Buddhism and Spiritual Environmental

From the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution until today – in the space of about 250 years, human consumption has increasingly outstripped natural resources and seriously disrupted the order and balance of our Ecosystems. In response, Nature’s revenge has manifested on a large scale, impacting humanity through Ozone layer deterioration resulting in global warming; the deforestation of ancient forests causing erosion and the disruption of our air purification system; the over consumption of plastic materials generating CO2, SO2, contributing to the formation of acid rain; and water pollution which has increased the extinction of many aquatic species and coral reefs. At the beginning of 20th century, people started to become more aware of these wide-ranging changes to nature ecosystem and developed the new disciplines of Forest Civilization(1) and Environmental Ethics. Only in the last 60 years, people have started to realize the real importance of environmental protection. In 1992, The Earth Summit was held in Brazil(2) to address issues of natural resource protection and the preservation of biodiversity.
Buddhism and Environmental
Buddhism is a religion that places great emphasis on ecosystem integrity. Since the Six Dynasties, in addition to saving people from suffering through spreading the Dharma, Buddhist Temples have devoted themselves to efforts of environmental protection. This has included projects of reforestation, well digging, and the ecologically sensitive establishment of Buddhist Temples in forests and mountains. Living a tranquil and simple life in the forest helped Buddhist practitioners achieve inner peace, while at the same time working for the protection of animals living in the area. The Treatise on the Middle Way says: “All Dharma is produced of Causes and Conditions. ” (3)The Grouped-Discourse Agama says: “ all things appear and disappear because of the occurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else.”(4) In other words, we live in an interdependent world and we should appreciate our environment for its life sustaining qualities. Throughout history, there have been many examples of acts of environmental protection from Buddhist Masters. Such as Master Doyu raising money for the Yellow River flood and Master Mingyuan planting trees to answer Huaisi River flood.

These all show Buddhism's strong emphasis on the protection of our environment and ecosystems. Moreover, Amitabha Buddha made 48 vows, one of which is to establish his Pure Land. It is a land with ground made of gold and filled with water of eight excellent qualities. It also has seven rows of balustrades and seven rows of trees. It is an unpolluted land, populated only by enlightened Buddhist practitioners. This is a perfect model for our today’s urban residential development. Another two examples are Medicine Buddha’s Easter Pure Land and Maitreya Buddha’s Tusita Heaven. Therefore, traditionally, awareness of protecting the living environment has always been the basic law in Buddhism.
Buddhism and Spiritual Environmental

For thousands of years, Buddhism devoted itself to environmental protection, by putting emphasis not only on ecosystem protection, but also on internal environment protection (our mind). Nowadays, when People talk about environmental protection, they are more likely to focus on ecological issues such as ocean, air, forestation, nature resources etc. In fact, the question of how to protect our internal environment is the key issue. Humans are the foundation of a society and every existence arises from the function of our mind. The Avatamsaka-sutra says: “ just as a picture is drawn by an artist, just as an order is given by a King, we are mastered by our own mind. As a result, our six roots – eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and consciousness – react to the activities of our mind. Therefore, the human mind is as mysterious as the Universe and its power should not be ignored. To create a world free from pollution, let us start with the mind – the internal environment.

The natural realm includes animals, vegetation, and mineral resources. As a result of mankind’s unwholesome and greedy mind, for hundreds of years we have selfishly destroyed forests, animal species and natural resources. We have seriously disrupted the ecological balance. Today, our society always talks about life education. What is this? Apart from us, animals, vegetations, mountains and rivers are all the manifestation of a life. So is a flower, a blade of grass, a speck of dust, a pebble, even a table or a pair of shoes. Therefore, wasting resources is seen as another form of killing. Environmental work will not be successful until everyone understands the concept of life and learns to respect the living environment.

(一) Equality, Compassion and Co-existence

In the 49 years of the Buddha’s preaching, he taught us that all things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists alone; everything is in relation to everything else. These complex ties are the origin of the Universe, the so called Causes and Conditions of Life. In Buddhism, we call it Hetu-Pratyaya. Everything in the world belongs to the same family, regardless of the differences between stars, the moon, the sun, mountains, rivers or rare species of animals. Therefore, this Universe is a world of consummate ‘Co-existence’. Irrespective of the differences in our nationality, ethnicity and wealth, in the conception of universal oneness, things in their essential nature have no distinguishing marks and all possess Buddha Nature. Like rain watering all sentient beings and non-sentient things without discrimination, Buddha treats all as equal. Today, in a world menaced with violence, indifference and cruelty, extending compassion towards others is the best prescription for solving these problems. In a classical poem, it says: “If you want to know why there are calamities and wars in the world, just listen to the sounds of a slaughter house at midnight.” If we all develop the mind state of compassion and cultivate loving-kindness for all living beings without exception, everyone will be inseparable companions with everyone else and a harmonious Dharma World of human brotherhood will emerge. Every living thing in nature has to rely on the most basic life giving elements on this earth. Without sunshine, water and oxygen, we have cannot exist here. Therefore, we should respect all forms of life, cherishing them as our own and loving them as equals. Compassion, equality, respect, tolerance and co-existence are all prominent features of the Buddhist way of life. In order to build a harmonious and pure world, we should spread these ideologies further, extend them to all beings and work towards this end.

