way of
deliverance.
Ascetism did not suffice his search for the enlightenment. It’s
concept of extreme self-mortification is giving more suffering
to the body.
Dhammadapa contains his teachings
of the Four Nobles Truths and
Noble Eightfold Paths – teachings
on practical morality and self-
discipline, and non-violence and
compassion.
 Four Noble Truths

1. There is a universal fact of pain 2. The origin of suffering – the

and suffering – birth, death, “craving thirst” brought by
disease, & old age, the presence in seeking for “self.”
the things we hate, and separation
The cause of suffering is greed, or tanha.
from our attachments. We have selfish desires and that sets up a
gap between desire and satisfaction, and
All life is infected with dhukka or that gap is what suffering is: wanting what
suffering. To live is to suffer. you don’t have.
 Four Noble Truths

3. Suffering can be ceased, that is 4. The path guides in the

through renouncing the notion of extinguishing of all desires,
“self”: an underlying personal thus extinguishes all
identity that needs to transition in suffering and the burden on
the cycle. rebirth.

To eliminate the effect, eliminate the cause. The prescription for this cure is the Noble
The way to extinguish suffering is to Eightfold Path. Life is divided into
extinguish selfish desire. Nibanna or eight aspects and egotism is
Nirvana is the cure. deliberately reduced to zero in each.
 Noble Eightfold Paths

1. Right View means 2. Right Resolve or

understanding the Truths, as Aspiration strives to observe
well as illusions of vanity. the right view and to go
beyond self-seeking motives.
When I give to others, is this self-seeking
Should I chase after fame
or for the sake of compassion or self-
or simplicity of life?
lessness?
 Noble Eightfold Paths

3. Right Speech tries to avoids 4. Right Action means that

gossip, slander, idle, and thus one should not kill, not lie, not
one must be careful and engage in illicit sexual
thoughtful. relations, and be a drunkard.
Am I becoming self-conceited in my Be kind. Be compassionate. Be generous.
speech? Be non-violent.
 Noble Eightfold Paths

5. Right Livelihood means to 6. Right Effort means to

do honest work, and to work develop wholesome qualities
that creates greater happiness, such as wisdom, generosity,
well-being, and good. and loving-kindness.
A politician is public service, not public Instead of gaining more fame and more
plunder? approval, grow in character. Be good.
 Noble Eightfold Paths

7. Right Concentration means 8. Right Contemplation means

to be fully aware of what one is to quiet all unnecessary thoughts
doing, thus see things as they until we come to the true
are, free from all illusions and knowledge, by intuition and
self-deceptions. insight.
Do not be absent-minded in your actions. Self-seeking is all in the mind. Train the mind
Be attentive. not to crave. It is just an illusion.
 Buddhism rejects Hindu theory
Our belief of
thatBrahman andor
we have souls, Atman.
egos, or
selves, stems from our practice of selfish
desire. If we stopped desiring, we would stop
thinking there was anyone there doing the
desiring.
The ultimate end of Buddhist ethics is to
“extinguish” desire, not to be good or bad,
you are simply not,
to destroy the self.
 Pranja
Wisdom means enlightenment, which
consists in seeing your identity with
everything else, overcoming the

2 Virtues of habitual illusion of distinct individuality

Buddhism Karuna
Compassion means feeling one
with all suffering beings and
overcoming the habitual desires of
the separate self.
Karuna is not the same as Agape

Karuna Agape
It is simply the feeling of This is active love, willing the
empathy with all the suffering good for the other. This is a
beings, which is a matter of matter of the will, given to
feeling and thought and people.
intuition. This is directed to
both people and animals as
well.
The Buddhist sees the human
body as a boat and the sailor is
apparently the soul or self or
ego. Since there is no ego, we are
empty boats, driven by the wind.
Since there is no one there, there
is no one to hate and when we
see this, we can no longer hate.

But the price? There is also no one there to love.

03
CONFUCIANI
SM
“Become chun tzu, a moral man, a gentleman, the
complete or superior man.”
 K’ung fu tzu or Confucius was an
intellectual from the state of Lu, at a
time of unwise leaders and strife (war) in
Ancient China.

