164
that all souls are interdependent, which in Jain tradition bespeaks a most powerful
refrain: parasparopagraho jivanam
16
.
Jain principles eschew, in an infectious manner, the paradoxical presuppositions
that doom most optimism in a world of such biological upsets. If life is only suffering (Dukkha in Buddha’s Sanskrit) a key concept in Buddha’s Four Noble Truths, as
outlined in his bespoke earliest teachings merged over subsequent centuries by followers—The Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta—
17
then, naturally, the end of suffering is the liberation described as Nirvana. As with the Jain Digambara monks,
Buddhist tradition treats liberation as Nirvana from that suffering (in the Third
Noble Truth). But it is a Nirvana that is deemed to be vague, unlike the precise
Nirvana at death. A multiplicity of interpretations that have resulted from country to
country in differing styles of Buddhism add no small confusion to the ramifications,
for example, of Maitreya Buddhism, in which an enlightened Buddhist disciple
(bodhisattva) returns to earth in the future to enlighten others and lead them toward
liberation.
Such eschatologies and teleologies have little relevancy at the moment of encounter in any hospital emergency room or out in the world where wounded beings are
everywhere struggling without surcease. Meditation and activist compulsions swirl
across consciousness at instantaneous velocities. Environmentalism is constantly
challenged with an altogether novel crisis. Priorities and imperatives daunt and chill
one’s emotional and neural infrastructures.
The desire to become a Digambara ascetic immediately topples into the realization that the human population explosion, with its horrid tallies of consumer destruction, remains out of control
18
.
16 See Environmental Meditation, by Michael Tobias, Crossing Press, Freedom, CA, 1993,
pp. 47–65; See also, Hermann Jacobi’s essay, “On Mahavira and His Predecessors,” in Indian
Antiquary, IX, pp. 158–163.
17 See Ajahn Sucitto. Turning the Wheel of Truth: Commentary on the Buddha’s First Teaching,
Shambhala Publishers, Vermont, 2010
18 See “World population stabilization unlikely this century,” Patrick Gerland, Adrian E. Raftery,
Hana Ševčíková, Nan Li, Danan Gu, Thomas Spoorenberg, Leontine Alkema, Bailey K. Fosdick,
Jennifer Chunn, Nevena Lalic, Guiomar Bay, Thomas Buettner, Gerhard K. Heilig, John Wilmoth
http://www.demographic-challenge.com/files/downloads/452fbf0a4300800ec6cc4af4315c11ca/
science-1257469-full.pdf, Accessed March 28, 2019; See also, “What if fertility decline is not
permanent? The need for an evolutionarily informed approach to understanding low fertility,”
Oskar Burger and John P. DeLong, The Royal Society Publishing, Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol
Sci, 19, v.371(1692); 2016 Apr 19,PMC4822437, 20150157. https://doi.org/10.1098/
rstb.2015.0157, PMCID: PMC4822437, PMID: 27022084, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/
articles/PMC4822437/. Accessed March 28, 2019.
18 A Cave at Taranga
that all souls are interdependent, which in Jain tradition bespeaks a most powerful
refrain: parasparopagraho jivanam
16
.
Jain principles eschew, in an infectious manner, the paradoxical presuppositions
that doom most optimism in a world of such biological upsets. If life is only suffering (Dukkha in Buddha’s Sanskrit) a key concept in Buddha’s Four Noble Truths, as
outlined in his bespoke earliest teachings merged over subsequent centuries by followers—The Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta—
17
then, naturally, the end of suffering is the liberation described as Nirvana. As with the Jain Digambara monks,
Buddhist tradition treats liberation as Nirvana from that suffering (in the Third
Noble Truth). But it is a Nirvana that is deemed to be vague, unlike the precise
Nirvana at death. A multiplicity of interpretations that have resulted from country to
country in differing styles of Buddhism add no small confusion to the ramifications,
for example, of Maitreya Buddhism, in which an enlightened Buddhist disciple
(bodhisattva) returns to earth in the future to enlighten others and lead them toward
liberation.
Such eschatologies and teleologies have little relevancy at the moment of encounter in any hospital emergency room or out in the world where wounded beings are
everywhere struggling without surcease. Meditation and activist compulsions swirl
across consciousness at instantaneous velocities. Environmentalism is constantly
challenged with an altogether novel crisis. Priorities and imperatives daunt and chill
one’s emotional and neural infrastructures.
The desire to become a Digambara ascetic immediately topples into the realization that the human population explosion, with its horrid tallies of consumer destruction, remains out of control
18
.
16 See Environmental Meditation, by Michael Tobias, Crossing Press, Freedom, CA, 1993,
pp. 47–65; See also, Hermann Jacobi’s essay, “On Mahavira and His Predecessors,” in Indian
Antiquary, IX, pp. 158–163.
17 See Ajahn Sucitto. Turning the Wheel of Truth: Commentary on the Buddha’s First Teaching,
Shambhala Publishers, Vermont, 2010
18 See “World population stabilization unlikely this century,” Patrick Gerland, Adrian E. Raftery,
Hana Ševčíková, Nan Li, Danan Gu, Thomas Spoorenberg, Leontine Alkema, Bailey K. Fosdick,
Jennifer Chunn, Nevena Lalic, Guiomar Bay, Thomas Buettner, Gerhard K. Heilig, John Wilmoth
http://www.demographic-challenge.com/files/downloads/452fbf0a4300800ec6cc4af4315c11ca/
science-1257469-full.pdf, Accessed March 28, 2019; See also, “What if fertility decline is not
permanent? The need for an evolutionarily informed approach to understanding low fertility,”
Oskar Burger and John P. DeLong, The Royal Society Publishing, Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol
Sci, 19, v.371(1692); 2016 Apr 19,PMC4822437, 20150157. https://doi.org/10.1098/
rstb.2015.0157, PMCID: PMC4822437, PMID: 27022084, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/
articles/PMC4822437/. Accessed March 28, 2019.
18 A Cave at Taranga