Relevance of Meditation in Social Ethics

Abstract

In the modern industrial world, high-end technologies and large-scale social institutions have resulted in a fundamental separation between individuals, as well as between humans and the living world. Nowadays, our lives seem to completely dependent on a man-made world ? the economy, electric power, cars and highways, and the medical system; consequently, we depend more on the techno sphere than on life, or the biosphere. The result of this is violations of justice, poverty and environmental pollution. In such a depressive atmosphere, we are unable to lead truly peaceful or happy lives. Thus, we shall never achieve the permanent cessation of problems such as-poverty, environmental crises, socially ethical problems, terminal diseases and so forth. We shall still have to experience them in our countless future lives and, in this life, although we work very hard to prevent these problems, they are increasing throughout the world. Instead of taking refuge in technology and science to be merely satisfied with temporary happiness and artificial triumphs, we should look forward to some solutions by taking refuge in ourselves to attain real happiness and ultimate liberation (Nibb?na). In this article, we would like to discuss the role of practicing loving-kindness meditation in helping people cultivates ethical behaviours. In our first study, we present a brief overview of issues of social ethics in the contemporary world. Key word: meditation, ethics, social ethics.