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Is Buddhist morality dependent on the scenario?
mynameisuntz
Explorer
Lots of people would tell you that lying is wrong. Buddhist or not, it's a pretty universally accepted moral that speaking a lie is not morally correct. Yet if you were to lie in order to save someone's life, many people would say that lie ceases to become immoral as it serves a greater purpose; it thwarts a potential act of great evil.
Many forms of philosophy, however, would say lying is still wrong and should not be done even if it serves such a purpose such as saving life. Kant, for example, would say this.
Where does Buddhism stand on such a scenario? If you do something immoral in order to prevent an arguably greater immorality, is it acceptable? Is it MORAL? Does it remain immoral, but still the right thing to do?
Thanks, all!
Many forms of philosophy, however, would say lying is still wrong and should not be done even if it serves such a purpose such as saving life. Kant, for example, would say this.
Where does Buddhism stand on such a scenario? If you do something immoral in order to prevent an arguably greater immorality, is it acceptable? Is it MORAL? Does it remain immoral, but still the right thing to do?
Thanks, all!
0
Comments
When our minds are ignorant, we can't always see a perfect path. So, hopefully, we choose the path of "least suffering", or the choice we can see that does the least harm. Ideally, we would always be honest... but we are not always wise enough to be honest in a skillful way.
Having started to follow the Five Precepts I am shocked at how often I lie, even when absolutely no-one gains from it. It's just a habit I've gotten into over my lifetime. And yet I've always thought of myself as an honest person. Incredible...
Anyway, I don't know the answer to the question either. :-/ I would say that the aim should be to be truthful at all times, but that if it doesn't always work out we shouldn't beat ourselves up for it (what with guilt being an egotistical emotion and all that). As @aMatt said, at times ignorance can get in the way of ideal behaviour.
Example: You live in Libya and hide Colonel Gaddafi's young grandchildren in your house because you feel they are innocent children & their lives are in danger
The rebel mob, wanting to kill the children, knock on your door and ask: "Have you seen Colonel Gaddafi's young grandchildren?"
You reply: "No"
Although you told a lie, this is not bad karma because your intention is to compassionately save their lives (rather than deceive another for a greedy personal benefit).
Similarly, if we kill in self-defence, that is not bad karma, because our intention is not an intention born of greed, hatred & delusion. Our intention is the compassionate intention to save our innocent life.
So given that we are not buddhas yet it is hard to know when you are preventing harm by telling a lie. We always assume the lie will never be found out, but quite often even if the lie isn't consciously uncovered, the echos persist in the subconscious.
This is samsara and it is ucked.
.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetan_Buddhism#Monasticism
The Dalai Lama has been such an important person on the world stage because he was the head of state in Tibet and of the Tibetan government in exile (as well as being a Gelugpa monk/tulku). He recently stepped down from the head of goverment role altogether.
He belongs to the Tibetan Buddhist Gelug school which is headed by the Ganden Tripa.
There are 4 schools of Tibetan Buddhism and he has no religious authority over the other 3 schools (Nyingma, Kagyu and Sakya)
Historically there were disagreements between the different schools. The Gelugs became dominant under the Mongol regime in Tibet and the 5th Dalai Lama was made temporal ruler of Tibet in 1642 by Gushri Khan.
As for the information its taken from when I was a TB practitioner myself and there's a timeline here:
http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/history/tib_timeline.htm
How did Gaddafi get in your cellar in the first place, pegembara? (Just needling you. ; ) But you have a point; not all cases are as clearcut as the Nazi scenarios cited earlier.)