Buddhism vis--vis Environmental Crisis

Everyone who is more or less informed about the current affairs and global problems, is aware enough about the environmental crisis that the earth is going through. Almost every educated person on earth today is acquainted with the terms like green house effect, global warming, acid rain, radioactive fallout and so forth and their detrimental impact on our nature. Acknowledging the fact that our earth also needs some care, tenderly love, some fresh air to breath in, we started to celebrate the Earth days since last 38 years. Environmental activists and Big organi ations like !" have organi ed big conferences and summits like# $lobal %arming summits, &yoto 'ummit, 'tockholm (onference, !" Earth 'ummit to name a few. %e all know or at least are informed that we should protect our living environment, reduce the amount of garbage we produce, classify our refuse, and recycle as much as possible to protect the earth. )et despite all these efforts our production and emission of chemicals and pollutants like (*(s, (arbon mono+ide, (arbon dio+ide, 'ulfur dio+ide, "itrogen dio+ide and so forth have not reduced, rather their e+cessive production has led to the rapid consumption of natural resources, the speedy deterioration of the natural environment, and the e+tinction of a variety of species. ,ay in and day out everyone still consumes even larger amounts of natural resources, produces more refuse to pollute the earth, the air, the rivers and the oceans. -n .ay /001 the appalling documentary released about global warming, 2An -nconvenient 3ruth4 presented by former !nited 'tates 5ice 6resident, Al $ore, 7which won him a "obel 6eace 6ri e in /0089 revealed to public the formidable fact that if we don:t stop the current emission rate of carbon dio+ide 7one of the ma;or greenhouse gases9, the atmospheric temperature of the earth would increase so rapidly in ne+t few decades that it would be uninhabitable. -f this situation is not placed in check and reversed, then human<kind will be e+tinct not in ne+t thousands or hundreds of years but in ne+t couple of decades. 'o where does the problem lie= %hy it seems that the millions of dollars of funds spend in environmental researches and awareness campaigns are going in vein= %hy are we not aware enough to play our role in protecting our environment= %hy such horrifying facts and figures about the imminent catastrophe does not alarm the people over the world and motivate us to ;oin hand in hand to bring about a revolution that would ensure a safe world for our future generation to live in= %e all know that the solution of a problem owes much of its credit to a proper diagnosis. 3herefore, with these questions in mind we will try to figure out whether there is any diagnosis that may be made of an environmental crisis from the perspective of teachings of the Buddha. -f we find some kind of credible diagnosis, then we will again delve in a little bit into his teachings to figure out whether they have any specific remedy>ies to ameliorate this problem. 3he methodology of diagnosis Buddha gave to analy e any problem we come across in form of suffering is delineated in his fundamental teaching# the four noble truths. -t is also a theoretical background to point out the basic nature of the world we are engaged in. ?e introduces us into the nature of phenomenal world constituting the three elements# suffering, impermanence and selflessness.

