Animals, Ledgers of Merit and Demerit, and Karma: Religious Ecological Mechanisms in Chinese Morality Books of the Ming and Qing Dynasties

Ming–Qing morality books integrated animals, ledgers of merit, and karmic causality into a system where killing or saving animals directly caused karmic reward or punishment. This dual mechanism combined moral technology with a logic of justice to cultivate ecological consciousness and enforce social discipline. The study articulates a triadic analytical framework—merit–demerit ledgers, karmic narrative, and animal ethics—showing how these formed a coherent system of measurable ethical practice. This framework challenges human-centered worldviews by foregrounding an interconnected ecological order with shared moral obligations. Comparing it to modern approaches like anti-speciesism and animal rights discourse reveals points of convergence and structural divergence. The article proposes a revised morality book framework for present-day conditions.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The article examines the religio-ecological framework articulated in Ming–Qing morality books 勸善書, focusing on how animals, Ledgers of merit 功過格, and karmic 業報 are integrated into a system of moral causality. Within this framework, actions such as killing or saving animals are directly linked to karmic reward and punishment, generating a dual mechanism that combines moral technology with an ultimate logic of justice to cultivate ecological consciousness and enforce social discipline. A central contribution of the study is the articulation of a triadic analytical framework—merit–demerit ledgers, karmic narrative, and animal ethics—showing how these elements form a coherent system of measurable and actionable ethical practice. In doing so, the framework challenges a strictly human-centered worldview by foregrounding an interconnected ecological order in which humans and animals are bound together through shared moral obligations and karmic entanglements. The article further situates this religio-ecological mechanism within contemporary debates in environmental ethics and animal rights. Through comparison with modern approaches—such as anti-speciesism, animal welfare and rights discourse, and proposals for cross-species political communities—it identifies both points of convergence and structural divergence. It concludes by exploring how this historical model might be critically translated and revised for present-day conditions, proposing a “revised morality book” framework that is more publicly defensible and more amenable to institutional implementation.