The Buddhist ethics are based on the Jewels of Sangha, Buddha and Dharma. Buddha is considered as the foremost teacher of liberating knowledge. Dharma encompassed the teaching and footsteps of Buddha while Sangha represented the noble values of the community. The Buddhist ethics embraced the commitment to self-restraint and harmony as the cardinal values. The principles of the Buddhist emphasize the right conduct, moral virtues, and perceptions ( De Silva, 2016) . As such, Buddhists describe ethical behaviors as those which do not cause harm to other people. Therefore, moral acts are considered as being nonviolent, moderate, and harmless. On the other hand, actions which inflict pain or harm to another person are considered immoral. Other than harming others, the Buddhist ethics prohibits individuals from engaging in sexual misconduct and taking things that are not given ( De Silva, 2016) . The Buddhist virtues include generosity, renunciation, insight, patience, endurance, forbearance, transcendental wisdom, vigor, and diligence ( De Silva, 2016) .
Kant’s ethics are based on the deontological theory that upholds the call for duty. Kant described ethical behaviors as being intrinsically palatable. Behaviors are therefore ethical or unethical depending on the motives of the actor. The rightness or wrongness of an action is based on the fulfillment of duty. Acts are described as being ethical if the actor had good motives. On the other hand, immoral actions fail to fulfill our obligation and are triggered by selfish reasons.
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The similarity between the two theories is that they both consider specific actions such as murder, lying, and theft to be immoral irrespective of their consequences. However, there are some significant differences between the Kant’s and Buddhists ethics. First, The Kantian ethics is based on the deontological theory that values the fulfillment of duty. However, the Buddhist ethics is based on the teachings of Buddha, Sangha, and Dharma. The consequences of an action are also considered in the description of ethical behaviors among the Buddhists. However, the Kantian ethics describes morals based on the motives of the actor and not the consequences of the actions.
References
De Silva, P. (2016). Environmental philosophy and ethics in Buddhism . Springer.