(二) Treasure of merit, thankfulness and protection of living beings

On the earth, animals, vegetations and natural resources constantly provide daily life necessities to humanity. They not only play a crucial role in sustaining ecosystem balance, but also devote themselves to supporting humanity's daily activities. This is the way of the Bodhisattva, a manifestation of Buddha nature through compassion, serenity, tranquillity, equality and freedom. Mountains and rivers have fostered humanity, provided us with the basic living materials and spiritually gifted us with the path to attain enlightenment, brightness and tranquillity. The Earth is like a mother to all of us and in return, we need to be thankful and show respect to all forms of life. Indeed, the first Buddhist precept is the admonition not to kill, but to cherish all life and protect our living environment. Accordingly, we will not disrupt, harm or kill any form of life – no matter whether they are sentient beings or non-sentient things. Therefore, the spirit of Great Compassion and loving-kindness is deeply embedded in the Buddhist Precepts.

The concept of protection not only applies to living species, but also to other non-living things. From mountains and rivers to daily groceries, they all fall into this category. For example, a dress can be normally worn for three or four years, with care, yet due to the influences of fast fashion and low prices, people consider it to be disposable and throw it away after three or four months. We call it wasteful consumption, and it is another way to slowly ‘kill’ our environment. By turning limited resources into unlimited waste, we are undoubtedly heading for self-destruction. Therefore we need to cherish everything that has been given by nature, pursue only what we really need and consume primarily renewable resources. It is important to embed the concept of environmental protection into our daily life. For example, reduce the use of plastic products; use solar and wind energy; reduce energy consumption and avoid using products that will generate ozone-depleting chemicals like Chlorofluorocarbons; reduce the consumption of disposable dishes and products made of wood. Buddhism has manifested Great Compassion through encouraging people to be vegetarians and cultivating loving-kindness to others. From a speck of dust to the whole Universe, Buddhism cherishes all sentient beings and non-sentient things with enlightenment. On the basis of cherishing resources, being thankful and extending Great Compassion to all, let us act together to save our world from destruction.

Over the last century, following the rapid development of technological production, people’s material living standards have been improved tremendously. Yet advanced technology does not bring people happiness, contentment or freedom. Conversely, the greedier people are getting, the unhappier they are and the more sinful deeds they are likely to commit. Humanity’s bottomless greed has encouraged it to try and satisfy unnecessary and excessive demands. Humans are becoming slaves of and blinded by their own greed. All of these factors contribute to the pollution of our natural environment. In sum, the root cause of everything originates from our own mind. In the Vimalakirti Nirdesa sutra, it says: “When the mind is pure and undefiled, any land or environment becomes a pure land.”(5) By all means, purification of humanity’s mind is more important than purification of the environment.

(三) Three fires , Atma-graha (Ego-Personality)

The mind, possessed by all people, is impermanent and has nothing that can be called an ego-personality. When three fires of the world – greed, anger and foolishness pollute our true mind, human woe follows. Greed arises when humanity begins to try and gratify its desire; anger arises when things and beings act contrary to one’s will; foolishness arises when humanity is unable to judge what correct conduct is. These three fires of the world originate from the conception of ‘me’ and ‘mine’. Humanity’s true mind is clouded by an ego-personality and is thus impervious to wisdom. People are blinded to their own Buddha-nature, thereby losing control of their polluted mind, resulting in an inability to distinguish between good and evil. Therefore, in order to establish a harmonious and pure world on the basis of co-existence and reciprocity, let us replace greed with generosity, hatred with compassion, jealousy with tolerance and anger with respect; let us move away from the ego-personality and seek the way of enlightenment. Let us concentrate our minds on His Name and bear in mind the necessity of constantly keeping one’s body, speech and mind pure. Let us do the right thing, say the right words and be in the right mind. Let us be compassionate, thankful, tolerant, respectful and indiscriminating.

Conclusion

For a long time, humanity has always considered everything from the standpoint of one person, one race and one place etc. As a result, people excessively exploit things that are useful and destroy anything that stand in their way. In effect, humanity is becoming the biggest victim of environmental deterioration.To build a harmonious and pure world, the spirit exemplified in Buddhism is the only way to achieve it. The concept of ‘Universal equality’ helps people to detach from their ego-personality. The concept of ‘Universal oneness’ highlights the coexistence of all things and beings. The concept of ‘Universal compassion’ helps us to stop killing and ‘to practice Dharma in real life’ as a path to attain enlightenment and guide our lost minds.

(1)Rabindranath Tagore(1861-1941)famous Poet in India,talk about1 Forest Civization in
1912
(2)1-12/6/1992 The UN Conference on Environment and
Development held at Rio De Janeiro in Barzil , 142 world Leaders attent the meeting
(3)Pranyamn;a-wastra-tika , Catvari arya-satyani
(4)Samyuktagama ,section 10,262
(5)The Vimalakirti-nirdewa Sutra , Buddha`s land First