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In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is an enlightenment (bodhi) being (sattva).

Traditionally, a bodhisattva is anyone who, motivated by great compassion,


has generated bodhicitta, which is a spontaneous wish to attain Buddhahood
for the beneft of all sentient beings. According to Tibetan Buddhism, a
Bodhisattva is one of the four sublime states a human can achieve in life (the
others being an Arhat, Buddha, or ratye!abuddha.
he bodhisattva is a popular sub"ect in Buddhist art. #sage of the term
bodhisattva has evolved over time. In early Indian Buddhism, for e$ample,
the term bodhisattva was primarily used to refer specifcally to the Buddha in
his former lives. The %ata!as, which are the stories of his lives, depict the
various attempts of the bodhisattva to embrace &ualities li!e self'sacrifce
and morality
In Therav(da Buddhism
Bron)e statue of Avalo!ite*vara Bodhisattva. +ri ,an!a, ca. -./ 01
The term 2bodhisatta3 ((li language) was used by the Buddha in the (li
canon to refer to himself both in his previous lives and as a young man in his
current life, prior to his enlightenment, in the period during which he was
wor!ing towards his own liberation. 4hen, during his discourses, he recounts
his e$periences as a young aspirant, he regularly uses the phrase 24hen I
was an unenlightened bodhisatta5
In 6ahayana
There are a variety of di7erent conceptions of the nature of a bodhisattva in
6ah(y(na. According to some 6ah(y(na sources a bodhisattva is someone
on the path to full Buddhahood. 8thers spea! of bodhisattvas renouncing
Buddhahood. According to the 9un'b)ang bla'ma:i )hal'lung
There is a broad spectrum of opinion on the universality and method of
attainment of Buddhahood, depending on the +ha!yamuni Buddha:s
teachings that a school of Buddhism emphasi)es. The level to which this
manifestation re&uires ascetic practices varies from none at all to an absolute
re&uirement, dependent on doctrine. 6ahayana Buddhism emphasi)es the
Bodhisattva ideal instead of the Arhat.
The Tathagatagarba and Buddha'nature doctrines of 6ahayana Buddhist
consider Buddhahood to be a universal and innate property of absolute
wisdom. This wisdom is revealed in a person:s current lifetime through
Buddhist practice, without any specifc relin&uishment of pleasures or
2earthly desires3.
Buddhists do not consider +iddhartha ;autama to have been the only
Buddha. The ali 0anon refers to many previous ones (see ,ist of the <=
Buddhas), while the 6ahayana tradition additionally has many Buddhas of
celestial origin
0ause and 17ect
The 0oncept of 0ause and 17ect, or 0ausality, is a !ey concept in Therav(da,
and indeed, in Buddhism as a whole. This concept is e$pressed in several
ways, including the >our ?oble Truths, and most importantly, the aticca'
+amupp(da (dependent co'arising).
Abhidhamma in Therav(da canon di7erentiate between a root cause (@etu)
and facilitating cause (pacca). By the combined interaction of both these, an
e7ect is brought about. 8n top of this view, a logic is built and elaborated
whose most supple form can be seen in the aticca +amupp(da.
This concept is then used to &uestion the nature of su7ering and to elucidate
the way out of it, as e$pressed in the >our ?oble Truths. It is also employed in
several suttas to refute several philosophies, or any belief system that ta!es
a f$ed mindset, or absolute beliefs about the nature of reality.
By ta!ing away a cause, the result will also disappear. >rom this follows the
Buddhist path to end su7ering and e$istence in samsara.

All Buddhist traditions hold that a Buddha is fully awa!ened and has
completely purifed his mind of the three poisons of desire, aversion and
ignorance. A Buddha is no longer bound by +amsara, and has ended the
su7ering which unawa!ened people e$perience in life.
AB

