Eastern Alternatives: Daoism and Buddhism

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Eastern Alternatives Daoism and Buddhism
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Eastern Alternatives

• White and Callicott both propose that Eastern
  religions and cultures offer a sounder ecological
  philosophy than the Western tradition.
• e.g. Hinduism
• Jainism
• Buddhism
• Taoism
• Confucianism
• Do all these different religions have something
  in common?
• Are they indeed more ecological in spirit?
• We are going to concentrate on Buddhism and
  Taoism.

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Buddhism

• (Buddhism has many schools with different beliefs
  and practices. This is just a very simplistic
  introduction.)
• Four Noble Truths
• Life is suffering.
• Suffering is caused by desire.
• Can only end suffering by ending desire.
• The Noble Eight-fold Path is the way to end
  suffering.

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• The eight-fold path entails living ethically
  (e.g. not causing harm to other sentient beings),
  practicing mental discipline (e.g. meditation),
  and achieving an understanding of the true nature
  of reality.
• The goal is to achieve Nirvana and escape from
  the
• cycle of birth and death. Escape from life.
• Unless you achieve Nirvana, you suffer
  reincarnation.
• Depending on the degree of enlightenment you have
  achieved in this life, you may return as a lower
  animal, a higher animal or a human.
• The world as we see it is an illusion and a
  distraction. See through the illusion to obtain
  enlightenment, hence Buddhahood, hence Nirvana.
• The Paradox of Desire to achieve Nirvana, you
  must give up all desires, including the desire to
  give up all desires.

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Dependent origination

• All things arise together in a mutually
• dependent web of cause and effect through
• the past, the present and the future.
• All life is connected.
• All sentient beings are trapped in suffering,
  and compassion is extended to all life. Harm to
  any sentient being must be avoided (hence
  vegetarianism).
• The ultimate goal is for all beings to achieve
  nirvana and be released from this life of
  suffering.

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Ecological implications

• All life is respected. Harm to any sentient being
  is bad. Even trees and lowly animals have
  Buddha-nature and thus have value.
• Harm to animals is proscribed. Vegetarian is
  normally imperative.
• Focus is other-worldly. Hence worldly pleasures
  are devalued. Greed and over-consumption of
  resources is implicitly avoided, thus ecological
  damage is minimized.
• However
• Deeply dualist matter is illusion, spirit is
  real.
• Life itself is not valuable, but rather is just a
  source of suffering.
• Negative focus escape suffering, escape life.

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Reading for next week

• Required
• Nonmoral nature, Stephen Jay Gould (1982), in
  Hens Teeth and Horses Toes, p. 32-44, available
  at
• www.stephenjaygould.org/library/gould_nonmoral.htm
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• The Evolution of Life on Earth, Stephen Jay
  Gould (1994), in Scientific American, available
  at
• brembs.net/gould.html
• Suggested
• Argument from Poor Design, Wikipedia, available
  at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_poor_desig
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