The Little Book of Buddhist Virtue

In the Buddha’s system of teaching, the foundation for his entire path is the practice of virtue. This includes his instructions on ethics and morality, as well as the often misunderstood teachings on karma. The Little Book of Buddhist Virtue shows the many contexts in which the Buddha described the practice of virtue. These include an endearing discourse to his 7-year-old son Rahula on proper behavior. There is also a discussion of generosity and the five moral precepts, his explanation of virtue as a “gift that we give to the world”, and the virtue division of the Four Noble Truths. The final section describes each of the Ten Perfections – the paramis (Pāli), or paramitas (Sanskrit) - using stories from the Buddhist folk tales, the Jātaka stories. Most importantly this Little Book shows that ethics and morality is not a burden, but the path to a noble and happy life.