C


Dams without responsibility
#ttara!hand has to ensure that the &uest for hydropower cannot come
without a responsibility to preserve a region that is limping bac! to life.
The devastation in #ttara!hand had already happened much before the
cataclysmic events of %une </AC. The unprecedented rainfall and Eoods and
loss of life drew attention to the alarming situation in a +tate !nown for its
pristine forests and rivers. It also drew attention belatedly to the 2bumper to
bumper3 dams in the mountains.
0onstruction on all dams in #ttara!hand was halted by the +upreme 0ourt in
August </AC and on its instructions, the 6inistry of 1nvironment and >orests
(6o1>) appointed an e$pert body which said that <C hydropower pro"ects out
of the <F it was as!ed to e$amine would have an irreversible impact on the
biodiversity of the Ala!nanda and Bhagirathi basins and should not be
constructed.
In 6ay, the +upreme 0ourt reiterated its orders stopping wor! on the <F
hydropower pro"ects e$amined by the body. 4hile all this amounts to shutting
the stable door after the horse has bolted, it is a measure of recognition of
the man'made destruction wrought by unplanned hydel power pro"ects in a
sensitive and fragile ecosystem.
1ndangering the ;anga
The body:s report said, 2The problem with the dams is their location in a high
or very high biodiversity value area, some of them at elevations above <,<//'
<,.// metres. These altitudes come in the paraglacial and glacial )ones and
in these )ones, the rivers are capable of mobili)ing tremendous amounts of
sediments, under intense rainfall conditions, from the moraine left behind in
the past by receding glaciers. In such situations, they cause havoc in the
vicinity of dams as witnessed at the Gishnuprayag barrage site and below
during the %une </AC disaster.3
The +tate of #ttara!hand is a part of the ;anga basin and rivers su7er from
several depradations apart from dams in high places, including e$tensive
pollution from untreated sewage. Despite huge amounts of money being
spent, plans to clean up the river have failed miserably. An IIT'led consortium
has been set up to prepare a master plan for the ?ational ;anga Hiver Basin
Authority (?;HBA), to restore its 2wholesomeness,3 as the e$tended
summary of a draft ;anga Hiver Basin 6anagement plan says. 0iting
anthropogenic activities, it says dams and barrages have snapped her
2longitudinal connectivity.3
4hile the recent ;anga 6anthan event in Delhi attracted more than its fair
share of sadhus, there were a few who spo!e against dams and said that they
were a threat to the river:s e$istence. But the focus was on !eeping the river
;anga 2aviral and nirmal3 (continuous and unpolluted Eow). Activists said
only cleaning up the river will not restore it. +ome pointed to the lac! of
studies of the entire river system and hydrological data which was a secret.
+ince the ;anga is glacier fed, the climate change impact in the @imalayan
ecosystem and on the receding ;angotri and other glaciers are also of
paramount importance.
In its report of 6arch </AC, the Inter'6inisterial ;roup (I6;) on Issues
Helating to Hiver ;anga says that the development of new hydro power
pro"ects has an impact on the environment, the ecology, the biodiversity,
both terrestrial and a&uatic, and economic and social life. 0rucially, it says
that in the upper reaches of the river I where the o$ygenating abilities of the
river are the highest I there are growing signs of contamination. This
suggests that even here, water withdrawal for hydroelectricity is endangering
the health of the ;anga. Implementation of the BJ hydro power pro"ects will
lead to =A per cent of the Bhagirathi and B. per cent of the Ala!nanda
getting a7ected. The I6; had considered the need to have portions of the
river free of hydro pro"ects and recommended that si$ rivers should be !ept
in pristine form.
0umulative impact
In the Ala!nanda and Bhagirathi basins, the report said that A- dams have
been commissioned with a total installed capacity of A,=.A 64. >ourteen
pro"ects of <,.C= 64 capacity are in di7erent stages of construction and CJ
pro"ects with an installed capacity of F,BFF 64 are in di7erent stages of
planning. The e$pert body report said that if all the F./ dams in the +tate are
completed, about <.< pro"ects will each have an installed capacity of .64 or
more. The vast ma"ority of them will divert rivers through tunnels to power
houses downstream. Their combined impact will a7ect the landscape of
#ttara!hand. The environment management plans of individual pro"ects do
not address the cumulative impacts of multiple pro"ects in a river valley.
4ith dams proposed on ma"or rivers for every </ to <. !ilometre stretch,
large fragments of these rivers could be left with minimal Eow as almost all
the river water is e$tracted for producing hydroelectricity, the body:s report
has said. rof. Havi 0hopra, chairperson of the body said that tunnelling is
also controversial and leads to damage with natural springs being diverted
and homes developing crac!s. The government has only loo!ed at the need
to generate power and not the impact on the environment. 8n feld visits, the
body noticed scarred landscapes, dry river beds and a complete
disappearance of riverine ecosystems due to submergence at e$isting and
under construction large hydropower pro"ects such as Tehri +tage I and
9oteshwar on the Bhagirathi basin and the +rinagar dam in the Ala!nanda
basin.
Deforestation
If all the dams are built, studies indicate a loss of biodiversity. A ?ational
1nvironmental 1ngineering Hesearch Institute (?11HI) report, &uoted by the
body, has highlighted the e7ect of the Tehri dam on the uni&ue self'purifying
ability of ;anga"al. It attributed this property to river sedimentsK data
indicated that the bloc!ing of sediments behind the Tehri dam diminished this
property.
1$tensive deforestation and diversion of forest land too has posed problems.
The body found that =/,=<B.JA hectares of forests have been diverted for
non'forest use in #ttara!hand since AJ=/. The diversion for hydropower
production is .,CA<.AA ha. 6ost of the diversion for roads and hydropower
has been in #ttar!ashi, Hudraprayag, 0hamoli and ithoragarh districts, the
areas most a7ected in the %une </AC disaster.
@earings
eople have been agitating against dams for years in the region, notably
Tehri. In </A/'AA, and for the frst time for any pro"ect, there were three
public hearings on the Devsari hydel pro"ect on the inder. After two hearings,
the third one was accepted by the government, according to Gimalbhai of the
6atu %ansangthan which led protests along with the Bhu'+wami +angharsh
+amiti. @e says this was the frst ma"or protest after the ones against Tehri. A
public hearing was also organised where many voiced their opposition to the
dams and on the need to !eep the undammed tributary of the ;anga that
way. @e referred to the pathetic status of the catchment area, and the lac! of
studies on water Eows and climate change impacts. The people displaced by
the Tehri dam are still to get land rights or basic amenities in their relocated
homes, he added.
,ocal people who have borne the brunt of the devastation due to dams and
Eoods and environmental groups have &uestioned the feasibility of dams. By
all accounts there is cause for concern as reEected in many reports. 1ven as
the #ttara!hand government proposes to approach the +upreme 0ourt in a
bid to get a green signal for dam construction, it must remember this. It has
to ensure that the &uest for hydropower cannot come without a responsibility
to preserve a region that is limping bac! to life after a calamity aggravated
by unplanned human interventions neither scientifcally assessed nor
endorsed by the people of the region
' +ee more atL httpLMMwww.$aam.inM</AFM/-Mdams'without'
responsibility.htmlNsthash.GH8+?-,a.dpuf

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