Buddhist Ethics

A Very Short Introduction

By: Damien Keown

Narrated by: James Anderson Foster

With more than 520 million followers, Buddhism is now the world's fourth largest religion. Over the last 70 years or so, there has been a growing interest in Buddhism, and it continues to capture the imagination of many in the West, who see it as either an alternative or a supplement to their own religious beliefs.

For complex cultural and historical reasons, ethics has not received as much attention in traditional Buddhist thought as it has in the West. In this Very Short Introduction audiobook, Damien Keown explores how Buddhism approaches a range of moral issues of our age, including our relationship with our environment, our treatment of animals, and our stance on abortion, on sexuality and gender, on violence and war. This new edition also includes a discussion of the ethical challenges posed by cutting-edge developments in science and biomedical technologies, including neuroscience, artificial intelligence, transhumanism, and gene editing.

©2020 Damien Keown (P)2020 Tantor

The author is knowledgeable

Been studying and practicing Buddhism for almost 5 years. Still learned something new. Would be great if the author made a sequel called a very long introduction to Buddhism.

EXCELLENT

This is an excellent book. So much information, I have not found elsewhere, re. Buddhist ethics.
I do, however recommend some basic knowledge of Buddhism.
There are some other excellent short introduction books available by the same author.
For easy, future reference, I highly recommend the companion book by “Oxford” publication.
The narrator, mr. James Anderson Foster is a pleasure to listen to.
My thanks to all involved, JK.

VSI # 130

A solid take on Buddhist ethics. Basically, the framework of Buddhism ethically isn’t going to be a magic bullet that saves the whales or transhumanists. The author, Damien Keown, lays out the book well. Starts with a discussion of Buddhist morality, then examines East vs West ethics, and then examines areas of concern and relevance: animals and the environment, sexuality, abortion, war and terrorism, suicide and euthanasia, and cloning. The arguments are nuanced and balanced. Only issue was I read about half of this book in a hot tub in Glacier National Park which may have made me both MORE and LESS aware of the actual book I was reading.