Karunā and Caritas in Buddhist–Christian Traditions: Rereading the Ethics of Love as Self-Surrendering Love

Abstract

This study examines how karuṇā in Buddhism and caritas in Christianity shape an ethical framework of love characterized by self-surrendering love. The primary aim of this research is to demonstrate that, although these two virtues arise from distinct metaphysical and theological structures, they perform similar functions in forming moral dispositions and altruistic action. The study employs a qualitative approach through a text-based comparative analysis that draws on primary Buddhist and Christian sources as well as classical and contemporary academic literature. The findings show that karuṇā emerges from awareness of universal suffering, the principle of anattā, and the Bodhisattva ideal that centers on the liberation of all beings. Meanwhile, caritas is rooted in the conception of God as Love, human dignity as imago Dei, and the kenotic tradition that understands love as total self-giving. Despite their divergent metaphysical foundations, karuṇā and caritas converge in a shared ethical pattern: a form of love that prioritizes the well-being of the other through self-emptying. The figures of the Bodhisattva and the saints exemplify this convergence paradigmatically. The study concludes that the conceptual encounter between karuṇā and caritas opens a more equitable space for interreligious ethical dialogue and expands the horizon of solidarity across traditions. In terms of originality, this research proposes a three-dimensional analytical model—origin, goal, and demands—that contributes a new perspective to comparative studies of the virtue of love in religious studies and offers an interreligious ethical framework that can be operationalized within plural societies.