tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38085367.post6212459266870970528..comments2024-03-19T09:06:21.507-04:00Comments on Irtiqa: To clone a tree...Salman Hameedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04327330113822656571noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38085367.post-68934954666245946692008-04-11T16:48:00.000-04:002008-04-11T16:48:00.000-04:00>Those very same historical and cultural qualities...>Those very same historical and cultural qualities may be what would allow a second Bodhi Tree to actually BE identical to the original. I think this is where reincarnation complicates the picture. If it weren't for the idea of reincarnation (which I might misunderstand), the environmental impact on phenotypic expression alone would prevent a cloned Bodhi Tree from being identical to the original<BR/><BR/>Sure, identical, but not the same. Basically, cultural and historical links will bring the question closer to the problems posed for "identity" in human cloning. Otherwise, this would not even be close due to environmental impact on phenotype expression. Am I interpreting you correctly?<BR/><BR/>By the way there is a science fiction idea somewhere in the tension between reincarnation and cloning - though probably centered around something more animated than a tree.Salman Hameedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04327330113822656571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38085367.post-50426240771346047322008-04-10T20:37:00.000-04:002008-04-10T20:37:00.000-04:00Sure, trees can have identity. In the case of the ...Sure, trees can have identity. In the case of the Bodhi Tree, it's an unusually complex one. The identity of most individual plants consists of genetic, phenotypic, spatiotemporal, and ecological qualities. But the Bodhi tree also has historical and cultural qualities that most individual plants lack.<BR/><BR/>Those very same historical and cultural qualities may be what would allow a second Bodhi Tree to actually BE identical to the original. I think this is where reincarnation complicates the picture. If it weren't for the idea of reincarnation (which I might misunderstand), the environmental impact on phenotypic expression alone would prevent a cloned Bodhi Tree from being identical to the original.<BR/><BR/>Buddhism, luckily for any clone of the Bodhi Tree, doesn't have the same idea of the soul as, say, hard-line Catholicism. For such Catholicism, the soul is an indivisible unit that does not return to earth upon the demise of its earthly vessel. Especially not in the form of another earthly vessel. But a reincarnation of the Bodhi Tree as the Bodhi Tree seems quite feasible under Buddhist lights.<BR/><BR/>Whether the "reincarnated" tree is expected to be identical, I have no idea. But I think that for the right kind of Buddhist, it could be.Donhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02733799054106197853noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38085367.post-19904848542443396762008-04-10T13:45:00.000-04:002008-04-10T13:45:00.000-04:00You have to complicate things, don't you? :)Thanks...You have to complicate things, don't you? :)<BR/><BR/>Thanks for pointing this out - this is a really interesting point! So do you think trees can have "identity"? Minus the concept of reincarnation, the cloned tree, I think, will not be the same as the original one. But then, is the "reincarnated" tree expected to be identical to the original one?Salman Hameedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04327330113822656571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38085367.post-89713324237051454182008-04-10T11:42:00.000-04:002008-04-10T11:42:00.000-04:00This is great! Still, I wonder if the same argumen...This is great! Still, I wonder if the same arguments that come up over whether a cloned animal can share the originals history will come up with this plant. I mean, if any plant has a shot at being the subject of interesting discussions about its history and consciousness, the Bodhi Tree is it. Will a cloned Bodhi Tree be the SAME as the original Bodhi Tree?<BR/><BR/>Maybe it'll be the reincarnated, genetically identical Bodhi Tree. Beliefs in reincarnation have got to blend strangely with attitudes towards cloning.Donhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02733799054106197853noreply@blogger.com