The Relation of Art and Morality: The Perspective of Theravada Buddhism

Abstract

The relationship between art and morality is an important problem in aesthetics. This research aims to study the perspectives of Theravada Buddhism on this relationship. In the early stage of the analysis of the views
of Theravada Buddhism toward art, it is found that there is conflicting evidence in the Tripitaka and other Buddhist scriptures. Nevertheless, this problem can be solved by the concept of “Vibhajyavāda”. Moreover, the content of Tālapuṭa Sutta also shows that the concept of “care teaching” is an important condition
in discussion on this topic.

The next stage of the analysis has adopted the three Western aesthetic theories; 1) moralism 2) aestheticism 3) interactionism, together with the views of Theravada Buddhism toward art to formulate a conceptual framework for analysis. The result shows that there are several problems of interpretation when adopting the perspectives of moralism of Theravada Buddhism, for instance, Budhdadasa Bhikkhu’s view of the arts, This interp retation has encountered many problems, such as, the problem of the intricacy of artistic value judgment, the problem of understanding true artistic value, the problem of inconsistency in the concept of “Vibhajyavāda”, and the problem of inconsistency in the concept of “care teaching.” Therefore, for these reasons, the researcher proposes another interpretation, namely, Interactionism. This interpretation tends to have non-extreme views, which the researcher believes to be more suitable. Thus, following this  interpretation, Theravada Buddhism views art as related to morality; however, the relationship is not direct, and therefore, art then has value in itself and is not only a tool to serve morality.