assumes, would apply equally to statements about oneness or interrelatedness. In
Nāgārjuna‘s words, neither existence, nor nonexistence can be affirmed, and not even
statements about emptiness are to be asserted (MMK 15.10; 22.11). That is to say, any
proposition we might make—such as ―the universe is one‖ or ―the cosmos is in the
flower‖—could never be ultimately true. Therefore, although we can speak of
interdependence and oneness conventionally, and such statements may be useful for
attaining ultimate truth, in the end, they are not to be taken for truths themselves; rather,
they are discarded once they have served their purpose. This suggests that to the extent
that parallelists are wedded to their views about oneness or interrelatedness and insofar as
statements about these are taken to be final views about the way the world really is, there
is deep incongruity with Mahāyāna Buddhism. The next part of this chapter will delve
into these discrepancies.
Divergences between Buddhism and the New Paradigm
The new paradigm, as expressed in deep ecology and in physics, diverges from
Mahāyāna Buddhist doctrine in two ways. First, it includes various beliefs that are clearly
different from those that Buddhist philosophers held, but which are nevertheless
sometimes attributed to those philosophers. As we shall see, the way that oneness or
internal relations are sometimes described is incompatible with Mahāyāna philosophy
and has more to do with eternalistic philosophies such as the Vedanta, or theism. Second,
as mentioned above, parallelists tend to believe in their theories as absolute truths,
whereas Buddhism ultimately rejects or negates all theories and views. In the following, I
shall examine in detail these divergences and their implications for green Buddhism.
1) Oneness and the extreme of eternalism
Maxwell, as we have seen, relates Nāgārjuna‘s emptiness to the notion of the ―essential
nature of the universe‖ as ―unbroken wholeness‖ and he identifies this with the neo142
assumes, would apply equally to statements about oneness or interrelatedness. In
Nāgārjuna‘s words, neither existence, nor nonexistence can be affirmed, and not even
statements about emptiness are to be asserted (MMK 15.10; 22.11). That is to say, any
proposition we might make—such as ―the universe is one‖ or ―the cosmos is in the
flower‖—could never be ultimately true. Therefore, although we can speak of
interdependence and oneness conventionally, and such statements may be useful for
attaining ultimate truth, in the end, they are not to be taken for truths themselves; rather,
they are discarded once they have served their purpose. This suggests that to the extent
that parallelists are wedded to their views about oneness or interrelatedness and insofar as
statements about these are taken to be final views about the way the world really is, there
is deep incongruity with Mahāyāna Buddhism. The next part of this chapter will delve
into these discrepancies.
Divergences between Buddhism and the New Paradigm
The new paradigm, as expressed in deep ecology and in physics, diverges from
Mahāyāna Buddhist doctrine in two ways. First, it includes various beliefs that are clearly
different from those that Buddhist philosophers held, but which are nevertheless
sometimes attributed to those philosophers. As we shall see, the way that oneness or
internal relations are sometimes described is incompatible with Mahāyāna philosophy
and has more to do with eternalistic philosophies such as the Vedanta, or theism. Second,
as mentioned above, parallelists tend to believe in their theories as absolute truths,
whereas Buddhism ultimately rejects or negates all theories and views. In the following, I
shall examine in detail these divergences and their implications for green Buddhism.
1) Oneness and the extreme of eternalism
Maxwell, as we have seen, relates Nāgārjuna‘s emptiness to the notion of the ―essential
nature of the universe‖ as ―unbroken wholeness‖ and he identifies this with the neo142
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