The first noble truth urges us to acknowledge the e+istence of our suffering in first place. ?ere what we identify as suffering is the consequences that the up surging environmental problem is positing or likely to posit in imminent future. 'o when we first acknowledge the problem and have an idea about its nature, then only we are supposed to take ne+t step towards its solution# the quest to find a cause of the suffering. @eiterating the words of the Buddha, the great scholar "AgAr;una states in his te+t Bodhicitta bhavana that# self<cherishing attitude is the cause of every suffering we come across and hence the cause of crisis<the second noble truth. 3his self<cherishing, as Buddha says, comes from its root cause ignorance. Buddha says that there is no independent self as such which e+ists isolated and unaffected from its coe+isting environment. ?ence, this self is ;ust an idea which we pro;ect ignorantly upon the conditional aggregation of causes and condition in certain time and space. ?ere the conditional aggregation can be equated to what we call our 2self4 and the causes and condition 7though they might connote many different things9 to what we call the 2environment4 that provides us the opportunity to come into being and thrive in it. Buddhism views humanity as an integral part of this environment which we call nature. ?is physical and psychological well<being, his spiritual development and above all his ultimate happiness all are directly connected with the environment he lives in. 3he life of our teacher itself is the best e+ample to show us how important the nature is for the wholesome growth of an individual. ?is birth, his enlightenment, the first turning of the wheel of dharma, the .ah< AparinirvAa, all the important events in his life happened below a tree, in close pro+imity to the nature. 3his is not merely a coincidence, it is the implicit teaching he gave to us emphasi ing the crucial role the environment plays in a person:s overall life. But he didn:t stopped at that point. 'eemly, he has also acknowledged the role that men can play either in the preservation or in the annihilation of the nature. 3heir orientation towards one of these two role playing stances depends solely upon whether they understand or not a universal law that# 2Everything in this world is inter<dependent4. 3he well<being of environment is dependent upon our conduct and we are dependent upon the environment for our survival. 3his law of inter<dependence is called 2 Pratitya-Samutpada4, translated as dependent co<origination, which is the heart of Buddhist understanding. -t suggests that all things<ob;ect and beings<e+ist only interdependently, not independently. -t is an easily understandable theory that# 2this is like this, because that is like that4. %hen there is a balance and harmony in nature, then we people also benefit from this harmony. %hen nature is defiled the people living on it also ultimately suffer. "egative consequences arise when cultures alienate themselves from nature, when people feel separate from and become aggressive towards natural system. %hen we abuse nature, we abuse ourselves. Buddhist ethics follow from this basic understanding. 3his law of dependent co<origination in nature has been corroborated by an atmospheric scientist Bames Covelock while observing the self<regulating, constantly changing atmosphere of the Earth. ?e, in his $aia 3heory, hypothesi ed that the earth is a homeostatic living organism that coordinates its vital systems to compensate for threatening environmental changes. 3he theory maintains that Earth is an interrelated system in which living things, together with Earth:s surface and atmosphere, evolve as a single entity. *urther, Covelock argues, this system

functions to make the planet habitable for life. ?owever, if we don:t acknowledge this fact of our e+istence in inter<dependence with the environment and ignorantly grasp at the egocentric view of ourselves in relation to the nature and do not be aware of our responsibility towards it, then nature, as stated by Covelock, also has its own harsher way to balance the equilibrium too. 'pending almost all of his life in close connection with the nature Buddha must have reali e already this aspect of reality twenty<five centuries ago. 3herefore, we find him delineating the rules for the monks, so that they might not only acknowledge the kindness that .other "ature has showed upon them, but also abstain them from harming her environment. ?e was so very concerned about protecting the natural environment, that he considered damaging of a living plant as a breakage of a monk vow. 3he 6ali term for living plants is bhtagma, which literally means the 2home of a being4. And it seems that he really had considered plants as our home, our means of sustenance. Damaging here not only includes cutting, breaking, and cooking, as well as getting other people to perform these actions, but also includes actions like using herbicides to kill plants, uprooting a plant, engraving oneDs initials in a tree trunk, or even, picking flowers or leaves. 3his shows us e+plicitly how much foresighted Buddha was about these issues. Because of this foresightedness we find till the date, the forest monks as the best protectors of the ;ungles. "ot only was he concerned about the possible damage that could be done to the plants but was also concerned about keeping the water bodies unpolluted as well. 3herefore, he made two rules which prohibit a monk form defecating, urinating or spitting into water or onto green vegetation. All these ethical rules and vows would be meaningless in any spiritual path without compassion for our fellow sentient beings, let alone Buddhism, where compassion is the path which when united with wisdom, leads one towards supreme Enlightenment. (ompassion is the state of mind, which can empathi e with the suffering of others and then wish that they may be liberated from all kinds of suffering. -n .ahAyAna the greatest practice of all is the practice of compassion. -n Cankvtra sutra, a .ahAyAnic sutra, for those Bodhisattvas who engages in the practice of compassion, Buddha strictly forbades meat eating, e+plaining that # 2it is not easy to find a being who, in the endless age of samsara, has not been once our father or our mother, our brother or sister, or son or daughter, kinsmen, friend, or close companion. Eur kith and kin in one e+istence have donned a different shape in later lives and thus have become animalsF.-t is unfitting, it is wrong, for those engaged upon the Bodhisattva path to partake of meat of one:s own friends and close ones.4 *or the monks, especially in 5inaya, he has recommended to abstain from any type of killing. 3he CEA, study commissioned by !" and several ma;or countries in /001 already pointed out that the livestock sector is a ma;or player, responsible for G8H of greenhouse gas emissions, higher than transport. 3he teaching of Buddha on abstention from meat<eating and killing seems so pertinent where being vegetarian not only plays a crucial role in ethical level, but also in making a world a better place to live in, both for us and the beings that are slaughtered. ?owever, all these ethical rules cannot be applied abruptly without a basic framework of path in which we can practice them. Buddhism is known for the abundance of paths it can provide for different people, depending upon their mental proclivity and intellectual acuity. "evertheless, in general the Buddha delineated the entire path 7fourth noble truth9 which leads us towards the

