The Transcendency Thesis

Abstract

In the preceding chapters I have argued that moral and intellectual perfection are integral components of the Buddhist summum bonum. I now wish to consider the evidence for a view which runs counter to this: that morality is at best a preliminary to enlightenment and at worst an obstacle to its attainment. This proposal has been put forward independently by Winston King (1964) and Melford Spiro (1970), although, as noted in Chapter 1, other writers have adopted this general position. I am concentrating on the version of the transcendency thesis set out by King and Spiro since theirs is the most systematic, familiar and accessible. My purpose in the present chapter is twofold: (1) to examine the King-Spiro hypothesis and to offer a critique of its view of the soteriological relationship between ethics and nirvana and (2) to consider an important piece of textual evidence, the Parable of the Raft, which although not adduced directly by King and Spiro is commonly taken to support the view of Buddhist ethics they advocate.