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233 pages

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Are you happy in this modern world? Or do you need more?

Is there something else you are searching for?

If you are looking for true happiness, then you need to find the path leading to it.

The principal aim of this book is to share the value of the middle path propounded by the Buddha many centuries ago, rejecting extremes. Unlike the historical Buddha’s time, in this modern world, lots of undue suffering is inflicted upon people by bad politics and false interpretations of carefully selected wrong views. Buddhism’s pragmatic teachings help clarify, uproot, and eliminate the deep underlying causes of suffering.

Narrated through a philosophical background, the book conveys how to relate Buddhist teachings to improve the quality of everyday life and find true happiness. It discusses Buddhist ethical values and Western development, including how wrong views can cause destruction and misery, emphasising the futility of wars, a rare book written to be read by kings, presidents, and ambassadors with a view to change the narratives of armed conflicts in the 21st century. Understanding history is essential to guiding important foreign relationships at times of growing uncertainty threatening world peace.

The book highlights the destructive consequences of the most recent Russia's aggression in Ukraine. Destroying lives and livelihoods are the nature of armed conflict. The war also imperils the world's economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic: inflation, food security, energy security and further supply-chain pressures driving inflation are among the many challenges policy makers worldwide must tackle. As the global ramifications of the invasion take hold, the book shows the importance of insight wisdom, nonviolence approach on the foreign policy challenges ahead. The book also shows the practical applications of Buddhist teachings through familiar historical literature not inhibited by traditional interpretations.

A prime source of both western and eastern philosophies, it constitutes a rational and straightforward understanding of the ethics and psychology of Buddhism, advocating peace and nonviolence, respect for life and individual acceptance of accountability, social responsibility, and welfare of all to improve social cohesion.

Sujets

Philosophie et théologie

Philosophy

Buddhism

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Publié par	AuthorHouse UK
Date de parution	06 décembre 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781728376363
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0250€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Path of Peace and Happiness

Essays in Buddhist Social Philosophy and Ethics

Chulan Sampathge

AuthorHouse™ UK
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403 USA
www.authorhouse.co.uk
Phone: UK TFN: 0800 0148641 (Toll Free inside the UK)
UK Local: (02) 0369 56322 (+44 20 3695 6322 from outside the UK)

© 2022 Chulan Sampathge. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 11/30/2022