cessation of suffering 7third noble truth9 in form of noble eight fold path. ?aving understood the inter<dependent nature phenomena and thus giving rise to the Bodhicitta, we can incorporate these eightfold path into our day to day life not only to attain the cessation of inner suffering, but to deal with the outer problems7and sufferings9 as well. ?ere we will try to apply them in our attempt to deal with the environmental problems and try to see if it is workable or not. right view# here can be defined as the genuine acknowledgement of the problems we are facing in relation to the environment and the proper understanding of the cause of the problem and its possible solution. right intention: can be understood as the commitment taken towards ameliorating the circumstance and changing our habitual tendencies that are detrimental to the environment or the nature. right speech: may include every verbal, written and printed form of speech, that might help disseminate the information required to make the people more and more aware about the environmental issues and make them feel responsible. right action: can incorporate all those activities that we can engage in to bring about a positive change in the environment, irrespective of its magnitude and abstaining from those activities that may deteriorate it. right livelihood: is that which e+cludes any livelihood that is harmful to our fellow sentient beings as well as to our environment. right effort: can be defined as a constant effort that aims towards attaining the goal of world free of any environmental crisis. right mindfulness: is one of the most important aspect of the path. -t will keep us mindful about our responsibilities, about what to engage in and what to avoid. 'o in general it will keep us reminding us about the path as a whole. right concentration: having brought about some change in one:s own activities when confidence and certainty develops in what one is engaging in is a right way. Ene now can concentrate to influence the broader mass of public to engage in the same activities. ?owever, these teachings and doctrine would obviously not work for us like miracles until and unless we put them into practice. GIth ,alai Cama comments in one of his interviews# Our ancestors viewed the earth as rich and bountiful, which it is. Many people in the past saw nature as inexhaustibly sustainable, which we now now is the case only if we care for it. !t is not difficult to forgive destruction in the past which resulted from ignorance. "oday, however, we have access to more information, and it is essential that we re#examine ethically what we have inherited, what we are responsible for and what we will pass on to coming generations. $learly this is a pivotal generation.%

'o, if we remain oblivious about the fact that we have the pivotal role to play in preserving our earth:s environment, and do not act promptly to do something then, a time may come when we will not even be able to regret for what we ignored. Ebviously, the challenges posed to us by the environmental problems today, is such a multi<faceted issue that spiritual means and ethics is only one area in a multi< disciplinary venture linked to solve it. But as spirituality and ethics is concerned with values, norms, beliefs and human psyche, they have the resources to play a ma;or role as a catalyst in changing the attitude of people towards nature and our relation with it. -f we succeed in doing this, it can deepen our relationship with nature through an understanding of inter<dependence, which would revert our present indifferent attitude towards it into a caring one. 3he dream of a heaven like world with abundance of greenery, bountiful of fresh water resources, food enough for everyone, and clean air to breath in, would then no longer remain a dream but would materiali e into reality that we can perceive in a wakeful state too.

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