Though apparently mechanical, society moves in a purposeful way because all of its members are consciously goal oriented. Since they are morally neutral, the Buddhist doctrines of impermanence and the absence of a persisting self are as purposeless as the laws of physics and chemistry. The principles that all existence is suffering and that nirvana is tranquility, however, are purposeful: their goal is the elimination of suffering, and they set standards for religious – specifically, Buddhist – ideals. A course of action is organic when it has ideal purposes, regards as evil whatever runs counter to those purposes and as good whatever conduces to their achievement, and strives to move away from evil and toward good. The Buddhist law of dependent origination regards confinement to the cycle of transmigration and suffering as evil, interprets the elimination of the causes that produce such suffering as good, and teaches the way to attain that goal.
Basic Buddhist Concepts