Buddhism and Ecology

Buddhism and Ecology

Ashin Jatila

 

Abstract

                                                                                                                          Buddhism believes that the actions people perform will be beneficial not just to themselves but to the whole world, including environment. Buddhists believe that our actions affect the planet in a harmful way because we are selfish and we crave things. In a religious way, by keeping the five precepts, taking the meditation and hearing the paritta in order to be kind the planet of the environment.

                                                                                                                          Keywords; Buddhism, greed, anger, selfish, and environmental problem.

 

Introduction.

 

 Natural disasters namely drought, forest fire, short of water, flooding and high temperature would cause effectively nowadays in the whole world. Global epidemic that are AIDS, cancer and various virus would find out in within the human's bodies. People would lose their lives because of various world wars. Some scientists and scholars say that the consequence of changing weather is due to the production of carbon dioxide and deforestation. They never say that these problems become break out because of mental rudeness, moral damage, less sympathy and lack of loving. They are used to research only the matter. They are merely materialists. That’s why they can mention about the weather changes in the basis of materialism. Moreover, weather’s changes can be seen in human’s mind with the help of Buddha’s teachings. National leaders are vital for their respective states. The better they rule, the better we can live safe and sound. Moral of masses becomes loose utterly true to the cause of damage leaders’ too. It is common to see the environmental damage because of human’s bad mindset and behaviors. Thus, let me portray of the environmental damage is the cause of moral damage true to the Buddha’s teachings in this article.

 

What is Buddhism?

 

Buddhism is called self- reliance. Appreciating like this is that our Buddha Gauttama is a sort of human who is holy and great for the Buddhists. As belong to a human, he can hardly create the earth and all beings. Next to it, he does not accept the cause that abilities of sending all beings to the celestial and hellish abodes by himself. That is why, he preached all beings to be self- sufficient for freedom from hell to reach heaven and attain Nibbana (final goal for Buddhists) without relying on others. The Buddha says, “there is nothing but self- reliance and it is a kind of blessing’’. It is obvious and clear. We can achieve whatever we want as a result of making efforts by ourselves. For instance, if we want to be successful in our lives, we will try hard as much as we can. If we not, nothing can become true and our thoughts and imagines may be turned into dreams only. They may be nonsense things and rubbish only in our mind. Likewise, if there is no short-cut and other ways. If we want to attain the enlightenment, self-reliance is the only course for it. No one can help us to attain the Nibbæna.

Therefore, our Buddha says, “self-reliance is a kind of blessing’’. Because of this, it will be more true if the Buddhism is named for “self – reliance”. In the perspective of the ecological region, our world is decorated with colorful things and beings by nature divine. They are high tall trees, sizeful mountains, density forests, animals, people and so on. They all would depend on one another to survive. They all have a sole wonder, though. It is none other things, “loving-kindness. Love dwells in each and every living-things in the world. On the other hand, there is a word, “love begets love, hate begets hate”. It means that we can make our days fills with loving- kindness and hatred both. In other words, if our heats are dwelled with all love for everything and everyone, we can begets the reactions from them. If not, we will get the hatred back from them. It is the cause that every action has reaction. True to the world “good deed has good result, bad deed bad result”. Some people do meritorious works such as donations in blood or in money and in kind and sharing their merits to all beings. In contrast, some do the demerits like breaking down five precepts and refraining from doing good deeds. After all, do good and good will come to us now and hereafter and do bad and bad will do so.

 

The law of kamma

In the language of the harvest, we will reap a good harvest if we sow good seeds. If we sow bad seeds, we will reap a bad harvest. For the Buddhists, it is called kamma. An impersonal, natural law that operates in accordance with our actions is called kamma. The Buddha says:

According to the seed that’s sown.

So is the fruit ye reap therefrom,

Doer of good will gather good,

Doer of evil, evil reaps.

Sown is the seed, and thou shalt taste.

The fruit thereof.[1]

According to the Buddhism, man is responsible for own happiness of unhappiness. He can create his own heaven or hell. He is creator of his own destiny, child of his past and parent of his future. This is one of the means how to live in life freely from cares.

