The document discusses the role of ethics in daily life according to Buddhist teachings. It explains that ethics provide guidelines for right conduct and help cultivate compassion. The Five Precepts of not killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, and intoxication serve as the foundation for ethical behavior. Following the Noble Eightfold Path of right view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration also guides one's daily life. Practicing ethics through mindful speech, actions, and livelihood helps avoid harming others and develop inner peace.

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Role of Ethics in Daily Life
By
Ven. Satya Priya Sraman
B.A 3st year Students 2nd semester 2012
Faculty Major Buddhism
MaHACHULALONGKORORNRAJAVIDYAKAYA UNIVERSITY
Lamsai, Wangnoi, Ayudhya-13170

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Table of Contents
Table of Contends 2
Acknowledgements 3
Interdiction 4
Role of Ethics in our Daily 4
The Path of Buddha 5
Paractcing Buddhism in our Daily Life 7
Conclusion 8
Bibliography 9

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Acknowledgements
First of all I would like to extend our deepest gratitude to the
Mahachulalongkorajavidyalaya University for giving us a chance and opportunity
to study Buddhism. To our dear Ven Ashin Sumanacra who is very patient to
impart her knowledge about Buddhist Ethics Thank you for all the information
and giving your best to feed our minds, nice power point and encouraging us to
study more about Ethics,
This is my individual assignment. In this topic I tried to explain about the Role
of Ethics in Daily Life. Although I couldn’t bring all the information in this
assignment but I tried my best to explain and sorted The Daily life Buddhist Ethics
Next, I would like to give a special thanks to my brother Ven Ananda Bikkhu who
had given lot of information about the history of Buddhism in Bangladesh and
given advice how to start this.
Secondly I would like to a big thanks to my class meat and friend Rev Nagasen
Sraman and Upekkha pal Sraman who helped to checked proof in this assignment.
Finally, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all teachers of MCU
who are very supportive and caring educator in molding us and taught the BA 3rd
year 2nd semester 2012 International Program.

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Ven Satya Priya Sraman
Wat Nakprok
342 Thoet thai Rd, Pasicharoen,
Bangkok, Thailand
March 17, 2012
Role of Buddhist Ethics in Daily Life
INTRODUCTION
Ethics is a science that has to do with the standards of right or wrong in human conduct. It
studies the moral ideals and the propriety of human behavior. It is often used by various leaders
and organizations to control society - sometimes benevolently, but usually bringing about self-
sacrifice and human suffering. It’s very main essence is to provide purpose and meaning to our
lives by helping to define goals in our lives - and then to help guide us to achieve them. So as a
science it has its relevance and importance to our daily living.
Ethics basically involves leading life in a right manner and making right decisions. It is within
ourselves to perform the right action and to make our world better and everything lies and
depends on our hands and to our good thoughts. Ethical behavior is necessary not only because it
is distinguishes between right or wrong but also because it is one of the first means to attain
enlightenment. If one does not discipline himself/herself, he cannot lead a proper life which
diverted his mind from concentration and without concentration one cannot gain wisdom. That is
why; ethic is one of the important factors for gaining of enlightenment.
The morality of man is one of the most important elements in the progress of a country. People
must exercise self- discipline because it is needed in the proper implementation of projects and
government’s activities. The knowledge of what is wrong in any activity will guide citizens who
are the partners of the government in the development of our country.
ROLE OF ETHICS IN OUR DAILY

