Ecosystem and Morality

Ecosystem and Morality

Ashin Tejobhasa

 

1. Summary

This paper expresses the importance of morality which is crucial for conserving the environment in a perspective of Lord Buddha teaching. In this paper, the practices that the Buddhist have to follow, the relationship between these practices and ecology, how being keeping the good practices of Buddha teaching bring good weather and healthy environment, how the good practices of individual bring for the massive practices on conserving environment.

Objective of the paper

This paper aims to support in conserving environment which is important for the survival of all human being through practicing the five precepts of Buddha teaching.

Glossary: Practices, Environment, five precepts, human being, survival, peace

2. Introduction

It is obviously see that the world environment is degrading day by day. As a result of that people are facing different kinds of environmental related impacts: different types of disasters such as cyclone, earthquake, landslide, tsunami, pandemic, etc. Moreover, food scarcity and social conflicts are also some of the impacts of environmental degradation. In order to reduce these different kinds of disasters, it is crucial to start the practice of conserving our environment. While saying the conserving the environment it is a kind of saying to start the practice of protecting ourselves first. This paper highlight that how individual practicing and lead to massive environmental conservation and how it will directly lead to build the whole world to peace.

3. Ecosystem

People should know the nature of ecology and the environment they are living. Thus, they know the value of environment, how the nature of ecology and environment--t is helping them and so they know and will make effort to conserve the environment. Some people think that the earth and the environment are existing only for them. This is wrong assumption. Reality, human being is just a part of the nature. Although human is the highest intellectual living things on the earth, human cannot survive without the support other living and non-living things in the environment. Therefore, it is important to understand the inter-relation between human being and the nature.

Ecosystem is a community of organisms and their physical environment. All the living and non-living species in this ecosystem are interrelated each other.

Some ecologists and environmentalist defined ecosystem as a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment. These clusters exists in different parts of the world based on the climatic conditions. All the living things: plants and animals have inter-relation each other in relation with the food-chain. Nature makes the balance of these food chain between plants and animals in each ecosystem.

Therefore, each plants and animals which entitle in each ecosystem has their crucial roles in balancing the environment and confronting each other for their survival. However, human intervention and interaction on the ecosystem directly and/or indirectly destroy the nature of ecosystem and indirectly creating the different types of disasters. For instance, cutting down the trees more than enough makes deforestation, forest degradation and in relation with that different types of disasters: drought, landslide and cyclone, can occur. Moreover, it also creates the food scarcity for those: both people and animals, who rely on the forest for their survival. Therefore, we have to aware of not to destroy the nature of ecosystem through human intervention.

4. Five Precepts

Sila, Morality, means good practice. Good practice maintaining our body gestures, way of communication and mental in a good condition and good performing. A person who has Sila (good morality) can face any kinds of situation with a very calm mind and behavior. Good practice means all kinds good-deed can be see and perform in a person who has Sila, morality. Keeping our body gestures in a good and polite way with good morality to do a good deed is the actual meaning of good deeds.

Sila, morality, look like a head of the people and means noble, peace, put our behavior and mentality in a good mood, the situation of doing good deeds with free of bad-deeds and the practices of the noble person.

4.1 Morality

Naturally, everything happening in the world has all its related causes. These causes make the effects. Likewise, there are two specific reasons to keep good morality. These are feeling shaming of doing bad deeds and fear of doing bad-deeds. These getting a sense of fear and shameful can encourage of doing

Here the feeling of shameful does not mean the fear of standing up in front of the people and fear of people came to know of the bad things that we did. getting the sense of shameful since before doing the bad deeds with self-respecting. Likewise, FEAR does not mean the fear on stranger and the others. It means the FEAR of doing bad deeds with the respect of others.

These two reasons of keeping good morality: FEAR and SHAMEFUL is crucial for everyone while people trying to practice the five precepts of Buddha teaching. These two facts: FEAR and SHAMEFUL is also known as the two causes which keep the universe safe.

It is also a kind of destroying oneself if he/she did killing living beings, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying and intoxication. The main root of the tree is the crucial for the growth of the tree. Likewise, morality is also crucial for all human being.

