Insights from the lived experience of Buddhist ethics: implications for social work ethics education

Ethics is largely dominated by European curriculum which includes Western moral theories such as deontology, utilitarianism, virtue ethics, and care ethics. To decenter this dominant ethics curriculum, the present phenomenological study explored the moral lived experience of ethics for Korean Buddhist (male and female) monastics (N = 21). Using three-level qualitative coding, data were thematically analyzed. Findings revealed three overarching themes (1) the importance of the saṅgha and community care, (2) the presence of ethical tensions, and (3) ethics as a practice. Each theme had two sub-themes. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of how these insights from the lived experience of Buddhist ethics may inform and advance social work ethics education beyond the Eurocentric curriculum.