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Ethical self-discipline it is the mental urge to safeguard the actions of one’s body, speech
and mind – “safeguard” means to guard against doing something – and this comes from having
turned one’s mind away from any wish to cause harm to others. It serves as the controller or
guidelines of our mind and body not to act negative or bad to our environment and to people
around us. There are three types of self discipline that is being mentioned: self-discipline: refrain
from destructive behavior, engage in constructive behavior, and help others. Through this our
attitude and behavior are the basis in doing good. We will no longer act destructively instead
positively and we are directing ourselves in doing good to others.
Ethics play a very important role in any society; based on ethics we distinguish barbarians
from social animals. When ethics and moral values are absent in any society then it transforms
into a jungle where there are no laws, no rights of people etc. Thus moral values are the pillars
on which a society is established and in that society people live with contentment. People living
in the society are responsible for cementing these pillars so hard that they could never be shaken.
Every person in the society is a small arc that contributes to the bigger circle and when any arc in
missing, circle remains incomplete, thus the pillars start getting hollow from inside. When
everyone forgets about ethics, pillars are no more able to lift the society and thus it demolishes
along with the contentment, respect, happiness, progress of that society.1
THE PATH OF BUDDHA
These five percepts serves as the foundation for an ethical behavior and serves a guide for
everyday life in order to examine the conscience to do what is right and wrong. They are
guidelines for us on how we deal in our day to day activities and live our life mindfully. The way
we behave has a great effect and importance on how we deal in the world. Our conduct or
behavior affects out total being like our mind which affects our understanding and makes us
overcomes our doubt. And our confidence in dhamma creates wisdom and this wisdom creates
deeper practice which reveals the dhamma’s truth. And also ven Bhikkhu Ariyesako explained
like that:-
1
http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/en/archives/sutra/level2_lamrim/advanced_scope/bodhichitta/developing_
ethical_self-discipline.html

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“The Five Precepts are basic human ethical standards — answering the fundamental questions of 'what do I
do, what should I say?' These standards are further refined by the Eight Precepts, which allow the lay person
to live a life closer to that of the monk — even if temporarily. This may then lead to the Ten Precepts of a
novice (saama.nera) or of adasasiila mata nun.”2
The foundation of the Buddhist path is a life which expresses compassions in relationship
to all living things. Buddhism path is usually marked by following the Five Percepts which are
the following: 1.To refrain from killing any living being, 2.to refrain from stealing or taking what
is not ours, 3.to refrain from sexual misconduct that is from hurting others through our sexuality ,
4.to refrain from speaking what is not true, 5.to refrain from using alcohol or drugs that cause us
to be careless These simple ethical guidelines are the natural out expressions of a compassionate
heart and by following them in our lives we begin to discover the heart of compassion within
us.3
The most basic need for ethics lies in the fact that we do not automatically know what
will benefit our lives, and what will be disadvantageous. We constantly face choices that affect
the length and quality of our lives. We must choose our values: where to live, how to spend our
time, whom to associate with, whom to believe. We must choose what to think about, and how to
go about achieving our goals. Which character traits to acquire, and which to eliminate? Which
of our emotional responses are beneficial, and which disadvantageous. By what criteria to judge
others, and on what basis to interact with them. To be happy, successful, and secure, we must
first learn to see ourselves and the world as they truly are and should then shape our everyday
activities. We must also look for solutions to our problems in terms of the relationship of cause
and effect, for the universal law of causality operates in the field of human behavior as much as
it does in the physical world. How we interact in our surroundings. We must be aware, keen
observer and inculcate in our mind the good and bad doings. We must remember and we must
always put in our heart that doing good gives good result and bad doing gives bad result. The
right understanding is one way to shape our proper sense of values and self responsibilities.
Since the world is full of temptations we must be aware to ourselves. Sometimes we forget that
we are in the midst of that temptations .Our path is already crooked. Without right understanding
2
Ven Bhikkhu, Ariyesako,(1999) The Bhikkhus' Rules A Guide for Laypeople
3
http://james-quirk.suite101.com/the-five-precepts-of-buddhism-a82977

