Practice Flashcards
Flip to reveal answersWhat is sila, and where does it sit?
Track your progress — Sign up free to save your progress and get smart review reminders based on spaced repetition.
All 10 Flashcards — Ethical authority
Sign up free to track progress and get spaced-repetition review schedules.
Question
What is sila, and where does it sit?
Answer
Ethical conduct — one of the three divisions of the Noble Eightfold Path, covering right speech, right action and right livelihood.
Question
Name the Five Precepts.
Answer
To refrain from harming living beings, from taking what is not given, from sexual misconduct, from false speech, and from drink and drugs that cloud the mind.
Question
Why are the Precepts "undertaken" rather than commanded?
Answer
Because Buddhism has no lawgiver. They are training rules a person takes on, and breaking one has a kammic rather than a judicial consequence.
Question
What does the guide gloss kamma as?
Answer
Action leading to a state of rebirth. The guide names its role in ethical action and intention specifically.
Question
Why does Buddhist ethics turn on intention?
Answer
Because kamma is generated by the state of mind behind an act, so two people performing the same outward act can incur different kammic consequences.
Question
Distinguish the Five Precepts from the vinaya.
Answer
Five training rules undertaken by lay Buddhists, against hundreds of detailed rules governing monastics — and the guide notes Theravada and Mahayana vinaya differ.
Question
What happens to a monastic who commits a grave transgression?
Answer
Bad kamma, and for the gravest offences expulsion from the monastery.
Question
What is upaya?
Answer
Skilfulness, or skill in means — adapting a teaching or action to what a particular person can receive. It explains the Buddha teaching different things to different audiences.
Question
How does the guide describe the Dalai Lama?
Answer
In Tibetan Buddhism, as an Avalokiteshvara — the bodhisattva of compassion. His authority is moral rather than legislative.
Question
How do the three divisions of the Path support each other?
Answer
Sila (ethical conduct) supports bhavana (mental discipline), which supports panna (wisdom), which makes right conduct easier. They form one system, not three departments.
Read the notes
Full study notes for Ethical authority
Topic 3.5 hub
Ethics and moral conduct
More from Topic 3.5
All flashcards in this topic
World Religions exam skills
Paper structures & tips
Track your progress with spaced repetition
Sign up free — Aimnova tells you exactly which cards to review and when, so you remember everything before your IB exam.
Start Free