[MD] Whitehead & Buddhism

[Marsha]

Hi Ron,

I was thrilled to find it.  And yes, NOT nihilistic!!!   There are many 
important points being made in this paper.

Marsha



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ron Kulp" <RKulp at ebwalshinc.com>
To: <moq_discuss at moqtalk.org>
Sent: Friday, May 30, 2008 10:06 AM
Subject: Re: [MD] Whitehead & Buddhism


> Ron:
> What I particularly enjoyed was how it explained the MoQ like
> Concept of process in entity to give a well defined explanation
> Of why MoQ is NOT Nihlistic.
>
> "One of the core doctrines in Buddhist philosophy is that everything
> exists as a dependent arising (pratityasamutpada). According to the
> Buddha, all phenomena are dependent arisings, meaning not only that any
> process of arising is dependent upon prior causes and conditions, but
> also that the existence or establishment of any phenomenon is dependent
> upon other phenomena. In the Madhyamika ("Middle Way") school of
> Mahayana Buddhism, the concept of dependent arising is also taken to
> mean that everything exists in dependence upon its own parts, and that
> everything exists in dependence upon the thought which designates it. In
> all these cases, the notion of dependent arising implies that phenomena
> lack independent existence. This implication is often expressed in terms
> of the doctrine of emptiness (sunyata): all phenomena are empty of any
> independent, separate essence of their own. This lack of inherent
> existence, however, does not imply that things do not exist at all. They
> do exist-but their existence is a dependent, not an independent,
> existence. The doctrine of dependent arising, therefore, avoids the
> extremes of substantialism (i.e., things exists as independent, separate
> essences) and nihilism (i.e., things do not exist at all)."
>
>
> Good stuff Marsha,
>
>