Animal Ethics and Conservation in Early Buddhism: Canonical Foundations and Historical Practice

Abstract

This article examines early Buddhist perspectives on animal ethics and conservation, arguing that Buddhism offers a historically grounded framework recognising animals as sentient participants in an interdependent moral landscape. Drawing on Pāli canonical sources, Vinaya regulations and early historical records — including the reign of Emperor Aśoka and regional adaptations in Sri Lanka — it traces how ahiṃsā, karuṇā and dependent origination shaped Buddhist attitudes toward animals and the environment, offering a non-anthropocentric moral vision grounded in restraint, responsibility and relational care.