🔄 Kamma already brings consequences
Buddhists believe that unskilful actions bring unhappy results through kamma (the idea that actions have results). So the aim of a human punishment is not to add suffering that kamma will bring anyway.
Buddhist Beliefs about Peace and Conflict » Buddhist Attitudes to Punishment
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 1, 3.5 (Buddhism)
- What punishment is and why it matters to Buddhists, including Dhammapada 197-200
- Buddhist teachings: kamma, no revenge, and the chance to change (the story of Angulimala)
- Why punishment can be seen as justice and why society needs it
- How Buddhists view each aim of punishment
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Unlock This CourseThe nature of punishment
The lesson Punishment: Aims and Types explained that punishment is something unpleasant given to a person who has broken a rule or law, and listed its five aims: protection, deterrent, retribution, reform and reparation. This lesson asks how Buddhists respond. Their answer starts from unskilful actions (actions that come from greed, hatred or ignorance and cause suffering), which you met in Crime and Its Causes: Buddhist Responses.
Buddhists do not see punishment as God's anger or as a way of making someone suffer. Because they follow the Buddha's path of compassion, they ask what a punishment will achieve: does it help the victim, protect society and help the offender to change?
Why punishment is important for Buddhists
Buddhists believe that harmful actions cause suffering, both for the victim and for the person who acts. Punishment matters to them for three reasons.
🛡️ Protecting people
The first precept asks Buddhists to avoid harming living beings. If a person keeps hurting others, society must stop them, out of compassion for their victims.
🌱 Helping the offender
Being stopped can break a cycle of harm, giving the offender a chance to understand what they did and change.
⚖️ A peaceful community
Buddhists want people to live together in harmony. Fair rules and fair consequences help to keep the peace.
Dhammapada 197-200. These four verses (paraphrased here) describe living happily without hatred among those who hate. The speaker is happy and free from hatred among the hating, free from affliction among the afflicted, and free from craving among the eager, owning nothing and living on joy. Buddhists draw from this that a person who answers hatred with hatred is not free, so punishment should not be driven by anger or a wish for revenge.
Key terms:
- Justice (recap from Peace, Pacifism, Forgiveness and Reconciliation): treating people fairly, so that wrongdoing is dealt with and everyone gets what is right and fair.
- Angulimala: a man in a Buddhist story who killed many people, met the Buddha and changed his life.
Buddhist teachings about punishment
🚫 Never revenge
Hatred is one of the three poisons. Buddhists teach that hatred is never ended by hatred (Dhammapada verse 5, from Buddhist Peacemaking and the Buddhist Peace Fellowship), so punishment out of revenge only feeds more suffering.
The chance to change: Angulimala
In a story from the Buddhist scriptures, Angulimala was a violent man who killed many people. When he met the Buddha, he gave up violence and became a monk. The story, told here in outline, teaches that even a person who has done terrible things can change. For Buddhists this is a reason to favour punishments that give people the chance to reform.
Buddhists do not say wrongdoers should go free. They say the response should come from compassion and wisdom, not hatred.
Punishment as justice, and why society needs it
Punishment can be regarded as justice because it deals with wrongdoing fairly: the victim is recognised, the offender faces the results of their actions, and the community sees that harm is taken seriously. This fits the Buddhist link between actions and results.
Society needs punishment because without any consequences, some people would keep harming others, and victims and communities would not be safe. Rules also make clear what a society will not accept. Most Buddhists therefore accept that punishment is needed, as long as it is fair, proportionate and not cruel.
Buddhist views of the aims of punishment
Buddhists do not all think the same, but many hold the following views.
- Protection: strongly supported. Keeping dangerous people away from others follows the first precept and compassion for victims.
- Reform: strongly supported. Because people can change, as the story of Angulimala shows, Buddhists favour giving offenders the chance to learn and change.
- Reparation: supported. Putting right the harm done heals the victim and helps the offender to understand the damage.
- Deterrent: accepted by some, if the punishment is fair and not cruel. Others worry that frightening people does not change the greed, hatred and ignorance behind crime.
- Retribution: rejected by most. Wanting someone to suffer comes from hatred, which Buddhists try to let go.
Common mistakes
- Saying Buddhists are against all punishment. Most accept it when it is fair, protects people and helps offenders to change.
- Saying Buddhists believe a punishment is God's judgement. Buddhists believe in kamma, not a creator God who judges.
- Writing that all Buddhists agree. Views differ, especially on deterrents.
Exam-style question
Paper 1 (a) [AO1] Identify three aims of punishment. [3 marks]
Paper 1 (b) [AO1] Choose one religion. Outline two teachings about punishment in this religion. [4 marks]
Paper 1 (d) [AO1, AO2] "The main purpose of punishment should be to help offenders to change."
Evaluate this statement, showing you have considered different points of view. In your answer you should refer to at least one religion. [12 marks]
Model answer
(a) 1. Protection (1) 2. Reform (1) 3. Reparation (1)
(b) (Buddhism) Buddhists teach that punishment should never be revenge (1), because hatred is never ended by hatred, as Dhammapada verse 5 says (1). Buddhists also believe people can change (1), as in the story of Angulimala, who gave up killing and became a monk (1).
(d) Plan. For: Buddhists believe people can change, as Angulimala did, so reform fits compassion; reform lowers reoffending, which protects society too; revenge feeds hatred. Against: victims need protection first, and a dangerous person must be stopped whether or not they change; justice requires that the offender faces the results of their actions; some non-religious people support retribution or deterrents as fair. Possible conclusion: reform should be the main purpose because it deals with the causes of harm, but protection must come first, as an offender cannot be helped to change if they are free to harm others again.
Exam tip
In (b), give a teaching, then a reason or an example. A name such as Angulimala or a reference such as Dhammapada verse 5 shows you know the teaching.