Chapter 3 : One ness with Nature
We saw, in Chapter 1, that early Buddhism is not easily reconciled with environmental
matters; the concepts required, particularly the idea of nature as intrinsically and
objectively valuable, do not appear unequivocally in the canon. The Mahāyāna, with its
nondualistic stance towards nirvana and saṃsāra, seems to imply better prospects for
green Buddhism. Indeed, from the extent of literature on the subject, it would appear that
the ecological soundness of the Mahāyāna teachings, as well as their applicability to
contemporary environmental problems, is entirely unproblematic. In the following
chapters, I will challenge this idea by appraising various concepts in Mahāyāna green
Buddhism from the perspective of Mādhyamika and Yogācārin thought.
I will begin with the strand of eco-spiritualism that focuses on holism, referred to
in the Introduction. This involves the belief that an appropriate attitude and conduct
towards the environment—sometimes labelled ‗deep ecology‘—depends on having an
awareness of the so-called ‗oneness‘ of nature, or of the interrelatedness of all things. It is
also believed that these realizations coincide with the goal of certain Mahāyāna teachings
and practices. I shall attempt to disentangle the useful threads in this discussion from
others that could be either a source or a result of the misconstrual of Buddhist doctrines.
My general claim is that if oneness, or interrelatedness, is understood as a metaphysical
theory, then it has very little to do with the Buddha‘s message; whereas, if it is the felt
experience of oneness as identification with all beings with which deep ecology is
concerned, then there are gainful parallels to be drawn. Particularly, it will emerge that
the deep ecologist‘s notion of identification corresponds closely to the Mahāyāna
understanding of love and compassion, and that this can provide a partial response to
some of the difficulties that we encountered in chapter 1, regarding the possibility of
basing an environmental ethic upon the virtue of solicitude.
Chapter 3 : One ness with Nature
We saw, in Chapter 1, that early Buddhism is not easily reconciled with environmental
matters; the concepts required, particularly the idea of nature as intrinsically and
objectively valuable, do not appear unequivocally in the canon. The Mahāyāna, with its
nondualistic stance towards nirvana and saṃsāra, seems to imply better prospects for
green Buddhism. Indeed, from the extent of literature on the subject, it would appear that
the ecological soundness of the Mahāyāna teachings, as well as their applicability to
contemporary environmental problems, is entirely unproblematic. In the following
chapters, I will challenge this idea by appraising various concepts in Mahāyāna green
Buddhism from the perspective of Mādhyamika and Yogācārin thought.
I will begin with the strand of eco-spiritualism that focuses on holism, referred to
in the Introduction. This involves the belief that an appropriate attitude and conduct
towards the environment—sometimes labelled ‗deep ecology‘—depends on having an
awareness of the so-called ‗oneness‘ of nature, or of the interrelatedness of all things. It is
also believed that these realizations coincide with the goal of certain Mahāyāna teachings
and practices. I shall attempt to disentangle the useful threads in this discussion from
others that could be either a source or a result of the misconstrual of Buddhist doctrines.
My general claim is that if oneness, or interrelatedness, is understood as a metaphysical
theory, then it has very little to do with the Buddha‘s message; whereas, if it is the felt
experience of oneness as identification with all beings with which deep ecology is
concerned, then there are gainful parallels to be drawn. Particularly, it will emerge that
the deep ecologist‘s notion of identification corresponds closely to the Mahāyāna
understanding of love and compassion, and that this can provide a partial response to
some of the difficulties that we encountered in chapter 1, regarding the possibility of
basing an environmental ethic upon the virtue of solicitude.
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