5. The inter-relation of Ecosystem and Morality

It is important to take care of ourselves if we really want to conserve the nature. Taking care of ourselves is a kind of taking care of others as well. When we says taking care of ourselves means keeping aware of our actions, thoughts and words before we do any action. Thus, we take care of ourselves and which definitely directly and/or indirectly effect on our mother nature.

It is important to know that if people cannot aware of their thoughts, words and actions it will definitely lead to the ruined of both their living nature and the environment. The obvious example is the current issue of the environmental degradation. Since people cannot aware on the thoughts, words and actions and the effects of these they did what they want and are doing based on their desired, there are series of issues related with environmental degradation and climate change. People exploited the resources of the nature and that lead to environmental related issues such as cyclone, earthquake, tsunami, landslide, droughts and biodiversity degradation. Therefore, it is important for the people to take care of themselves on the effects of their words, thoughts and action on the nature.

Nature is the only places for all of us to survive. Therefore, conserving the environment/nature is a kind of taking care of our life as well. Raising a plant is a kind of raising our life and our future generation. Because a plant can give us shadow as well as food for our survival. This is also the teaching of our Lord Buddha.

6. Morality and Climate

The relation between the environment and the living things in the world is very important. Human beings are the most intelligent one among the living things and so human being can think and decide the effect of what they think and act. If people make an action only based on their desire without thinking the impact of their action, they would not be different with the animals.

The way of people behavior is solely depending on how they keep practice on the five precepts of Buddha teaching. In Buddha literacy, it is mentioned that there are living and non-living species in the nature and these all species rely on the environment for their survival as well. Therefore, destroying and exploiting the trees, forests and the nature is also destroying the life of all the species in nature. When people destroy or exploit the trees, forests and the nature the adverse effects will be back to the people. Our Lord Buddha teaches us that keeping practice of the five precepts is also one of the best way to take care of ourselves as well as the nature. And our Lord Buddha also teaches us that conserving nature is also one of the core responsibilities of the human being.

7. Morality and Environmental Degradation

Scientists and scholars said that the environmental degradation and climate change is the impacts of human action. However, it is rare to find the saying of the quality of environment depends on the morality of people. In fact, all the human action starts from their thoughts, mentality and desire. Without any desire and lead of their mentality the action will never become an action. Therefore, if people keep practice on five precepts can also care the nature in a good way and if people stay away of practicing the five precepts of Buddha teaching can lead to the degradation of the nature environment.

In a Buddha literacy, it is mentioned as follow: If the leaders of the country do not keep a good morality and keep practice in a good way their followers will also practice in a same way. The result can have a spillover effects and it reach to the community level and all the public will also follow the same practices of what their respective leaders are practicing. Therefore, the bad practices of the whole system would

happen and as a result the sun and the moon will also not follow their normal circular orbit. Thus, the climate change happened and would causes several environmental disasters. Therefore, the morality of the leader (King/Queen/President/Prime Minister) of the country is crucial for the country and conserving the nature environment.

8. Recommendations

As mentioned above, human being relies on the living and non-living species in the nature. Likewise the sustainability of the living and non-living species in nature environment is also relies on the human being. All are interconnected in each other.

Lord Buddha started his life under the tree in the forest and end his life in the forest as well. Our Lord Buddha reminded not to forget the gratitude of the nature. Buddha once said someone has sat under the tree, he/she should not break the branches of that tree and always remember the gratitude of the tree which give shadow to make him/her cold. If he/she did this person is a scoundrel.

9. Conclusion

This paper is mainly highlighting the value of morality and the five percepts of the Buddha literature on conserving ecosystem. There are lots of literatures which emphasize on the relationship between the materialism and the environmental conservation but it is very rare to find the relationship between the environmental conservation and the morality. As mentioned earlier, everything happen with a reason and the main sources is how people keep their way of action in a good way and how they keep practicing the five precepts of the Buddha teaching. In other word, keeping good morality in daily practice is crucial for everyone life as well as for the ecosystem. Therefore, keeping good morality through keep practicing five precepts of Buddha teaching can lead to get the inner peace (mental peace), success and sustainable ecosystem. To be concluded, people have to create the peaceful and sustainable green world through keeping good morality in their daily life.