In der Originalversion von Loy ist das Zitat auf S. 56
Zitat One of the most basic principles of Buddhism is interdependence,
but I
wonder if we realize what that implies about the original teach-
ings of
the Buddha. Interdependence means that nothing has any
“self-existence”
because everything is dependent upon other things,
which
are themselves dependent on other things, and so forth. All
things
originate and pass away according to causes and conditions.
Yet
Buddhism, we believe, originated in the unmediated experience
of
Shakyamuni Buddha, who became an “awakened one” when he
attained
nirvana under the Bodhi tree. Different Buddhist scriptures
describe
that experience in different ways, but for all Buddhist tra-
ditions
his enlightenment is the basic source of all Buddhist teach-
ings,
which unlike Hindu teachings do not rely upon anything else
such as
the ancient revealed texts of theVedas.
Although
we usually take the above account for granted, there is
a
problem with it.That enlightenment story, as usually told, amounts
to a
myth of self-origination—something Buddhism denies! If the
interdependence
of everything is true for everything, the truth of
Buddhism
could not have sprung up independently from all the other
spiritual
beliefs of the Buddha’s time and place (i.e., Iron-Age India),
without
any relationship to them. Instead, the teachings of Shakya-
muni
must be understood as a response to those other teachings, but
a
response that, inevitably, also presupposed many of the spiritual
beliefs
current
in that culture—for example, popular Indian notions of
karma
and rebirth, which were becoming widespread at that time.