[Buddha-l] "Nature" and eating meat

[Richard Nance]

Curt wrote:

> In Buddhist terms I would take "nature" to be everything that is subject
> to change - (which doesn't really leave much else, does it?).

That depends on whom you ask.  In Mahaayaana texts, a number of things
are presented as imperishable (ak.saya) and unchanging (avikaara) --
among them suchness (tathataa), emptiness ("suunyataa), the perfection
of insight (pranj~naapaaramitaa), empty space (aakaa"sa), the
dharmadhaatu, the dharmakaaya, the tathaagatagarbha, etc.  Jens
Braarvig has written at length on what he terms "the tradition of
imperishability in Buddhist thought," evinced in Mahaayaana suutras
such as the Ak.sayamatinirde"sa. If you can find a copy of his study
and translation of the text, it's definitely worth reading (he's a
superb philologist).

Braarvig, Jens. 1993. Ak.sayamatinirde"sasuutra, Volume II: The
Tradition of Imperishability in Buddhist Thought. Oslo: Solum Forlag.

(Volume I provides an excellent edition of the Tibetan text, but I
don't know whether you'd find that useful at all.)

Best wishes,

R. Nance