Future Development of Environmental Care

A. Introduction

Before we discuss the topic, we need to clarify some related concepts regarding the similarity and difference between general and the Dharma view.

First of all, we have to clearly understand the significance of this world. According to The Great Modern Chinese Dictionary, it defines the word “world” in the following context-

1) is the sum of all things in nature and the human society
2) according to Dharma view – the universe
3) is make up of the earth
4) existing conditions prevailing in the society, social situation and practice
5) must be viewed from the various field of studies; scope; sphere and realm From the explanation above, one could conclude that the word “WORLD” include universe, a habitat place for all living things and the innermost world.

This definition is in accordance with the Buddhist view.According to Buddhism, there are two kinds of form of lives. These two forms are correlated and cannot be separated.One is the Physical world.This is the material world that we need to rely on for our daily material needs and wants. Therefore it includes the surrounding that living beings live in – the largest being the Universe, next is the Earth and its Surrounding, the lesser.The other is beings itself which consists of mind and body.

These two worlds appear to us as non-related with no co-relation and non inter-dependent. Because of our view of these two worlds, we are ignorance of the environment. As a result, we tend to neglect the environment and needless to say care for the environment. However, from Buddhist scriptures, we can find practical and strong evidence that these two worlds are mutually dependent that influence each other.

According to the Sutra, all actions arise from the mind. This shows the importance of mind as it is the source of all actions. If your thoughts are pure, then your actions will be pure. If your mind is corrupted then the actions that follow will be corrupted. If everyone’s mind is pure, the country will be free from impurities. This leads to two questions:
1. Why must everyone’s action be pure?
2. How to be pure in actions?

We need to understand the co-relationship between human and environment. The land which we live in has constantly been influencing our lifestyle, our thoughts and behaviour. The key theme of this article is “the necessity of recycling”.

B. Recycling according to Buddhism

The interest in recycling is only a recent development. People begin to be interested in recycling because of the deterioration of the earth environment, river pollution, severe drought, climate warming, melting of the ice glacier. People then begins to realize that unless they change, the damage to the environment can get worse, crop productivity will be affected and climate change will continue. Earth can become an unsuitable place for human to live . This is in line with Buddhist principle – a Bodhisattva ‘worries about the causes whilst human fears for the effect. When mankind suffers from the effect of the environmental damage, they start to care for the environment. The importance of caring for the environment has been recorded in the early Buddhist scriptures.

During Buddha’s time, Ven Maha Ananda (one of the great disciples of Buddha) was eaching to a group of lay women who filled with rejoice after listening to the sermon. In showing their gratitude they offered 500 pieces of monk robes to Ven Maha Ananda. When the King came to learn about the offering, he curiously asked Ven Maha Ananda how he was going to use the large quantity of robes. Ven Maha Ananda explained to the King that the old robes can be reused as pillow cases and the used pillow cases can be turned into rags and therefore there will be no wastage.

Buddha’s intention is clearly seen from the recycling of robes. All the Sangha’s belongings can be recycled and reused. According to Buddhist tradition, members of the Sangha are restricted to only 3 pieces of robes each.From our understanding of the Dharma, we can gain a number of salient points.
1) Precepts – from the layman’s Five precepts to Sangha precepts and even up to hisattva’s precepts, it strongly emphasizes refrain from killing. The first precept in Five precepts is “No
Killing”. In Buddhist practice, when a person embraces the teachings of the Buddha-harma, he or she will take a refuge with the Triple Gems and observe the Five precept. In taking the refuge, one is required to recite three times one’s sincere intention to seek refuge with the Triple Gems – namely the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, and to observe the Five precepts.In the early days, a Buddhist vows to observe the Five precepts at the same time when he or she took the refuge. Subsequently the Buddha allows the taking of precepts to be done separately. The Five precepts embody the preservation of lives which is of the upmost importance follow by saving of life and the last is liberation of lives. The Five precepts are exemplified by thoughts, actions and speech. Buddhists are expected to abide by the recepts.

The Buddhist precepts require monks and nuns to avoid any intentional damage the nature. Caring for the nature is everybody responsibility and duty.
2) The Truth of Dependent Origination in Buddhism expresses that beings and its urrounding are non-duality. The 4 Elements which form the body of a beings is of different with that of he physical world. Mind and Body arises and perishes together. The Mind and Body which is described in the chain of Dependent Origination are neither detached from each other nor inseparate. In such a way, the Mind and Body of Beings are mutually and interact with its outside world.

3) Regardless of the schools of thought in Mahayana Buddhism , be it The Only- ciousness, The Middle-Path or The Tatagatha-Nature, they all share the same origin and agree with each other’s Viewpoint .Henceforth we need to advocate recycling. Human’s actions are constantly affecting the environment and the lifestyle of human race.

C Development Trend

People now realize the damages brought about by the destruction to the environment and are seeking solutions. However most of the solutions are only temporary relief . The world should work towards finding permanent solutions.

Foremost, caring for environment should be part of a school curriculum for students. The curriculum should include the importance of environmental care and how to protect the ecosystem. Picking up rubbish from beaches and parks do not provide a permanent solution to environmental care. We should instead educate people not to simply dispose their waste so that our environment remains clean and green.We also need to find a solution to dispose plastic materials without further harming the environment.We need to design metal cans and glass bottles that are light and attractive for reuse. In the meantime we need to find ways to reuse and recycle the current cans and bottles.Protection of life is again an important topic. About 500 years after Buddha’s passing away, when Emperor Asoka became a Buddhist, constructed the Asoka pillars. On the fifth pillar, he reminded people to protect the life of all creatures and wild animals. Emperor Asoka can be considered as the first ruler to include protectionism into state’s policies. Protection of life is even more sacred than liberation of life. If we can refrain from capturing life creatures and taking life away, there is no need to incur money to liberate life. This is even a more conomical way.

Regardless how noble recycling work is, it is still inferior compare to teaching people to eliminate greed, ignorance and anger. This starts with purifying one’s mind. Today, the world’s suffering from greenhouse effect is the result of human greed and zealous for monetary gain. If we can reduce our desire, be less extravagant and be contented, the damage to the environment and deforestation will greatly ease. If we reduce our greed and resources can be diverted to help the poor. We should exercise self-control, use our wisdom and spend on research for the benefit of the mass as well as develop enterprises that bring benefits to others., Then happiness will prevail.

D Conclusion

For recycling to producing positive results, strong consciousness and strong determination must prevail. We need to strive to act on it and walk the talk.

Our recycling effort must bring benefit to everyone. We need to be determined and constantly exercise self check on our efforts so that we can rectify any shortcomings.
For the benefits and happiness of our beings, we must strive harder in our effort with recycling and environmental care.