Then there is a Dhamma pill to own a peaceful heart. We can cultivate it by meditation. Meditation is a kind of pill to fit our mind and matter. It can leave our anger, greed and ignorance out. This Dhamma pill provides us powerful mind to solve all kinds of stresses and adversities in our lives. It is a good way of cultivating good spirits. Mindfulness and meditation can help us cultivate a non-clinging awareness that will assist us greatly. But that is only half the practice. Life will constantly challenge you to look within and observe how your mind has been conditioned (by culture, family and society) to expect things to be a specific way. This is what is meant by “life is guru” meditation is helpful but we still have to apply that non-clinging awareness in every area of our lives, with family, work, friends, media, technology, etc. all relationships with our environment (out there) are where this clinging and expecting happens (in here)

As being to a human, we have greed, anger ignorance. We are sometimes lack of self- control in our daily routines. Sometimes, we are perfect. If we have contentment, we will never do the mistakes in our whole lives times. In fact, the issue of protecting the environment is basically an issue of our mind. The environment issue is a mental issue due to that our motivations base on the act of us. It is based on how we see things. In these days, our seeing is permeated by an insatiable desire. It has gotten to point that whatever we see, we want. We resemble a silk worm spinning its cocoon with material that comes from within itself. Our desire is just like this. It comes out from our mind, and then one desire gives rise to one after another in a continuous stream, so that our whole lives are overrun with desire. We live in a cocoon made of our constant craving. These days, whatever we go, we see advertisements in television, in the newspaper, in our mobiles, or walking down the street. All the time, these advertisements urge us to buy this or that, creating more desire and more greed. This leads to overuse of our limited resources and puts unsustainable pressure on the environment. This is why, it is crucial to work with our minds and take real responsibility for our desire. The actual cause of environmental degradation is human greed. We live in a time of great materialism that leaves no time for satisfaction. Companies promise that their products will change our lives and make happy. They almost pray that our desires will be huge while as Buddhists we are praying to reduce ours. All these ads are illusions. They are not based on facts. Believing them is like walking around with our eyes closed so we do not see the real situation. Our stomach has a natural limit, but our minds’ desire is so big that is could consume universe. Vividly, it is not possible to satisfy our desires by pursuing them.

Everything can be cut off from our mindset. We can put out the multiple temptations like fire with the Dhamma like water. Moreover, we can reduce and protect the dwindling of animals, population in the religious ways. It is used by the majority of the Buddhists, and the Himalayas. Focused on the Himalayan religions, including India, Nepal and Bhutan, the branches of khoryug promote protecting the environment and provide education to the nuns and monks so they can become leaders in their own communities, spreading the world about how to protect the planet and all its forms of life. Some people would do the various activities for the environment with the full of care by planting trees, protecting wild animals, and encouraging one another to be vegetarians. They would take that they have already avoided from killing the animals. Being the vegetarians, it is a suitable way out of ones to save the world in a religious way. 

 

The Buddha and environment

 

The environment was very close to the Buddha. He was born at lumbinø garden. His mother felt labour pain and catching a branch of a sæla tree, she gave birth to a baby, the Buddha. At the age of twenty-nine, the prince made himself an ascetic. For six years, he went to the river nerañjaræ, sat under the Bodhi tree and followed the middle path. At the age of thirty-five, he attained the enlightenment and became the Buddha under the Bodhi tree in the forest. The Buddha spent four weeks near the Bodhi tree after enlightenment. In the fifth week, he went to a the Ajapæla buagan tree and in the sixth week, the Buddha came to the rajæyatana tree. The Buddha chooses very nice places for meditation like trees and forest. After his enlightenment, the Buddha lived with environment, at trees, in cave and in apace. The Buddha uttered the first sermon to five disciples in the deer park at isipatana. He also preached most of his discourse under trees and in open space. He spent his time in the forest with wild animals. The Buddha said “Ramanøyæni aranni-[2] forests are delightful. The Buddha spent this first year at Deer park. Second, third fourth, seventeenth and twenty were at bamboo grove-ve¹uvana in rajagaha. Fifth was large forest –mahavaha. Sixth was Makala mountain. Eight was at forest. Tenth was pælileyaka grove with elephant. Thirteenth eighteenth and nineteenth were cetiya mountain and from twenty to forty-five, he spent his vassa jetavana and pubbærama. The Buddha passed away between sæla trees. Therefore, the Buddha love forests, trees and environment. The Buddha never like on destroying trees and forests. The Buddha said “yassa rukkhassa chayaya nisideya sayeyya va, na tassa sakham bhanceyya, mitta dubbo hi papako- even the branch of the tree must be cut where beneath the shade has ever sheltered, taken a rest or slept. It would be betrayer of his friend. So we should not destroy forests and trees. If we destroy environment, we will be bad friends for the environment.

 

Five precepts

 

The will of the human can make all beings and natural surrounding into the peace and destruction. Rulers and masses need to keep the five precepts uniformly to get the peaceful environment. The five precepts are-

1. Abstaining from killing any living beings
2. Abstaining from taking what is not given by the owner
3. Abstaining from committing sexual misconducts
4. Abstaining from telling lies and
5. Abstaining from taking and intoxicant or drug.[3]

When a person avoids killing animals, he controls his hatred and cultivates loving-kindness. When he avoids stealing, he controls his greed and cultivates his renunciation or non- attachment. When he avoids adultery, he controls his sensual lust and cultivates his contentment. When he avoids false hood, he cultivates truthful and when he avoids intoxicants, he cultivates mindfulness and maintains health physically and mentally. Thus can a Buddhist avoid unwholesome actions through the observance of the five precepts, enabling him to lead a blameless and faultless life.

