Not About Being Good: A Practical Guide to Buddhist Ethics

While there are numerous books on Buddhist meditation and philosophy, there are few books that are entirely devoted to the practice of Buddhist ethics. Here Subhadramati, an experienced teacher of meditation and ethics, communicates clearly both their founding principles and the practical methods to embody them. She begins by stating that Buddhist ethics don't see human nature as something to be beaten into submission, tamed, or domesticated. Buddhism is not trying "to cure life of itself." Buddhism is about fulfilling our human nature, not diminishing it, and its ethics are both the means and the expression of this fulfillment. In Buddhism, being ethical means being truly human.

Buddhist ethics are thus not about conforming to a set of conventions, not about "being good" in order to gain material, social, or religious rewards. Instead, as Subhadramati outlines, living ethically springs from the awareness that other people are essentially no different from ourselves. We can, if we choose, actively develop this awareness, through cultivating more and more love, clarity, and contentment. Helping us to come into a greater harmony with all that lives, including ourselves, this is ultimately a guidebook to a more satisfactory life.

Subhadramati is a teacher of meditation and Buddhism at the London Buddhist Centre. This is her first book.