Durham E-Theses
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Durham E-Theses Buddhist Philosophy and the Ideals of Environmentalism SCIBERRAS, COLETTE How to cite: SCIBERRAS, COLETTE (2010) Buddhist Philosophy and the Ideals of Environmentalism, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/535/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk Buddhist Philosophy and the Ideals of Environmentalism Colette Sciberras Submitted for the degree of Ph.D. Department of Philosophy Durham University 2010 Buddhist Philosophy and the Ideals of Environmentalism Colette Sciberras A b s t r a c t I examine the consistency between contemporary environmentalist ideals and Buddhist philosophy, focusing, first, on the problem of value in nature. I argue that the teachings found in the Pāli canon cannot easily be reconciled with a belief in the intrinsic value of life, whether human or otherwise. This is because all existence is regarded as inherently unsatisfactory, and all beings are seen as impermanent and insubstantial, while the ultimate spiritual goal is often viewed, in early Buddhism, as involving a deep renunciation of the world. Therefore, the discussion focuses mostly on the Mahāyāna vehicle, which, I suggest has better resources for environmentalism because enlightenment and the ordinary world are not conceived as antithetical. Still, many contemporary green ideas do not sit well with classical Mahāyāna doctrines. Mahāyāna philosophers coincide in equating ultimate reality with ‗emptiness,‘ and propose knowledge of this reality as a final soteriological purpose. Emptiness is generally said to be ineffable, and to involve the negation of all views. An important question is how to reconcile environmentalism with the relinquishing of views. I consider several prevalent themes in environmentalism, including the philosophy of ‗Oneness,‘ and other systems that are often compared with Buddhism, like process thought. Many of these turn out to have more in common with an extreme view that Buddhism seeks to avoid, namely, eternalism. I attempt to outline an environmental position that, like the doctrine of emptiness, traverses a Middle Path between eternalism and nihilism. I conclude by proposing that emptiness could be regarded as the source of value in nature, if it is seen in its more positive aspect, as ‗pliancy.‘ This would imply that what Buddhist environmentalists should seek to protect is not any being in its current form, nor any static natural system, but the possibility of adaptation and further evolution. i C o n t e n t s : Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... i Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................... iv Declaration ................................................................................................................................ v Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. vi Introduction: Why Buddhism and the Environment? ................................ 1 An Overview of Buddhist Environmentalism....................................................................... 3 Outline of the Argument ....................................................................................................... 7 Chapter 1: Buddhism and the Value of Nature .......................................... 13 1 The Charge of Speciesism ................................................................................................... 15 Speciesism and the Marginal Cases Argument ................................................................... 17 Waldau‘s Misappropriation of Western Ideas about Moral Considerability ...................... 19 Waldau‘s Specific Claims against Buddhism ..................................................................... 22 Buddhism and the Concept of Intrinsic Value .................................................................... 30 Summary ............................................................................................................................. 33 2 Does Nature Have Intrinsic Value on the Buddhist Worldview? ........................................ 35 Suffering, Impermanence, and the ‗Negative Value of Nature‘ Critique ........................... 37 Nirvana and the ‗World-Rejecting Critique‘ ...................................................................... 40 Nirvana and the Doctrine of Not-Self ................................................................................. 43 Not-Self, Renunciation of Views, and the ‗Insubstantiality‘ Critique ................................ 47 Summary ............................................................................................................................. 51 3 Solicitude as an Alternative Way to Evaluate Nature .......................................................... 53 The Meanings of ‗Intrinsic Value‘ ...................................................................................... 55 Two Buddhist Virtues: Love and Compassion ................................................................... 64 Difficulties with Basing Environmental Ethics upon Solicitude ........................................ 68 Summary ............................................................................................................................. 79 Chapter 2: Mahāyāna Buddhism and Emptiness ........................................ 82 Mahāyāna from Sutric Sources ........................................................................................... 83 1 Nāgārjuna‘s Madhyamaka and the Focus on Negation ....................................................... 87 The Two Truths; Svabhāva and Emptiness ........................................................................ 90 The Nonduality of Saṃsāra and Nirvana .......................................................................... 100 The ‗No-Thesis‘ Doctrine: Emptiness as a Soteriological Device ................................... 104 Summary ........................................................................................................................... 109 2 The Yogācārin Re-affirmation of Existence ...................................................................... 110 ii Yogācāra and the Ineffable Self-Nature ........................................................................... 113 The Doctrine of Trisvabhāva ............................................................................................ 115 Misinterpretations of the Yogācāra ................................................................................... 120 Summary ........................................................................................................................... 124 3 Mahāyāna Environmentalism; a Preliminary Discussion .................................................. 126 Chapter 3: Oneness with Nature ....................................................................... 131 1 Oneness as a Metaphysical View ....................................................................................... 132 Buddhism, Deep Ecology, and the New Physics: the Parallels ........................................ 133 Divergences between Buddhism and the New Paradigm ................................................. 141 The Utility of Parallelist Discourse in the Light of the Negation of Views ..................... 148 Summary ........................................................................................................................... 151 2 Oneness as Identification with all Sentient Beings ............................................................ 154 Identification and Solicitude ............................................................................................. 156 The Grounds for Identification ......................................................................................... 158 How Identification is Attained .......................................................................................... 159 Identification as Bodhicitta: Solicitude in Union with Emptiness .................................... 161 Difficulties with Basing Environmental Ethics upon Bodhicitta ...................................... 164 Summary ........................................................................................................................... 169 C h a p ter 4: Avoiding Extreme Views and P l i a n c y .................................. 171 1 Overcoming Eternalism: the Emptiness of Beings ............................................................ 174 The ‗Balance-of-Nature‘ View and Eternalism ................................................................ 175 Emptiness of Natural