Relational Readings of Myth as Ontology: 5 — Theravāda / Mahāyāna Buddhism and Taoic Thought

From Flowing Potential to Liberation: Relational Cuts in Theravāda, Mahāyāna, and Taoic Thought

This post situates Theravāda Buddhism, Mahāyāna Buddhism, and Taoic thought in a relational ontology framework. These traditions foreground dynamic potential, impermanence, and relational actualisation, offering rich perspectives on systems, instances, and construals. Whereas earlier Vedic/Hindu thought emphasised structured potential through ritual and dharma, these East Asian approaches foreground liberation, relational interdependence, and the effortless unfolding of phenomena.

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1. Theravāda Buddhism: The Flow of Conditioned Potential

(Shift: Liberation through insight into dependent origination)

• Reality is structured potential (saṃskāras, karmic patterns) that actualises in transient, perspectival phenomena.

• The Five Aggregates are instances: each cut through potential revealing impermanence and relational interdependence.

• Construal (mindful observation, meditation) is first-order, revealing phenomena as they appear, dissolving attachment to any fixed object.

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2. Mahāyāna Buddhism: Emptiness and the Relational Absolute

(Shift: Cosmic interpenetration and boundless potential)

• Systems are sunyata (emptiness): all phenomena are structured potentials for relational manifestation, never independent.

• Bodhisattva practice actualises universal relational potential, enacting compassion and insight across instances.

• Construal reveals interdependence of self, other, and cosmos, demonstrating instantiation as relational engagement rather than fixed property.

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3. Taoic Philosophy: Effortless Alignment with Flow

(Shift: Dao as system, natural phenomena as instantiations)

• The Dao is the overarching system of potential; patterns of nature and life are instances of its ongoing actualisation.

• Wu wei (non-forcing) highlights instantiation without contrivance, showing relational ontology as effortless and luminous.

• Construal emerges in observation, harmony, and alignment, making first-order experience intelligible without reification.

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4. Interconnections Across the Cluster

Tradition	Systemic Potential	Instance / Actualisation	Construal / Experience
Theravāda	Karmic and conditioned patterns	Five Aggregates, phenomenological cuts	Mindful observation, meditation
Mahāyāna	Emptiness / boundless potential	Bodhisattva acts, cosmic interpenetration	Insight into interdependence
Taoic	Dao / natural flow	Phenomena, life events, patterns in nature	Harmonious observation, effortless engagement

• All three approaches foreground relational potential actualised perspectivally.

• Liberation, insight, and harmony arise from proper instantiation and construal, not abstract system mastery.

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5. Liora Micro-Myth: The River of Mirrors

Liora wandered along a river whose surface reflected endless shifting possibilities.

Every step she took created a ripple, illuminating a scene of interconnected lives, mountains, and forests, each a fleeting instantiation of the river’s potential.

A gentle voice whispered:

“Each reflection is one possible cut through the river of being.

Touch, observe, move — and the world actualises anew.

Liberation lies not in holding the water, but in dancing with its flow.”

Liora realised that freedom, insight, and relational understanding arise from responsive, perspectival engagement with potential, not from grasping immutable structures.

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6. Three-Line Takeaway

• Theravāda, Mahāyāna, and Taoic thought foreground impermanence, interdependence, and flowing potential.

• Systems, instances, and construals interweave dynamically, showing relational ontology in lived experience.

• Insight, harmony, and liberation arise through perspectival actualisation, demonstrating instantiation as the key to understanding potential.