A Mirror Is for Reflection: Understanding Buddhist Ethics

This volume offers a rich and accessible introduction to contemporary research on Buddhist ethical thought for interested students and scholars, yet also offers chapters taking up more technical philosophical and textual topics. A Mirror is For Reflection offers a snapshot of the present state of academic investigation into the nature of Buddhist Ethics, including contributions from many of the leading figures in the academic study of Buddhist philosophy. Over the past decade many scholars have come to think that the project of fitting Buddhist ethical thought into Western philosophical categories may be of limited utility, and the focus of investigation has shifted in a number of new directions. This volume includes contemporary perspectives on topics including the nature of Buddhist ethics as a whole, karma and rebirth, mindfulness, narrative, intention, free will, politics, anger, and equanimity.

Table of Contents:
Foreword Owen Flanagan Introduction Jake H. Davis Part One: Buddhist Ethics and Western Categories 1. 'It's ethics, Jim, but not as we know it': Reflections on the Absence of Moral Philosophy in Buddhism Damien Keown 2. The Nature of a Buddhist Path Bronwyn Finnigan 3. Buddhist Moral Thought and Western Moral Philosophy Christopher W. Gowans Part Two: Constructing Buddhist Ethics 4. Zen Buddhism and the Space of Ethics Jin Y. Park 5. Buddhist Ethics: A Perspective Graham Priest 6. Breaking Good: Moral Agency, Neuroethics, and the Spontaneity of Compassion Christian Coseru Part Three: Karma and Rebirth 7. Modern and Traditional Understandings of Karma Charles Goodman 8. Buddhism without Reincarnation? Examining the Prospects of a "Naturalized" Buddhism Jan Westerhoff 9. The Problems and Promise of Karma from an Engaged Buddhist Perspective Sallie B. King Part Four: Mindfulness, Memory, and Virtue 10. Ethical Reading and the Ethics of Forgetting and Remembering Sara McClintock 11. Mindfulness and Ethics: Attention, Virtue and Perfection Jay L. Garfield 12. "When You Know for Yourselves": Mindfulness, Wisdom, and the Qualities of Heart Jake H. Davis Part Five: Intention and Action 13. The Dynamics of Intention, Freedom, and Habituation according to Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakosabhasya Karin Meyers 14. What Do Buddhists Think about Free Will? Riccardo Repetti 15. Buddhist Reductionist Action Theory Mark Siderits Part Six: Politics, Anger, and Equanimity 16. The Inherent Dignity of Empty Persons Christopher Kelley 17. Ethics Without Justice: Eliminating The Roots Of Resentment Amber Carpenter 18. Equanimity in Relationship: Responding to Moral Ugliness Emily McRae Index

About the Author :
Jake H. Davis is a Postdoctoral Associate at New York University with the Virtues of Attention project. He has taught at Brown University and at the City of College of New York. He has authored and co-authored articles at the intersection of Buddhist philosophy, moral philosophy, and cognitive science, drawing on his textual, meditative, and monastic training in the Theravada Buddhist tradition of Burma (Myanmar).

Review :
"The paradox of Buddhist ethics, as any philosophical paradox, can humble people in their dangerous religious certainties and start them wondering afresh about the best way to live their lives during troubling times. Buddhist practitioners are also credited to provide strong exemplars in the world of people who practice what they preach (or rather, decline to preach) and who strive for modest, morally exemplary lives, grounded in kindness. After all, if there is no self, what point exists in acting self-servingly? For these reasons alone, Buddhist ethics constitutes a worthy contemplation. Thanks for this new volume that rethinks how that paradox arises and how it may be resolved, for that inquiry itself constitutes good works." -- Wendy C. Hamblet, Metapsychology