Two years ago (in 2008), I was corresponding with Buzz Holling about his adaptive cycle and panarchical cross-scales dynamics [http://www.resalliance.org/].
I was asking him about the possibility to use the concept of karma when looking for a word that could in french translate the meaning of "remember" in the parnarchy cycle :
“This a little bit like a karma seed stored in the alaya granary, the eighth consciousness in Buddhism, where memory is only part of the sixth among the nine consciousnesses.
So as the adpative cycle sound like "the transience of all phenomena" where, in the Buddhist cosmology, this idea is described as the repeated cycles of formation, continuance, decline and disintegration, through which all planets and systems must pass, why not employing the buddhist concept of karma for this kind of control [instead of "remember]? Karma metaphore seems to have spread globaly enough to be meaningful nowadays.”
So as the adpative cycle sound like "the transience of all phenomena" where, in the Buddhist cosmology, this idea is described as the repeated cycles of formation, continuance, decline and disintegration, through which all planets and systems must pass, why not employing the buddhist concept of karma for this kind of control [instead of "remember]? Karma metaphore seems to have spread globaly enough to be meaningful nowadays.”
Buzz Holling answered :
“Your comments on Buddhism are fascinating, and relevant. I have long sensed a deep connection of the essence of panarchy and the adaptive cycle to elements of Buddhism. Karma sounds good as a metaphor. Why not use it.”
My reply to Buzz Holling was the following :
“As a buddhist myself, I was very pleased to discover the resalliance network, a few years ago, when gathering papers about adaptation to climate change for a pilote project in Guadeloupe (West French Indies), because the resilience concept is something essential for buddhists, that we call "human revolution".
For buddhist karma is not a fate, but a mean, in the sense karma can be change into mission. This human revolution is a kind of "revolt", at the individual scale, in order to employ karmic energy ("remember") toward value creation at the social scale.
This means that the three poisons (greed, anger and foolishness) are to be controlled at the individual level for they are the cause of three calamities at the ecosocial level (greed brings about famine, anger incites war, and foolishness leads to pestilence).
The ten states of life, in the budhist philosophy, explain how, by cultivating the most desirable state of your life (buddhahood), you reinforce you capacity to contribute positively even if external conditions are bad (you deepen the cup of your buddhahood, as an alternate state's resilience deepens its cup ). In the "Ten factors of life" concept, buddhists learn that even external conditions affect the life of an "Entity", his "Influence" rely on the "Internal cause" that this entity has the power to manifest. That's why we train, in an adaptive management way, our buddhahood through the confrontation with the adversities of life.
This human revolution, in the battlefield of our own life, is realised through engagement in the quest of peace (inner peace, peace with the earth and peace in the community of humankind), by praying, dialoguing, acting and studying, with the help of others, and the guidance of a master. This point, concerning the wisdom accumulated through live experiences, is another point that sounds closely with panarchy, in its emphasize on education and learning processes, and in creating transgenerationnal dynamic toward a sustainable world.
"Memento mori" (Remember that you are mortal) shall, for a buddhist point of vue, be the beginning of any teaching about life, and I feel that you were very inspired to emphasize it, through the Ω phase of the adaptive cycle.”
For buddhist karma is not a fate, but a mean, in the sense karma can be change into mission. This human revolution is a kind of "revolt", at the individual scale, in order to employ karmic energy ("remember") toward value creation at the social scale.
This means that the three poisons (greed, anger and foolishness) are to be controlled at the individual level for they are the cause of three calamities at the ecosocial level (greed brings about famine, anger incites war, and foolishness leads to pestilence).
The ten states of life, in the budhist philosophy, explain how, by cultivating the most desirable state of your life (buddhahood), you reinforce you capacity to contribute positively even if external conditions are bad (you deepen the cup of your buddhahood, as an alternate state's resilience deepens its cup ). In the "Ten factors of life" concept, buddhists learn that even external conditions affect the life of an "Entity", his "Influence" rely on the "Internal cause" that this entity has the power to manifest. That's why we train, in an adaptive management way, our buddhahood through the confrontation with the adversities of life.
This human revolution, in the battlefield of our own life, is realised through engagement in the quest of peace (inner peace, peace with the earth and peace in the community of humankind), by praying, dialoguing, acting and studying, with the help of others, and the guidance of a master. This point, concerning the wisdom accumulated through live experiences, is another point that sounds closely with panarchy, in its emphasize on education and learning processes, and in creating transgenerationnal dynamic toward a sustainable world.
"Memento mori" (Remember that you are mortal) shall, for a buddhist point of vue, be the beginning of any teaching about life, and I feel that you were very inspired to emphasize it, through the Ω phase of the adaptive cycle.”
Buzz Holling answered :
“I hope you do write a paper making these connections between Buddhism and panarchy/resilience. Perhaps Ecology and Society might accept it for publication in its Insight section.”
So I accepted the challenge to write a paper, and this blog is the beginning of the answer to this pledge.
I have began through gathering some sources of inspiration.
May I find the wisdom the achieve this goal.
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