Moreover, human’s mind has the will-power to maintain the environment and to destroy, too. Indeed, their normal mind is pure. The will which is eager to kill and keep the environment is not normal ones. They are the power permeated to the pure mind. Confidence or faith comes to appear when a person associates with five blessings or benefactors; the Buddha, the Dhamma, the order of the saµgha, the parents and the teachers. Basing on these, faith, generosity, loving-kindness and knowledge dwell in man. So people perform and talk one another in order to keep and maintain the environment. In contract, avarice, anger and delusion become collect in the mindset of the people when they make friends with evil ones. They kill and slay one another by dint of evil spirits. Tame animals and wild ones are killed in many ways. If the whole world will be spreaded with the people who fall from virtue and break the five precepts, the lives of the people become to be insecure like the animals. Then, environment will be unfair and ruined, as well. Developing the technology of communication in these days, it is easy to infect many diseases for a country after another. The environment becomes to ruin in the beginning, day by day. For the above reasons, the rulers and the masses, including the citizens in the world had better keep the five precepts. In this way, the earth will be loved and kept to us.

 

Moral Shame and Moral fear

 

looking after the earth not to be ruinous is called, "moral shame and moral fear". People are fearful of looking down on them when they do the misdeed. Admiration of human’s environment and natural surrounding, they have the sense of shame in their hearts. It can be called "moral shame". Fear of passing the law for punishments in the destructive moment of the environment is called "moral fear". The cause of suffering from all adversities and destroying the environment is as a result of lack of the moral shame and moral fear. In these days, people would do the ruinous cases such as cutting the trees, killing the animals and collapsing the mountains, forest decimation, shamelessly. Most of human beings would do the causes of destruction without keeping the earth. As a result of it, they would face and encounter with great harms. Our Lord Buddha preached that the people who make the nature divine is called “the evils”. People living in these days, have lack of the sense of sympathy and affection. they would conquer one another in the political and economical ways. Some big countries exploit natural resources from small ones. They would fetch the gorgeous trees form the forests. For the above reasons, people are facing with bad situation in the surrounding. There is no reason to wipe out for environment, having loving-kindness, mercy and sympathy. In fact, the main reason of environmental problem is the cause of mental chaos. Our Lord Buddha sermonized that all mental phenomena have mind as their forerunner; they have mind as their chief; they are mind-made. If one speaks or acts with an evil mind, suffering follows him just as the wheel follows the hoof-print of the ox that draws the cart. ‘mamopubba³gamæ dhammæ, manose¥¥æ manomayæ.

Manasæ ce padu¥¥ena bhæsati væ karoti væ,

Tato naµ dukkhamaneti cakkhaµva vahoto padaµ.[4]’

all mental phenomena have mind as their forerunner; they have mind as their chief; they are mind-made. If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness follows him like a shadow that never leave him. ‘mamopubba³gamæ dhammæ, manose¥¥æ manomayæ.

Manasæ ce pasannena bhæsati væ karoti væ,

Tato naµ sukkhamaneti chæyæya anapæyinø.[5]

That’s why each and every person should rinse the evil spirits out in the way of the Buddha’s teachings.

 

Conclusion

 

Nowadays, human’s character become lose under the influence of avarice, anger and delusion. They would do the misdeed more and more with the help of human right. Some national leaders also emphasize to get the authorization more than keeping the world. Having the population of doing bad deeds climate and natural disasters are harmful to all over the world. Everybody needs to keep five precepts to free from these disasters according to the Buddha’s teachings. Deforestation becomes more than before by dint of cutting the forest. Deforestation is mostly depending on the weather’s changes. We need to protect the hardships of deforestation.

 

References

 

1. Dhammapada Pæli, khuddakanikæya, Suttantapitaka, The Department for the Promotion and Propagation of the Sæsana,Yangon. Myanmar, 1999

 

1. Samyutanikæya, sagæthavaggapæ¹i,suttantapitaka The Department for the Promotion and Propagation of the Sæsana,Yangon. Myanmar, 1999

 

1. Silakkhandavagga Pæli, døganikæya, Suttantapi¥aka, The Department for the Promotion and Propagation of the Sæsana,Yangon. Myanmar, 19

 

1. Nærada Thera, A Manual of Abhidhamma, Union Ministry of Religious Affairs and Cultures, Yangon, Myanmar, 2016

 

1. Thittila, Ashin, Essential Themes of Buddhist Lectures, Department of Religious Affairs, Yangon, Myanmar, 2000

 

1. Walpola Rahula, what the Buddha taught, published in 1996.