The teachings of Buddhism are based on the beliefs of Siddhartha Gautama. He realized that old age, sickness, and death are inevitable miseries of life. Buddha believes that suffering originates due to desires, but we can overcome suffering by following the path to liberation, also known as Dharma. To attain Dharma we must get a better understanding of actions in terms of cause and effect. In relation to the cause-and-effect understanding of life, Buddha also believes in the ethics of Karma.
Karma is the belief that good actions create good results, while bad actions create bad results. Buddha feels that the moral life is the path absolute freedom and enlightenment.
He teaches the Four Noble Truths which is the understanding of suffering and the Eightfold Path which indicates how we must live to attain releases (his code of ethics). Though it may seem as though Buddha has a strict code of ethics, he does not believe a particular act is right or wrong.
He believes that it depends on whether or not the act causes suffering. I believe that Buddha was a wise man, but I also believe he took ethics to a bit of an extreme. While I do feel ethics are an important part of everyday life, I believe that morals and personal opinion are more important. In most aspects I do agree with Buddha, however.
I especially feel his belief of Karma was correct; what goes around comes around, in my opinion. I am also glad Buddha taught the idea that ethics are not based on acts being right or wrong, but more so the circumstances in which the acts happen and their results.
I feel ethics should be seen as just about the same thing as morals. People tend to take ethics more seriously since it is the ‘majority rule’ in a sense, but I feel they are both equally important. You should not care what society thinks, or anyone else for that matter. In my opinion, Buddha was an intelligent, wise, and dedicated man that led the way to many ethic beliefs that are still relevant today.