Conceptualising Asian communication ethics: a Buddhist perspective

Abstract

This study seeks to pursue three scholarly purposes concerning Asian communication ethics epitomised by fundamental Buddhist ethical dogmas. First, it critically reviews and reconfirms the rising essentiality of studying religious ethics in communication, especially intercultural communication, studies. Second, it attempts to religio-ethically conceptualise the four primary doctrinal ethics and precepts of traditional Buddhism: (1) the Twelve-Linked Chain of Causation; (2) the Fourfold Noble Truth; (3) the Eightfold Noble Path; and (4) the Ten Precepts. Third, the study proposes a new research paradigm by introducing the Buddhist ethics of not only harmony-oriented human-to-human communication but also non-anthropocentric and ‘deep-ecological’ human-to-nature relationships.

Keywords:

• Asian communication ethics
• Buddhist ethics
• deep ecology
• Eightfold Noble Path
• Fourfold Noble Truth
• Ten Precepts
• Twelve-Linked Chain of Causation