Confucius became educated through

self-learning. He work for the
government (police commissioner &
governor) as well as being a teacher,
even for poor pupils, devoting his life to
education.
 The goal of Confucianism is to
cultivate the person into chun tzu, the
“noble man”, the “superior man” to
achieve a
harmonious society.
The archetypal person who is the ideal member of society capable of honest
performance of public duties, a civilized, humane, and spiritual
aristocrat, and an ideal example to all.
Education is learning from the classics or tradition, to learn
from the repository of human wisdom and moral insight.
Return to the sources of tradition, with the emphasis on moral education and the
observance of rites and ceremonies. Knowledge of the classics includes ancient poetic
songs, historical documents, understand rituals and codes of conduct: these become the
guide in making wise decisions and moral actions.

This was the sought-after goal and solution of Confucian teaching, that would address
the need to reform the social and political life and to relieve the suffering of the
common people. These teachings can be found in
Lun yu, “The Analects of Confucius”.
 Tao
The Way or Nature, the basic

Metaphysical principle in all things, it is the

“right way of virtue” the harmony

Concepts of two opposites Yin and Yang of

human activity.

Te
Tao & Te. Nature flourishes as Virtue
that manifests in the way a person
thinks and acts.
Virtue refers to a human quality
that is a gift received from
Heaven. Power by which men are
ruled by example.
 Traditional Values
Chih Jen

Moral Wisdom. This refers to man’s basic Humaneness. A sense of co-naturality or

inclination to what is right, the ability to respect, love, and good will towards others (love
distinguish right from wrong, undeceived by of one’s neighbor). This is achieved through
what is false, and reflects from the insights of putting oneself in the other’s position to know
the past. To be wise, one has to learn and think at what you should not do to them and doing one’s
the same time, to perfect knowledge in practice. best in the love of fellow man.

“The Master said, ‘Do not impose on others

what you yourself do not desire.’”
(Analects, XV.24)
 Traditional Values
Hsin Yi

Integrity. This concept stood for the principle Righteousness. The principle of activity or
directing our actions towards the pursuit for true action the chun-tzu: the ability to recognize what
values, as well as towards the virtuous path and is right and good under circumstances and act
forming right relationships. To be true to one’s upon it.
words and consistent in one’s actions. Honesty
and integrity as moral values that are critical for
students, leaders, and laypeople to develop. He
believes that honoring one's word, recognizing
one's faults, and encouraging honesty are all
tools that create good students of the Way and
effective leaders.
 Traditional Values
● Use language according to the truth of Li
things.
● Doctrine of the Golden Mean – proper Propriety. Rite. It implies to two things:
action is the way between two extremes
● The Five Relationships – the way things 1. concrete guide to human relationships or
should be done in social life rules of proper action that genuinely
embody jen.
(a) Father & son (loving/reverential)
(b) Elder brother & younger brother
2. general principle of social order or the
(gentle/respectful)
general ordering of life.
(c) Husband & Wife (good/listening)
(d) Older friend & younger friend
(considerate/deferential) Rites help curb the vicious nature of the person.
(e) Ruler & subject (benevolent/loyal)
 Parents are revered because they are the
source of your life. They have sacrificed
much for you.
Filial piety (Hsiao) leads to One should do well and make the
love of community. A good family name known and respected:
bring honor to your family.
member of the family is also a
good subject or citizen. Consider someone you respect and admire
who saves your life or someone who has
The gradations of love.
sacrificed his life for you – as, indeed, your
parents did. Hence, the reverence.

Give your parents not only physical care but also

emotional and spiritual richness. When the
parents die, their unfulfilled aims and purposes
should be the purposes of the children.
 Society is the milieu of virtue. Politics is the
expression of ethics, the application of being a
moral person on a bigger scale.
The goal of the state and of politics can only be the
good and welfare of the people, the community of
fellow human beings – the extension of the virtue
humanness.
 The role of the government is
to “govern and correct.”
Thus, the importance of
a sheng ren, sage-king.
Threefold duties of the government:
1. To assure the satisfaction of the people’s material needs.
2. To equip the people with arms and military training for the
community’s defense.
3. To provide, by way of virtuous living and by example,
moral
formation and guidance.
04
TAOISM
“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is
accomplished.”
 TAOISM, compared to
Confucianism, seeks its
principles and rules for
human life not within
humanity, but within nature.
 Lao Tzu stressed how harmony and
perfection of nature is the key to happiness.

