Khan Singh wrote:Hi everyone.
I've learned that, in the Mahayana tradition, Buddhist morality simply conformed to the particular culture, which seems to have something to do with the strong influence of Confucianism in China. It seems to me that, because of this, Western liberalism has greatly influenced the Mahayana traditions in the West, even seeking to undo moral views customs from Christianity that share much in common with Buddhism, generally.
My question is, where does Theravada Buddhism derive its morality from and could it be said to be somewhat more conservative and family oriented for lay people?
The five precepts are derived from the Buddha's direct insight into the workings of kamma, and from his compassionate wish that all beings avoid the negative consequences that come from transgressing them:
MN 4 trans. Ven. Thanissaro
"When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of the passing away & reappearance of beings. I saw — by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human — beings passing away & re-appearing, and I discerned how they are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with their kamma: 'These beings — who were endowed with bad conduct of body, speech & mind, who reviled noble ones, held wrong views and undertook actions under the influence of wrong views — with the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in the plane of deprivation, the bad destination, the lower realms, in hell. But these beings — who were endowed with good conduct of body, speech, & mind, who did not revile noble ones, who held right views and undertook actions under the influence of right views — with the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in the good destinations, in the heavenly world.' Thus — by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human — I saw beings passing away & re-appearing, and I discerned how they are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with their kamma.
"This was the second knowledge I attained in the second watch of the night. Ignorance was destroyed; knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed; light arose — as happens in one who is heedful, ardent, & resolute.
As he explains elsewhere, "good conduct" is keeping the five precepts (in
all situations, no matter what) and "bad conduct" is breaking them. It should be obvious from this that any more "liberal" interpretation of Buddhist morality is simply one lacking in wisdom and compassion.