Buddhist notion of collective responsibility

1. Story of Ratnakar: The story addresses the following questions:

Who does really bear the result of the action of an individual? The individual herself or
others who are connected to the individual either directly or indirectly? In Indian karmic
worldview it was believed that individual is the sole bearer or reaper of the fruits of their
own actions. No individual will share the fruits of others action.
2. Buddha debunks the above idea of karma. Buddhism comes up with the idea that
action of an individual has some effects either good or bad upon entire community that
has to be borne by others in the future i.e., all succeeding generations. Buddhism
perceives the doctrine of karma is associated with collective rather than individual. Each
individual is responsible to the entire community for their actions.
3. Premise of the thesis of Buddha: We individual beings are connected to each being
through a universal network of the karma of humanity like in a garland each pearls are
connected with each other through a thread. In this network action of each individual
affects either positively or negatively to the entire community. To understand this point
we need to understand butterfly effect or chaos theory in physics. The most practical
example could be the case of Ajmal Kasab.
4. Universal suffering can be removed by incessant effort of all human beings and
developing compassionate attitude towards all living beings. Is it only Buddhism teaches
us to cultivate compassion and empathy towards living beings? No, it is a general
tendency of human being. Take the case of Stramayer and David Cash Jr. And Cat in the
bin.
5. Implication of this theory: It has global implication (e.g., global warming, environmental
problem, terrorism, racial conflicts etc.)

Reading:

1. http://www.zenthinking.net/blog/finding-peace-through-our-mutual-co-existence-and-inter
dependency
2. Material shared on gdrive on the title “Buddhist Collective Responsibility”