Buddhism, Nature, and Law: Natural Law Thinking in Early Buddhism

Natural law is a broad and ancient intellectual tradition united by a central concern to derive—from (supposedly) objectively existent higher principles—norms to guide human conduct. Nevertheless, the natural law tradition is sometimes regarded as narrow. Natural law theorists have disproportionately been Catholic scholars and their theories are often underpinned by Christian assumptions. Several scholars have argued that natural law thinking is identifiable in Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, and Confucian thought, on the grounds that thinkers within these traditions often conceive of morality as deeply intertwined with notions of human good. But, published works explicitly comparing Buddhism to natural law theories are very few indeed. The central question we explore—and ultimately answer in the affirmative—in this paper is: is it coherent to conceptualise the basic teachings of Buddhism as manifesting natural law thinking? By holding up these two schools of thought for comparison, and carefully exploring precisely where and to what extent they overlap and chafe, we seek to help advance a richer understanding of them both.