Buddhism Quote by Gurcharan Das
““The Mahabharata reminds us that it is natural and desirable for human beings to want happiness and pleasure as they seek to be good. Kama is one of the legitimate goals of human life. The Christian denial of physical pleasure, especially sexual pleasure, is happily absent from the epic and most ancient Indian texts. So is the ‘thou shalt not’ approach, which makes one feel guilty, and turns one off the moral project. The notion of dharma as it emerges from the Mahabharata is a plural one. Being plural makes greater demands on one’s reason, for human objectives sometimes conflict with each other, and this forces one to choose. The attraction of a clean ethical theory like Utilitarianism is that it attempts to resolve moral issues on the basis of a single criterion. Pluralism is more complex but no less rational. One needs to order different virtues in a hierarchy in order to help one to choose in the case of a conflict.””
About This Quote
Source Book: The Difficulty of Being Good, 2015
Human life seeks pleasure and duty; moral choices require balancing multiple virtues, not a single rule.
In simple terms: Life is a mix of desires and duties needing thoughtful hierarchy.
Key Takeaway
Prioritize virtues to resolve conflicts.
Themes
ethics
pleasure
duty
pluralism
conflict resolution
Mood
thoughtful
analytical
Type
philosophical
educational
When to use this quote
- career decisions
- personal relationships
- public policy
- ethical dilemmas
Key Concepts
moral pluralism
hierarchical virtues
Questions to Reflect On
- Which virtues guide your toughest choices?
- How do you rank conflicting duties?
A Different Perspective
Single‑criterion ethics can oversimplify complex lives.
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