Makya, My view of morals is the same as Margie's. I define 'morals' as a code of conduct. This code can be very complex - as in Islamic Sharia Law or the Jewish Talmud; or can be fairly short as in the Old Testament's 10 Commandments or the Buddhist 5 Precepts; or can be very simple as in Jesus' teaching to 'Love one another'. More important to this discussion is whether morals are thought to be absolute or relative.
Most religions (all?) believe the discrimination between right and wrong and therefore codes of conduct are ABSOLUTE. The code or list from which the 'correct' action can be derived should apply to ALL situations and most importantly to ALL people. What's right or wrong in all situations and for all people. This makes it easy to judge the conduct of both yourself and others. Since there are a lot of situations and a lot of people, most religion's codes of conduct are very complex. Zen's perspective on the discrimination between right and wrong and therefore the selection of a 'correct' action is RELATIVE. The 'correct' action depends the situation, and most importantly is determined by each individual for themselves. What's right for you in a certain situation might not be right in a different situation. What's right for you in a certain situation might not be right for someone else in the same situation. This makes it unnecessary to judge (after-the-fact) your own conduct since your actions were completely determined by the situation at the time of execution; and it is impossible (or at least useless) to try to judge the conduct of others. This also means that zen cannot ascribe to any formal code of conduct or morals. Hope this helps...Bill! From: Zen_Forum@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of roloro1557 Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 9:44 AM To: Zen_Forum@yahoogroups.com Subject: [Zen] Re: Aging and Zen Mayka- Morals are just a set of arbitrary rules imposed by society, culture, religion, etc. They are meaningless. They are empty concepts. And they differ hugely from culture to culture. This creates nothing but endless arguments about whose morals are right and whose are wrong. Real morality is just doing what you know is right, it really is that simple. Margie (roloro1557) ------------------------------------ Current Book Discussion: any Zen book that you recently have read or are reading! Talk about it today!Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
