Eco-Buddhism in Eliot’s The Waste Land

ABSTRACT

During his studies, TS Eliot was inducted into several Buddhist schools, including the Kegon, True Word and Tendai schools. These three schools are called "descendants of the Madhyamika school" founded by Ngarjuna, an Indian Buddhist philosopher, in the 2nd century AD. It is generally accepted that Ngarjuna himself was the most important Buddhist philosopher after Siddhartha Gautama. He is also regarded as the leading exponent of the Mdhyamika ("Middle Way") school of thought. The theory of nyata, or emptiness as it is sometimes translated, was Ngrjuna primary method of imparting knowledge to his students. For followers of the Mahyayana school of Buddhism, nothing has a different character. Thus, there is no stable identity or intrinsic existence; rather, everything is and always will be in a state of impermanence, change and flux. This is the most basic foundation upon which Mahayana Buddhism rests. One can reach the level of enlightenment known as Buddhahood only by accepting the fact that all material things are empty. According to one canonical text, "True knowledge of Buddha-nature is devoid of any empirical content, and it is the discovery of that emptiness or nothingness, nyat, of true Buddha-nature which is to become the path to Nirvana." attained by one who has realized the emptiness or emptiness of true Buddha-nature.

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