생명윤리와 불교 - 초기불교 계율의 덕윤리적 특성을 중심으로

Abstract

Buddhist ethics refers to ethical discussion and practice based on Buddha's teachings. Buddhist bioethics corresponds to the outer periphery of such Buddhist ethics in terms of applied ethics. In particular, Buddhist bioethics can be defined as a concept that refers to the discussion and practice of practical ethics which Buddhism, as a religion and philosophy valuing life, should be more active in responding to. This study reinterprets the precepts and spirits of early Buddhism from the present perspective to search for Buddhist responses to the two current issues of Buddhist bioethics Through a discussion on the process and outcome of the promulgation of the early Buddhist precepts, this study seeks to derive the following characteristics of Buddhist ethics: the contextual ethical attributes such as the promulgation of the precepts as an immediate response to each situation; the characteristics of virtue ethics such as the cultivation of ‘awakened virtue’ through daily habituation and self-discipline centering on practice. Based on the process where Buddhist ethics was positioned as an area of ethics against the Western ethical background, this study reached to the following conclusion: Buddhist ethics has the characteristics of comparative ethics; on the premise that Buddhist ethics has an integrity which cannot be fully incorporated by any of the Western ethical theories. Buddhist ethics has the characteristics of virtue ethics among them the most. This conclusion suggests that Buddhism in Korea should respond more actively to various bio-ethical issues raised in the flow of globalization in the early 21st century and seek Buddhist ethics as a practical ethic to cultivate the virtues of habituation and awakening centering on daily practice.