Warwick Fox has kindly sent me a copy of his book
• Fox W. 2006 A Theory of General Ethics: Human relationships, nature and the built environment. London: MIT Press.
This is an ambitious work that advances a theory of general ethics. The theory advanced is called the Theory of Responsive Cohesion. He points out that most Western theories of ethics rest on a principle of the overwhelmingly pre-eminent value of humans. Non-anthropocentric theories have emerged in the last thirty years of the 20th century, but they are still largely ignored in philosophical literature. Fox, however, not only wants to unify human ethics and environmental ethics, but to find principles beyond both, and in particular, to incorporate ethics of the artificial as well as the natural environment including some aspects that might otherwise find their home under aesthetics rather than ethics. Fox's claim is that "responsive cohesion is the foundational value, the value upon which all other informed judgments of value are ultimately based, whether we realize it or not" (p293-4). His argument is thorough and stimulating. Do read it.
Amida-shu member Paul Normann has sent us copies of the edition of the Larger Sutra that they have published in Hawaii
• Unattributed. 2007 The Larger Pureland Sutra: Sukhavativyuha: Manifesting the Land of Bliss. Hilo, Hawaii: Amida Trust
This is the version of the Sutra that we use in Amida-shu. It is a redaction drawing on both Chinese and Sanskrit sources. I am delighted that this work is available in this format. Great gratitud is due to the sponsor who financed this edition in memory of Huynh Xuan Tho. Deep thnaks. Namo Amida Bu.
We have received the latest issue of
• The Middle Way, February 2007, vol 81, no 4.
It contains an item by Ven. Dr. Vajiragnana, who passed on on 15 December 2006, called Ehipasico: The come and see method. There are also items from Judith Clark, the Dalai Lama, Eric Cheetham, Jane Rasch, Piyadassi Mahathera and Robert Bluck. We might use the Cheetham article this week as it is concerned with the six paramitas.
In
• Le Monde Diplomatique, March 2007,
Gerard Prunier writes on the genocide in Darfur that has already left 400,000 dead; Ignatcio Ramonet castigates European governments for duplicity over "extraordinary rendition" and collusion in torture; Jean-Arnault Derens describes the fragile state of things in Kosovo; Jose Fajardo writes upon domestic politics in Spain where the fascist past still haunts current affairs; Leila Farsakh argues for a one state bi-national solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict - surely the only real solution as the present apartheid cannot go on forever: Ibrahim Ward and Helena Corban separately analyse American politics at home and abroad as an unpopular war runs on and parallels with Vietnam become more and more apparent; Vincent Munie describes and praises Senegal and Colin Murphy sees some hope in the impoverished land of Mozaqmbique; Jean-Pierre Sereni analyses the trend toward nationalism in the crucially important domain of petro-chemical politics as states take control of the oil resource away from multi-nationals - or could we say, the trend toward independence as countries claim back control of resources from US surrogate organisations as US power wanes? Joris Luyendijk spells out the dilemmas of being a Western journalist reporting the Arab world; and Jacques Bouveresse asks, "Is religious belief so wired into the human brain and essential to human society that it can never end? Will anything that destroys a religion become a replacement for that religion? Will history's tide of rationality at last turn?"
This last is quite a nice brief contribution to the philosophy of religion. He points out, for instance, quoting Durckheim, "if it is true that religion is, in a sense, indispensible, it is no less certain that religions change, that yesterday's religion could not be that of tomorrow. Thus what we need to know is what the religion of today should be". Now Durckheim thought that it should be a "religion of humanity" but we have now, since Durckheim, discovered the folly of humanism, and it is this that, for instance, motivates Warwick Fox's attempt (see above) to ground ethics somewhere outside of human pre-eminence. Many people currently believe that religion is a cause of trouble, but their attempts to do without it only create new more narrow minded creeds based on local ethnic considerations. Religion is an attempt at universalism, but the old attempts have run into problems. Buddhism does relatively better than most, but we should not be complacent.
We have received the latest and final issue of
• Buddhism Now February 2007 vol 19.
The main article is by Ajahn Sumedho No View is Right View. Here is the bit of it that I liked: "The realities of being human, however, are like this. Some days you can't stand anyone. I have actually studied this grumpiness, this negativity, and also the guilt about it, 'I shouldn't feel like this. A good monk shouldn't think like this.' I have deliberately watched myself feeling guilty..." However, Sumadho's fundamental point, if I am getting him right, is to equate awareness with the unborn. I cannot see this, myself. Awareness varies. it comes and goes, so I don't see how it can be the unborn. Maybe he means the word in a non-regular way.
The demise of the Buddhism Now mag is sad. They explain it by saying that there has been a revolution in the publishing world and people no longer want hard copy magazines. Is this true? Our Running Tide is still developing. Maybe there are other reasons. Maybe the tide is turning and the kind of Buddhism that Buddhism Now represented may be waning as other approaches rise.
Recent Comments