He charges that poverty and starvation were

caused by bad rulers, that greed and avarice
resulted in wars and killings, and that desires
for wealth, power, and glory were bringing
about the destruction of society.

The deficiencies and evils confronting human

society stems from a wrong view of humanity
and the universe written in Tao Te Ching.
How should people
act? Follow the Tao.
“People should adopt the ‘easy way’ of
Tao, not inflicting their desires upon
nature, but following nature's principles,”
says Lao Tzu.
 TAO
No Characteristics No Name Empty
It is not the name of a It is empty
It is without divisions,
particular thing but that of all particularity, for it is
distinctions, or character
which (principle) enables the possibility and source of
distinctions. But it is the
things to be what they area all particularity. Even
origins of Heaven and Earth:
and allow things to pass though it is empty of
no beginning nor end.
from existence to non- particularity it is the most
existence. useful of all things.

No Desire Tranquil Simple

It is free of desire. Acting out Since it is free of desire, To be free of desires is good
of desires only lead to evil. there is no competition and accomplished.
conflict, thus, order and
peace.
 Te: Manifestations of Tao

YIN & YANG POWER or VIRTUE

It is associated with the female principle of One’s natural ability brought to peak
the universe, which Is considered dark potential through following the Way or
and passive which is associated with Tao.
Earth. It is associated with the male
principle of the universe that is
considered light and active and is
associated with heaven.

Strictly speaking the function (te) of Tao cannot be stated, but since Tao supports all things
in their natural state, its function can be seen, at least partially, by looking to nature. The Tao
is manifested in the workings of nature, for what individual things possess of Tao is the te,
or function, of Tao.
 Wu-wei: Non-action
● The reason why acting out of desires leads to evil is that it is contrary to the Way, for the
great Tao is always without desires.

● By "taking no action" is not straining and contriving to accomplish, but letting things be
accomplished in a natural and spontaneous way.

● If the ruler will keep to the way of Tao, government will proceed in a natural and
spontaneous way. There will be no need for harsh laws, conscriptions, punishment and wars.

● By giving up desires and letting the Tao enter and pervade oneself, life will rise above the
distinctions of good and evil. All activity will proceed from Tao, the very source of
existence, and humanity will be one with the world. This is the solution Lao Tzu brought to
the problem of evil and unhappiness in human life. It is a solution that depends ultimately
upon achieving a unity with the great inner principle of reality, and is, therefore, basically
mystical.
 Three Treasures of Taoism

Compassio Frugalit
n
Humility
y
“…For only he that “…Only he that is “…Only he that refuses
pities is truly able to be frugal is able to be to be foremost of all
brave…” profuse…” things is truly able to
become chief of all
Practical, political side: Practical, political side:
Abstain from aggressive war Absolute simplicity of living Ministers.”
and capital punishment. Practical, political side:
Refusal to assert active
authority.
 Be like water!

Rigid things die, flexible things live. The favorite Taoist

model in nature is water. It always goes to the lowest
place, and it has no form of its own, as it takes the
form of its container. But it is the source of all life,
and its wave, dashing themselves to extinction on the
hard rocks, are not change by the rocks, but the rocks
are changed and turned to sand by the patient water.
 East vs West
In the Eastern philosophies, ultimate reality is beyond moral good and
evil. This Oriental metaphysics has great ethical consequences. In this
philosophy, you don’t take the difference between good and evil with
absolute seriousness, just relative seriousness.

In the West, ultimate reality, is infinitely good and not evil. God
does not have a dark side. The meaning of life is Him, or being
like Him, or surrender to His will etc. So, morality is taken with
ultimate seriousness, because moral goodness is not relative,
like biological goodness or physical goodness. Western religion
tends to toward moral absolutism.
“Even if everything in the physical universal
is relative, morality is not relative to
immorality as Yin to Yang.”

—Peter Kreeft
 Ch.03

Eastern Ethics
Thank you!