V3I10P29

Karuṇā Beyond Anthropocentrism: A Critical Reconstruction of Mahāyāna Compassion for Contemporary Environmental Ethics

Dr. Le Hong Linh^1*

Abstract

This paper reconstructs Mahayana Karuna as a relational ethical framwork relevant to contemporary ecological crises. Instead of positioning Buddhism as existentially environmentalist, I analyze the transformation of karuṇā by way of pratītyasamutpāda, śūnyatā, and bodhisattva ethics. I then undertake a philosophical hermeneutic, and comparative ethics of Nāgārjuna, Śāntideva, Huayan, and Tiantai references. I conclude that karuṇā can critique anthropocentrism by meaningfully eroding the metaphysical distinction between human subject and the more-than-human others. This reconstruction does not require attributing sentience or personhood to non-human entities; rather, the sense of ecological care would be rooted in the metaphysical notions of relationality and dependent arising. Such a reading of Mahāyāna karuṇā as relational and dependently arising offers a novel contribution to non-anthropocentric environmentalist ethics, based on careful qualifications of Mahāyāna doctrines and history.

Keywords:

karuṇā; Mahāyāna Buddhism; śūnyatā; pratītyasamutpāda; environmental ethics