The Ethic of Interdependence: Exploring Ethical Vegetarianism in the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra and Animal Rights in Maurice Jean Jacques Merleau-Ponty's Flesh Phenomenology

Several of the Mahāyāna scriptures, in particular Chapter Eight of the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, argue passionately in favour of vegetarianism. The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra is celebrated for its doctrine of the consciousness-only school, which posits that all external objects are simply projections of our consciousness. The sūtra meticulously delineates the various levels of individual consciousness, culminating in the tathāgata-garbha (ālāyavijnāna), which underpins one's profound awareness of and connection to the cosmos. The tathāgata-garbha doctrine can be interpreted as an expression of pratītya-samutpāda, also known as the doctrine of dependent co-arising. When beings purify their tathāgata-garbha and attain this enlightened state, they genuinely grasp the inherent relativity in human consciousness. Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of the body, or "flesh," illuminates our authentic existence in the world. He sees the flesh as the quintessential element from which everything emerges. His ontology of flesh emphasizes the significance of the physical body and proposes a paradigm for ethical relations and for the world's body to flourish. He aims to develop a comprehensive understanding of the world, others, himself, and their interrelations. His work offers a potentially significant contribution to ethical concerns, supporting contemporary efforts to gain new ontological insights into animal life. This study explores how the ethical vegetarianism presented in the sūtra, especially in its eighth chapter ("Do Not Eat Meat"), resonates with Merleau-Ponty's animal rights-inclined flesh phenomenology. It concludes that the religious teachings of the sūtra and Merleau-Ponty's flesh phenomenology provide a strong foundation for the aspiration of humanity to create a more ethical world for all species.

Keywords

tathāgata-garbha ； unborn ； ethical vegetarianism ； perception ； flesh ； inter-subjectivity

Parallel abstracts

以大乘「唯心」教義聞名的佛教經典《入楞伽經》其第八章強調素食主義。該經指出世界現象只是意識的表象，唯心所現。《入楞伽經》描述意識各層次的內涵，尤其指出一切眾生本自具有如來藏識，其為本自清淨的心性，等同宇宙法身。如來藏識亦具「緣起」的法義內涵，同時表達了共生相依的佛法教義。當修行覺悟者淨除煩惱後，了悟一切事物的相對性來自人類意識的分別作用，其如來藏識將恢復其本具的清淨性。二十世紀來自法國的梅洛－龐蒂其知覺現象學描述了人如何以身體的知覺來實現、經驗著世界。他認為肉身是一切事物產生的最基本元素。在本質上他的肉身知覺現象學是對色身存在的高度尊重，並形成肉身與世界的倫理關係。梅洛－龐蒂建構關於自己、他人與世界之間互為主體性相互依存的哲學思辨。梅洛－龐蒂的肉身哲思有如提出新的本體論，其對動物生命倫理關注的努力做出了相當的創見貢獻。本研究爬梳《入楞伽經》第八章〈斷食肉品〉提出的倫理素食主義，如何與梅洛－龐蒂倡導尊重動物權利的肉身哲學現象學呼應相扣。本研究成果將呈現來自東方古老的佛教教義與西方二十世紀現代知覺現象學哲學論述的對話，為人類開展更具倫理關係的相存相依世界。

Parallel keywords

如來藏識；無生；倫理素食主義；知覺；肉身；互為主體性

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