FreeWill

&
Responsibility
of Buddhist Ethics

Subject: Buddhist Ethics

Lecturer: Prof. U. Garusinha.
Student: Do Tho Ha (Nadi)
HS/ FS20/ 0009
Content:
• Introduction
• Free Will definition
• Free Will and Responsibility in Buddhist Ethics
• Nature and Existence of free will
• Free Will and Its True Significance
• Conclusion
Introduction:
• The term “FREE-WILL” has
emerged over the past two
millennia as a canonical
designator for a significant kind
of control over one’s actions. nature
• Studied by Western philosophy. & its TRUE
existence significance
of this kind
of control

E.g., does it require and do we have Is it necessary for moral responsibility

the freedom to do otherwise or human dignity?
or the power of self-determination?
FREEWILL Definition:

Free will
Freedom of humans to make choices
Compatibilism
that are not determined
by prior causes or divine intervention The thesis that free will is compatible with determinism.
Because free will is typically taken to be a necessary
condition of moral responsibility, compatibilism is
sometimes expressed in terms of a compatibility between

Determinism
moral responsibility and determinism.

Based on the notion of foreknowledge: if God is an omniscient

being, and if omniscience applies to the future (as well as to the
past and present), the the future is known by God. But in that case,
the future can only be what God knows it to be. No alternatives are
possible.
Free-will & Responsibility
in Buddhist Ethics
Dhp 160:
Attā hi attano nātho – ko hi nātho paro siyā
Attanā’va sudantena – nāthaṃ labhati
dullabhaṃ
(Oneself, indeed, is one’s savior, for what other
savior would there be?
With oneself well controlled one obtains a savior
difficult to find.)
In short, Buddhist views on freewill of humans:
- Free to make choices
- Take responsibility for their choices.
Dhp 165:
Attanā’va kataṃ pāpaṃ - attanā saṁkilissati
Attanā akataṃ pāpaṃ - attanā’va visujjhati
Suddhi asuddhi paccattaṃ - n’āñño aññaṃ visodhaye
(By oneself, indeed, is evil done; by oneself is one defiled.
By oneself is evil left undone; by oneself, indeed, is one purified.
Purity and impurity depend on oneself.
No one purifies another.)
Free-will & Responsibility
in Buddhist Ethics
• In AN 3.61 Titthāyatana Sutta, the Buddha rejected three sectarian tenets, eventuate in non-doing,
and are therefore empty and unemancipating, without substance:

Everything humans experience:

2. Because of
1. Because of 3. Has no cause
God Almighty’s
past deeds or reason
creation
(pubbekatahetu) (ahetuapaccaya)
(issaranimmāna
hetu)

Eg: Sīvaka Sutta (SN 36.21)

nature
& existence of FREEWILL
in Buddhist Ethics
EXISTENCE NATURE

Personality as
Paṭicca Three Kammavipāka
five
samuppāda characteristics
agreegates

- Belongs the function of mind - Impermanent

- Occurs when all the conditions are present - Following the causal law
Free-will & TRUE significance
in Buddhist Ethics
• The ability to self – awareness and choose their own cognitions,
behaviors, as well as their faith without being dependent on any
religion, castes or belief.
Ex:
Kesamutti Sutta - The Buddha did not deny the Kālāmas’s wondering, he
asserted that the doubts was complete natural and very human, nor did he
force them to listen to anyone and anything, including him.
• GIVE US HOPE FOR A CHANGE FOR THE BETTER: The ability to
challenge the difficulties and transform their destiny.
Ex:
Aṅgulimālasutta - “Endure it, brahmin! Endure it, brahmin! You’re
experiencing in this life the result of deeds that might have caused you to
be tormented in hell for many years, many hundreds or thousands of
years.”
Sunīta – The outcaste.
Sunīta – The outcaste.
Conclusion:
• Although Buddhism does not include a specific concept of free will,
through the Buddhist teaching system, human free will exists and it
follows natural laws.
• It has great meaning in life because it gives people faith in the ability
to transform one's perception, behavior and destiny.
References:
• Majjhima Nikāya – Suttacentra.net
• Anguṭṭara Nikāya – Suttacentra.net
• Saṁyutta Nikāya – Suttacentra.net
• The Dhammapada, translated by Narada Thero.
• Buddhist Philosophy, Dependent Co-Origination: The Buddhist
Approach to Reality, A. Tilakaratne, p31-40.