ISBN: 978-1-7283-7637-0 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-7283-7638-7 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-7283-7636-3 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
SYNOPSIS
Are you happy in this modern world? Or do you need more? Is there something else you are searching for? If you are looking for true happiness, then you just need find the path leading to it. In a world of uncertainty, The Path of Peace and Happiness show you directions to safety, stability and building resilience with confidence to help you understand, cope with emotional distress, face life challenges born by man-made disasters and conflicts.
The current state of affairs that we are facing in this 21 st century as a global community and no matter where we live in the world, as well as at a personal level, have the potential to trigger mental destress such as anxiety, feeling stressed, worry, and fear of future. It can drain you emotionally making you feel helpless. The book explores and investigate the causes, conditions of uncertainties looming on our doorstep with reference to contemporary and historical events and their impact on our life. What do you currently do to overcome these difficult scenarios about what tomorrow may bring with empathy towards those who are affected too, and improve conditions to reduce unnecessary suffering?
The principal aim of this book is sharing the value of the middle path propounded by the Buddha many centuries ago rejecting extremes. Unlike at the time of the historical Buddha, in this modern world, lots of undue suffering is inflicted on people by bad politics. The pragmatic teachings of Buddhism help to uproot and eliminate the deep underlying causes of suffering.
Narrated through the philosophical background, the book conveys how to relate Buddhist teachings to improve the quality of everyday life and other social institutions including marriage to find true happiness. It discusses the Buddhist ethical values and Western development of thought including how wrong views caused wars, destruction, and misery.
The book shows the practical applications of Buddhist teachings through familiar historical literature not inhibited by traditional interpretations and it is therefore, presented for the consideration of openminded imaginative readers.
Written in a mixture of prose and verse, it presents a code of conduct and provides the basis for a system of moral philosophy. A prime source of both western and eastern philosophies, it constitutes a rational, straightforward simple understanding of the ethics and psychology of Buddhism, advocating peace and nonviolence and respect for life and individual acceptance of social responsibility. Buddhist teachings has been a truly seminal contribution to find peace and happiness.
PREFACE
This book is intended to be read and studied by those who want to find simple happiness by simple means. It is well-grounded in Buddhist philosophy and the psychology of the Theravada School of Buddhism. Focusing on the theoretical understanding and practical application of ethics, it emphasises its relevance for modern, hectic lifestyles.
The main theme of the discussion is the Buddhist social philosophy as conveyed through a Western perspective. I was inspired by the historical Buddha’s teachings and other varied personal studies. My predilections to Buddhist literature drove me in the direction of further research into Buddhism’s higher philosophical psychology.
Since 2004 I have been consistently teaching Insight Meditation at the Buddhapadipa Temple in London. Throughout many years I have had the opportunity to study Buddhism in all its branches and almost every tradition. I have had an opportunity to personally meet people from all over the world, each searching for happiness.
I have not let this privilege pass through my hands without coming to an understanding of the diverse nature of personalities and people from all walks of life. The result of these protracted experiences further inspired me to share my own experience with the rest of the world. Buddhism has no policy of converting anyone or forcing them to accept its principles blindly. Buddhism can thus be considered the base religion, irrespective of your beliefs, anyone can benefit from its timeless truths to find happiness.
After many horrific events and the futility of wars and conflicts, the world is poised on a paradigm shift, this is beyond geographical differences, ethnic, religious, or political ideas that have narrowed the human thinking.
In March 2020, the whole world was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic that made life difficult to many by several lockdowns, travel restrictions, social distancing, job losses, and added more misery to our lives, highlighting our limitations and just how helpless we could be. Many Covid-19 patients died in hospitals without having any loved ones at their bedside proving life is uncertain and that death is certain.
The central vision of the Path of Peace and Happiness is to bring ethics and its values to the forefront of our everyday lives whilst in pursuit of happiness.
This book emerged with my inquiry into the philosophical and psychological teachings of the Buddha. Unlike in the historical time of the Buddha, there is much suffering in the modern world because of bad politics and politicians. I was moved by people affected by wars, civil wars and those innocents trapped in conflicts, suffering from no fault of their own.
I attempted to reason out causes and possible simple solutions to alleviate their suffering in a different perspective. Addressing a deep-seated moral crisis is a challenge but worth the pain that more can join the path of peace.
I should like to dedicate this book to my ancestors as a mark of gratitude for their guidance.
In this task I would like to thank Danyal Dunsford and Suraya Dunsford who helped editing, prepare and improve the final manuscript. Danyal’s valuable advice helped me immensely to restructure Part II of the book.
I would like to express my special thanks and gratitude to The Buddhapadipa Temple Wimbledon London for kindly giving me copy right permission to use their mural painting images for cover design.
Photography by: Alexandra Kovacs
AK.Foto@outlook.com
Chulan Sampathge
United Kingdom
November 2022
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction
Part I – War or Peace Buddhist Approach to Spiritual Awakening and Peaceful Co-Existence
Chapter 1: Moral and Social Responsibility of Leaders in Global Economics and Political Society
Chapter 2: Introduction to Buddhism
Chapter 3: Buddhist Social Philosophy
Chapter 4: How to Relate Dhamma to Your Life?
Chapter 5: Steering Life to its Objectives
Chapter 6: Thai Traditions and Family Values
Chapter 7: Mindfulness
Part II – Fundamentals of Buddhist Ethics and Development of Western thought
Chapter 8: Bring Light to the Darkness
Chapter 9: Why Moral Philosophy?
Chapter 10: Need for an Ethical Inquiry
Chapter 11: Historical background of ethics
Chapter 12: Development of Western thought
Chapter 13: Vladimir Lenin’s New Economic Policy 1921
Chapter 14: Modern Developments
Chapter 15: Ethics Definitions
Chapter 16: Buddhist Theory of Knowledge
Chapter 17: Economic Development
Chapter 18: Philosophy of Ethics
Chapter 19: November 2020 US Presidential election
Chapter 20: Need for Ethical Principles
Chapter 21: Framework of Ethics and the Belmont Report
Chapter 22: Buddhist Ethics
Chapter 23: Critical Reflection on Ethics
Chapter 24: Ethical Dilemmas
Chapter 25: Moral Narcissism
Chapter 26: Eastern Religious Philosophy Vedanta
Chapter 27: Grass Roots Ethics
Chapter 28: Ethics of Olympians
Chapter 29: Ethics of Shakespeare
Chapter 30: Kingdom of Thailand
Chapter 31: Mother’s Day

Notes and Reference Part I & II
INTRODUCTION
The Path of Peace and Happiness is cast as a philosophical teaching of the historical Buddha, a young nobleman, who of his own accord became enlightened about 2560 years ago in northern India.
Buddha succeeded in his quest for enlightenment, thus superseding all other views of his day and firmly establishing his school of thought which expanded rapidly across all six continents. During that time the world was awakening to a new direction of knowledge, to build a utopia based on the ideals of perfection.
Some of t