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Clarke Scott is a fully ordained Buddhist monk trained in the Tibetan tradition. A student of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Clarke has received personal instructions—direct one-to-one instructions—on Madhyamaka philosophy and meditation from His Holiness. Recently Clarke moved to Tasmania to pursue a Ph.D in Buddhist philosophy from the University of Tasmania.

Cosmopolitanism and the Middle Path

Recently I’ve become interested in the Western philosophical notion of Cosmopolitanism. Cosmopolitanism is the concept of global citizenship, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single community, possibly based on a shared morality. This is contrasted with communitarian theories, in particular the ideologies of patriotism and nationalism¹.

Cosmopolitanism strikes me as something compatible with the Buddhist concept of universal responsibility or Bodhichitta. In fact, given the timing of Alexander the Great’s movement through Asian and the rise of Hellenic culture, I wonder what influence concepts such as universal responsibility had on the philosophy of ancient Greeks. I think this could be an interesting area of research.

Back to the topic at hand. Recently His Holiness the Dalai Lama had the following to say: “When I visited different countries in these years, I have not promoted or propagated Buddhism as said by many, but harmony, humanity and spirituality“ ².

The Dalai Lama does this while pointing out our differences and our similarities. We are all one family, he says, while making it clear that traditions must be respected. It seems to me that this idea maps closely to Cosmopolitan³ concepts such as: we are collectively responsible for each other, but at the same time, we are different and we are entitled to live accordingly. Being aware difference while remaining tolerant of difference.

In Cario June 2009 President Obama said: “Our history has always been the sum total of the choices made and the actions taken by each individual man and woman”⁴. We are connected by our actions and choices we make. The interdependence of humanity has never been more evident. Through tolerance via dialogue, different peoples can survive and perhaps even flourish. This is a good thing as it naturally reduces the tendency for “preemptive strikes”. Thus allowing for ones own human flourishing is occur.

While it is clear, navigating through the difficulties of difference may be tricky, the freedom to choose a different way of thinking (as long as it does not impact in a negative way on your neighbors) is the sign of a truly cosmopolitan culture. Global citizenship, I hope will continue to export the philosophy, ethos, and political theory of conversation, not declamation. Is it time to become a citizen of the cosmos?

Footnotes:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmopolitism [back]
2. http://www.dalailama.com/news.393.htm [back]
3. or at least my limited understanding of Cosmopolitanism [back]
4. http://chronicle.com/temp/reprint.php?id=k8frqsqmmhdd3brzcxq9ydg01993br4x [back]

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