Buddhist ethics are based on intention or volition
佛教的道德價值奠基于意圖與意志力：
”Kamma is volition,” says the Buddha. Action themselves are considered as neither good nor bad but ”only the intention and thought makes them so.” Yet Buddhist ethics does not maintain that a person may commit what are conventionally regarded as ”sins” provided that he does so with the best of intentions. Had this been its position, Buddhism would have confined itself to questions of psychology and left the uninteresting task of drawing up lists of ethical rules and framing codes of conducts to less emancipated teachings. The connection between thoughts and deeds, between mental and material action is an extension of thought. It is not possible to commit murder with a good heart because taking of life is simply the outward expression of a state of mind dominated by hate or greed. Deeds are condensations of thoughts just as rain is a condensation of vapor. Deeds proclaim from the rooftops of action only what has already been committed in the silent and secret chambers of the heart.
佛陀說：「業就是意志力的作用」。行爲本身並沒有所謂的善與惡，善與惡是我們思維的造作。但是，佛教的道德觀並不同意，當一個人犯了傳統的罪行時，同時又認爲他的出發點是基于善意。如果佛教采取這種立場，將受到心理的困擾，同時也使佛教的道德觀失去意義，解脫也變成沒有價值了。思想和行爲緊密的聯系在一起，身和心的一切行爲都是思想的延續。一個人不可能帶著善心去犯謀殺罪，因爲殺害生命是以內心嗔恚爲主導的外在表現。行爲是思想的壓縮，就好像雨水是蒸汽壓縮而成一樣。行爲表現思想的造作，一切行爲的表現，其實在內心已經醞釀很久了。
A person who commits an immoral act thereby declares that he is not free from unwholesome states of mind. Also, a person who has a purified and radiant mind, who has a mind empty of all defiled thoughts and feelings, is incapable of committing immoral actions.
當一個人有不道德行爲的造作，等于宣布他無法擺脫不健全的心智。同樣的，當一個人擁有純淨和明晰的心智，斷除了一切汙染的意念和感受，他就不可能犯下任何不道德的行爲。
Buddhist ethics also recognizes the objectivity of moral value. In other words, the kammic consequences of actions occur in accordance with natural kammic law, regardless of the attitude of the inpidual or regardless of social attitudes toward the act. For example, drunkenness has kammic consequences; it is evil since it promotes one”s own unhappiness as well as the unhappiness of others. The kammic effects of drunkenness exist despite what the drunkard or his society may think about the habit of drinking. The prevailing opinions and attitudes do not in the least detract from the fact that drunkenness is objectively evil. The consequences _ psychological, social, and kammic _ make actions moral or immoral _ regardless of the mental attitudes of those judging the act. Thus while ethical relativism is recognized, it is not considered as undermining the objectivity of values.
佛教的道德範圍，同時也包含了客觀的道德價值。換句話說，果報的産生是按照自然業力的作用，不關系到個人或社會對這行爲的態度。舉個例子來說明，醉酒有它一定的業力果報，這是一種罪行，它助長了個人的不愉快，也導致他人不愉快。不管醉酒者或社會對喝酒的看法是如何，對佛教來說，喝酒就是一種惡行。流行的觀念和態度，無法改變喝酒就是惡行的客觀性。這種不道德的行爲，無論在社會、心理或業力，都與判斷的心態無關。佛教的道德觀，雖然不是絕對的，但是，無損于佛教道德價值的客觀性。