Why Practicing Virtue is Better than Working Out: Bodies and Ethics in Indian Buddhism

Abstract

This article, mainly focusing on the Birth Stories (Jātaka) and accounts of the Buddha’s life in the Pāli discourses (sutta), discusses the notion that Buddhism propounds an ethics of virtue and is primarily concerned with developing a proper mental attitude that is conducive to skilful actions that promote mental states leading to nirvana. In Indian Buddhism, there is a pervasive emphasis on the somatic dimensions of moral behavior, and one’s physical attributes are conceived as reliable guides to one’s level of moral attainment. Keywords:

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