Alienation and Suffering: Marxist and Buddhist Critiques and Alternatives on the Nature–Human (Society) Relationship

This paper critically examines the structural disconnection and suffering between human beings, nature, and society in capitalist systems through the concepts of alienation in Marxism and suffering (dukkha) in Buddhism, while proposing an alternative relational worldview. Marx identifies alienation as a structural issue inherent in capitalism, manifesting in the worker’s estrangement from their product, labor process, fellow humans, and human essence. This alienation extends to a metabolic rift between humans and nature, providing a foundational explanation for contemporary ecological crises. From an eco-socialist perspective, Marx’s theories are reinterpreted to connect the concept of natural alienation with the climate crisis, ultimately calling for a systemic transformation of capitalism. Conversely, Buddhism views suffering not merely as an individual psychological experience, but as a socio-structural phenomenon arising within a web of dependent co-arising (緣起論). The doctrine of the Four Noble Truths and the dependent co-arising understand the origins of suffering to be the