implied the unreality of the world or the reality of ‗Mind Only,‘ was irrelevant to the
Buddhist Middle Path, which is beyond both being and non-being.
The Hua Yen doctrine of interrelatedness and the images of jewelled nets and
halls of mirrors might be used constructively in an environmental context, as long as we
do not grasp at the truth of statements like ‗all is one‘ or ‗everything reflects everything.‘
Instead of interpreting them as philosophical doctrines, one might use such ideas as a
pattern or ‗blueprint‘ for meditation upon dependent-arising. Rather than attempting to
discern oneness through studying ecological relations, perhaps if we meditate on our
connections with forests and farms, livestock, air, soil, and so on, as reflecting each other,
like a magical display or a hall of mirrors, we might lessen our ingrained attachment to
ourselves and to our own needs, and become better able to identify with others and adopt
their interests as our own. Meditation on interrelatedness could help us realize how
profound the impact of what we do is upon the rest of the world and how repercussions
could be carried to an extent hardly imaginable. We might become more careful in our
actions if we learnt to perceive a hurricane across the globe, say, as a reflection of our
leaving the lights on when not needed.
Unfortunately, this sort of meditation could also have adverse effects on our
approach to the environment. If we completely internalize a picture of reality as an
infinite net of relations, we might be led to despondency, since on this view, there are an
infinite number of causes and conditions for those aspects of the world that we perceive
as problematic. Climate change, for instance, is the product of so many causes and
conditions that to prevent it from happening, or even just mitigating its effects, has turned
out to be a highly complicated affair. Moreover, our decisions too are affected by infinite
other things so that we might begin to wonder whether we really do have the power or
freedom to bring about a positive change. In addition, since the repercussions of what we
do spread out infinitely into time and space, we can never really foresee all the outcomes
of our actions with certainty. A recent example of this problem emerged with the
introduction of biodiesel, which, at the time, appeared to be environmentally preferable to
other fossil fuels, and its widespread use seemed like step in the right direction,
ecologically speaking. Unfortunately, nobody foresaw all of its actual results, and
consequently, there was increased hunger and deforestation in certain parts of the world.
151
implied the unreality of the world or the reality of ‗Mind Only,‘ was irrelevant to the
Buddhist Middle Path, which is beyond both being and non-being.
The Hua Yen doctrine of interrelatedness and the images of jewelled nets and
halls of mirrors might be used constructively in an environmental context, as long as we
do not grasp at the truth of statements like ‗all is one‘ or ‗everything reflects everything.‘
Instead of interpreting them as philosophical doctrines, one might use such ideas as a
pattern or ‗blueprint‘ for meditation upon dependent-arising. Rather than attempting to
discern oneness through studying ecological relations, perhaps if we meditate on our
connections with forests and farms, livestock, air, soil, and so on, as reflecting each other,
like a magical display or a hall of mirrors, we might lessen our ingrained attachment to
ourselves and to our own needs, and become better able to identify with others and adopt
their interests as our own. Meditation on interrelatedness could help us realize how
profound the impact of what we do is upon the rest of the world and how repercussions
could be carried to an extent hardly imaginable. We might become more careful in our
actions if we learnt to perceive a hurricane across the globe, say, as a reflection of our
leaving the lights on when not needed.
Unfortunately, this sort of meditation could also have adverse effects on our
approach to the environment. If we completely internalize a picture of reality as an
infinite net of relations, we might be led to despondency, since on this view, there are an
infinite number of causes and conditions for those aspects of the world that we perceive
as problematic. Climate change, for instance, is the product of so many causes and
conditions that to prevent it from happening, or even just mitigating its effects, has turned
out to be a highly complicated affair. Moreover, our decisions too are affected by infinite
other things so that we might begin to wonder whether we really do have the power or
freedom to bring about a positive change. In addition, since the repercussions of what we
do spread out infinitely into time and space, we can never really foresee all the outcomes
of our actions with certainty. A recent example of this problem emerged with the
introduction of biodiesel, which, at the time, appeared to be environmentally preferable to
other fossil fuels, and its widespread use seemed like step in the right direction,
ecologically speaking. Unfortunately, nobody foresaw all of its actual results, and
consequently, there was increased hunger and deforestation in certain parts of the world.
151
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