Early Buddhist Moral System Depicted in the Pali Nikaya and Day-to-Day Decision-making

抄録

A careful study of the Pali Nikaya texts (“texts” hereafter) confirms that sila and sikkhapada are conceptually and categorically different: sila is refinedness of personal behavior and sikkharpada is the tool used to cultivate sila. Over time, these two were used synonymously and sila's original and dynamic connotation was lost. The conflation resulted in wrong approaches to Buddhist ethics. This paper attempts to clarify sila as the core of the Early Buddhist moral system and to argue that wholesome decision-making based on the principle of sila is widely utilizable in solving modern ethical issues, such as stem-cell research or surrogate motherhood.