Sustainable Philosophy

On a philosophical level, many of the early Asian sages agreed on the topic of nature. Lao Tzu is the Father of Taoism and he wrote the Tao Te Ching, which is basically the power of virtue. The key to this philosophy is the “wu wei”, or non-action. He said that people are happiest when they live within nature, thus the implementation of metaphysics! Lao Tzu said that one cannot live on the surface, that one must manifest in nature (within patterns, rhythm, and unity).Buddha is another Asian sage that agrees with being one with nature. Buddha basically said that there are two types of suffering: avoidable and unavoidable. He said most suffering is avoidable. He came up with the 8-fold path, which is essentially a guide to happiness. He said that being compassionate and humane is key. Rule number four of the 8-fold path is to have good conduct which means to avoid violence. This goes hand-in-hand with rule five: have the right job. Buddha would say that in order to avoid violence, one cannot kill other beings. This is where animal ethics is able to tie in which Buddha’s philosophy. If humans followed or believed in this philosophy, slaughterhouses, factory farms, butchers, etc, could not exist because each of those facilities causes harm and violence to living beings. Buddha’s philosophy is basically to be humane and compassionate towards all things. If Buddha were alive today, he would be saddened by how much violence there is in the world. He would probably say, in accordance to animal ethics, that one cannot humanely kill something that does not want to die; therefore, the mass slaughtering of animals for consumption is an unnecessary act of violence. I find these two philosophers to be very relatable when it comes to sustainability. I think people have a lot to learn from one these two have to say about nature. Living within, and not above, nature is important because you're able to ground yourself in nature and be one with it.

#philosophy #buddha #buddhism #sustainability #lao tzu #suffering