[Buddha-l] Ecological Buddhism

[jkirk]

You wrote:
"It appears to me  that attention to one's own behaviour is more
likely to be productive than  attention to the behaviour of
others." and
"In my  experience,  if I become engaged by taking a lot of
external stuff on, it can lead to a scattered mind that
jeopardises my ability to be of any real help in the future."

JK:
You are individualizing the issues that Macy, if I understand
her, considers to be shared issues across swathes of citizens--my
take on her is that she does not see participating in what's
called "public life" to be contrary to Buddhist goals. She seems
to be warning against the common tendency to focus only on self
as individual. And anyway, if your practice of concentration is
working, then you'd not have a scattered mind.

IMO she is not advising that we take on "a lot of external
stuff", and anyway, existence being what it is, external is also
internal. I'd guess she favors a middle way here: that is, NOT
taking on a LOT of stuff, but not cutting oneself off from being
a citizen in one's social world. 

Life isn't either/or. 



====================================================

>
>Joanna [Macy] finds that many people (especially those  drawn to

>Eastern paths) have developed notions about spirituality  that
hinder 
>them from realizing their power to effect change.?  Among the 
>'spiritual traps' that cut the nerve of compassionate  action
are 
>these:
>
>1. That the phenomenal world of beings  is not real.? With this
view 
>the pain of others and the demands on us  that are implicit in
that 
>pain are less tangible than the pleasures or  aloofness we can
find in 
>transcending them.
>
>2. That any  pain we may experience in beholding the world
derives from 
>our own  cravings and attachments.? With this view, the ideal
way to 
>deal with  suffering becomes nonattachment to the fate of all
beings, 
>not just  nonattachment to matters of the ego.
>
>3. That we are constantly  creating our world unilaterally
through our 
>subjective thoughts.?  Confrontation is considered negative
thinking, 
>acceptance is positive.?  Therefore it is concluded that when we

>confront the injustice and  dangers of our world we are simply
creating 
>more conflict and  misunderstanding.
>
>4. And the corollary, that the world is  already perfect when we
view 
>it spiritually.? We feel so peaceful that  the world itself will
become 
>peaceful without our need to  act.


I think Joanna Macy may be applying a bit of 'overbend' here  in
order to achieve a straight pipe. There would be similar traps in
her  approach if one were to fully embrace it. One trap would be
to direct  one's critical eye away from oneself and to others -
an attempt to 'fix'  the phenomenal world.  The move would be
from individual practitioner  to politician, or activist. That
is, a move from one who seeks to change  'self' to one who seeks
to change 'other.'

It is very tempting to  do this. When I read her four points, the
thought arose in my mind, "Yes.  I know other practitioners like
this and we need to change them." Of  course, I have these
tendencies myself. It is easier to find a  misunderstanding than
an understanding, because there are more of them. It  is easier
to find an 'other' who seems to misunderstand than a 'self' who
misunderstands, because there are more of them also.

It appears to me  that attention to one's own behaviour is more
likely to be productive than  attention to the behaviour of
others. Balance between these two is  required, and the balance
could be a bit different for each of us. I feel  in no position
to tackle the politics and economics of the world, but it  may be
within my capacity to help occasional individuals.

In my  experience,  if I become engaged by taking a lot of
external stuff on, it can lead to a scattered mind that
jeopardises my ability to be of any real help in the future. It
is not a sustainable option. It has less benefit in the long run.

There are many things 'wrong' in this  world.  I do not hope to
fix them, because I cannot fix them. Indeed,  it would be like
trying to repair the sea rather than rescuing  people.  Joanna
Macy's points are fine if taken as a critique of  oneself, but
could lead us astray, like the quail going out of its range
(Sakunagghi Sutta - The Hawk. SN 47.6)

-- 
Metta
Mike  Austin
_______________________________________________
 
I agree that there is an "overbend" above, but even more the
analysis seems  
to take as it starting points premises that not all would agree
to, especially 
 points 2 and 3. For most Americans, indeed for most citizens of
liberal  
democracies, political involvement is limited to merely having
opinions of like  
and dislike---and "heavily involved in politics" equates to
"deeply held  
opinions that I express to all my friends until they avoid me,
and are  therefore 
part of the problem and not part of the solution."
 
For those actually involved in legislative and electoral
processes an  
analysis is quite different, and contrary to the above Buddhism
can be quite  
helpful in achieving one's purposes. Electoral politics, and even
more so, the  
legislative processes, are chaotic business. It is easy to become
distracted and  
loose sight of one's goals. Lobbying involves dealing
successfully with  
legislators, lobbyists, administrators, and others, all of whom
are  enmeshed in an 
ever-shifting seamless web of alliances and competing interests
and agendas, 
as is the actor. It is easy to become distracted with others'
issues and 
neglect implementation of one's own. Having a clear mind is
essential, and 
Buddhism can help develop that clarity of purpose, both by
training the mind in 
attaining focus, and by inculcating a sense of  non-attachment
that encourages 
the kind of creative thought that is so helpful  in making
decisions about how 
to effect the passage of one's legislation (or  contra, the
defeat of 
legislation one opposes), or in securing funding, or  raising or
eliminating taxes, or 
whatever is the project at hand.
 
Best wishes,
 
Konchog Dorje





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