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our vision is dimmed and the way is lost; all our efforts will be misguided and misdirected, all
our plans for individual and social development must flounder and fail. Such plans will have to
be based on the Noble Eightfold Path with its emphasis on self-effort, self-control, and respect
for the individual.4
PRACTICING BUDDHISM IN OUR DAILY LIFE
Good actions are said to be lovely and good to hear from people. Everything we do we must do
it mindfully. Being Mindfulness means being aware of what we are thinking, feeling, saying, and
doing each moment. It also means being mindful of our ethical values and of the kind heart, so
that we can live according to them in our daily lives.5 Ethical conduct is very much part of daily
practice. We are challenged to take care in our speech, our actions, and our daily lives to do no
harm to others and to cultivate wholesomeness in ourselves. For instance, if we feel we are in the
pick of our anger, we have to control our emotions before we harm others.
The Noble Eightfold Path is a practical guideline to ethical and mental development with the
goal of freeing the individual from attachments and delusions; and it finally leads to understanding
the truth about all things. Together with the Four Noble Truths they serve as a guide for us to be
good. It doesn’t necessarily to follow step by step instead they are the most principles to make our
relationship to each other more closely and peacefully. The Noble Eightfold paths are: Right to view,
Right to intention, Right to speech, Right Action, Right livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness
and Right Concentration.6
Out of the eight limbs of Noble Eightfold Path three limbs form the bases for the Sila which
are namely: Right to speech, Right Action, and Right livelihood. These three limbs of Noble
Eightfold Path regulate the bodily and the verbal action of a person. Although we are dealing with
verbal and physical acts, all of these originate from the mind itself. The actions of the mind,
speech and body occur in such rapid succession that there seems to be no interval in between. As
4
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bogoda/wheel397.html
5
http://www.thubtenchodron.org/DailyLifeDharma/practicing_buddhism_in_daily_life.html
http://www.thubtenchodron.org/Publications/ThePathToHappiness/index.html
6
http://www.thebigview.com/buddhism/eightfoldpath.html#Right_Intention

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soon as a thought has arisen, we find ourselves speaking or doing something. We find that we
cannot control speech and bodily behavior fast enough to refrain from harmful speech and
action. But sati (mindfulness) on the mind renders it alert to its own actions of speech and body.
The purpose of sila is to refrain from hurting others by way of harmful speech and action - but
how much restraint we can impose on ourselves at all times? We react to our environment in
such a habitual way that we may already have hurt others before we realize what has happened in
the mind. This is because we are conditioned to neglect our own minds in our daily life. Our
attention is almost always directed outward. This preoccupation with the outer world is what we
have to transcend.
CONCLUSION
How we behave and act in our daily life has a great impact on society and our environment. By
following all the Buddhist ethics mentioned above then we can come up a good personality we
learn how to deal with people around us in a simple and meaningful manner. We have to follow
the Buddhist perspective. Which help us to recognize our individual prejudices (about ourselves
and others) and to transform them into more positive views and behaviors?
We must pro-actively think about these issues and intentionally direct our lives. To the
extent that we avoid on this, to that extent we are at the mercy of social and emotional factors
that may be far from finest - a drifting boat, at the mercy of the currents and winds. Ethics is
about the choices that we make - or fail to make. We are aware of our conscious thoughts and of
our ability to make informed, intelligent choices - that is what we call free will. We are aware
that the choices that we make have consequences, both for ourselves and for others. We are
aware of the responsibility that we have for our actions. Ethics can help us make better choices
regarding our lives and well-being.

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Bibliography
1. Ven Bhikkhu, Ariyesako,(1999) The Bhikkhus' Rules A Guide for Laypeople,
2. Harvey, P (2000), An Introduction to Buddhist Ethics, Cambridge, Cambridge University
Press, 31.
3. http://james-quirk.suite101.com/the-five-precepts-of-buddhism-a82977
4. http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bogoda/wheel397.html
5. http://www.thubtenchodron.org/DailyLifeDharma/practicing_buddhism_in_daily_life.ht
ml
6. http://www.thubtenchodron.org/Publications/ThePathToHappiness/index.html
7. http://www.thebigview.com/buddhism/eightfoldpath.html#Right_Intention
8. http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/en/archives/sutra/level2_lamrim/advanced_scope/bo
dhichitta/developing_ethical_self-discipline.html