Mahayana:
Cause and Effect.
Published at SSRN -
http://ssrn.com/abstract=2134559
Abstract:
The goal of Mahayana philosophy is the optimal well-being of all
beings. If the wish to see the optimal well-being of all beings
realized is the cause, then the optimal well-being of all beings is
the effect. "The optimal well-being of all beings" is a quality of
any sustainable system.
Keywords:
Mahayana, cause and effect, sustainability
Text:
The goal of Mahayana philosophy is the optimal well-being of all
beings.
If the cause is the wish to see the ideal realized, then the effect
is the ideal realized.
If the wish to see the optimal well-being of all beings realized is
the cause, then the optimal well-being of all beings is the
effect.
What follows from the above is this: If we did not know what
exactly "the optimal well-being of all beings" should mean, then
the phrase would merely be a sophism.
We should therefore diligently keep on perfecting the definition of
"the optimal well-being of all beings", because without knowing
what "the optimal well-being of all beings" actually should mean,
"the optimal well-being of all beings" could never be realized.
"The optimal well-being of all beings" in any system is a proof of
sustainability of that system--sustainability being the goal of
many in this troubled world.
It would seem that Nature always tends towards an equilibrium in
the Earth system. Whenever a disturbance occurs in the system, the
system eventually returns to a dynamic equilibrium. This, without a
doubt, will happen even now when the Earth system processes are
being greatly disturbed due to human actions. Things will naturally
return to a dynamic equilibrium. However, if we let Nature, who
does not care about individual species' fate, but about maintaining
a balance in the system, to take her course, humans, from their own
subjective perspective, will suffer greatly. This suffering is
possible to mitigate--we have to recognize that maintaining a
balance of the whole Earth system is of the utmost importance, and
strive to restore this balance before Nature does so without
heeding our plight. We have to recognize that no element of the
Earth system is negligible, and we have to bring humanity in sync
with the whole system.
We have to learn what the ideal--being in balance with the whole
Earth system--should look like, and then strive to achieve this
ideal balance before Nature would beat us to it.
More on this at www.ModelEarth.Org .
Thank you, Hearthstone.
!OmManiPadmeHum!
Pertinent links:
Mahayana: Philosophy for
Sustainability.
O Bodhisattvas!
Why Prayers, Meditations,
Wishes, and Any Such Don't Help to Establish a Lasting Peace in the
World.
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