Buddhism, The Environment And The Human Future
The Noble Eight Fold Path
The noble eight fold path consists of right vision, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right efforts, right mindfulness and right concentration. Treatises could be written on the relevance of each of these to the human future.On right livelihood for example Buddhist teaching requires every person to consider the manner in which the performance of his duties as employee would impact on society and the future. Employment, for example, in the armaments industry, which imperils the human future, would be a violation of the path of right livelihood. Any employment which causes damage to the environment such as manufacturing of toxic substances, felling of forests and the adverse exploitation of marine resources would also be a violation of right livelihood. Any employment which involves damage to the environment such as working in the nuclear industry, manufacturing toxic substances, and the exploitation and depletion of marine resources would be included in this prohibition.
The Buddhist Scriptures
The legal inquirer will find much material of a legally-oriented character in the Vinaya Pitaka. Meant as a code of discipline for monks, it defines offences with a degree of precision reminiscent of a modern criminal code, and contains many procedural provisions which embody the basic principles of fair trial. In dealing with the 227 rules of conduct laid down for Buddhist monks, it explains the principles underlying them, as well as the numerous exceptions which, as every lawyer knows, must attend the application of nearly every legal rule.
From this enormous range of literature numerous principles relevant to the human future can be extracted and elaborated:
Kutadanta Sutta Buddhism points out that it is the responsibility of the government to protect trees and other organic life. It is described in the Sutta on Buddhist polity named, ‘The Ten Duties of the King.’ (Dasarajadhamma). The Kutadanta Sutta points out that the government should take active measures to provide protection to flora and fauna.
Pupphavagga in Dhammapada, points out that one should live in the environment without causing any harm to it. It states: ‘As a bee that gathers honey from a flower and departs from it without injuring the flower or its colours or its fragrance, the sage dwells in his village.’
yathàpi bamaro puppaphaü - vaõõagandham aheñhayaü
paleti rasamàdàya - evaü gàme munã care.
The flower moreover ensures the continuity of the species and the bee in taking pollen does not interfere with nature’s design.
Suttanipata - This contains a further expression of goodwill towards all forms of life
“Whatever breathing creatures there may be
No matter whether they are frail or firm,
With none excepted be they long or big
Or middle-sized, or be they short or small
Or whether they are dwelling far or near
Existing or yet seeking to exist
May beings all be of a blissful heart.”
ye keci pànabhåtattã ...
Mahasukha Jataka contains a poetic description of the close interrelationship between the plant and animal kingdom.
Sakka: Whenever fruitful trees abound
A flock of hungry birds is found:
But should the trees all withered be.
Away at once the birds will flee.
Rejection of Anthropocentrism
Buddhism is completely averse to the notion that nature and all created things exist for the benefit of mankind. Mankind is part of the entire cosmic order but not in a position of dominance. Humans are just as much subject to the natural order of the universe as any other form of sentient existence. “Buddhism is ecocentric rather than anthropocentric since it views humans as an integral part of nature.
The interdependence of all things
Buddhism strongly emphasises the interdependence of all entities and events. There is no entity animate or inanimate and no event however trivial which is not in some way interconnected with every other. No entity or event is an island unto itself. The linkages and inter-linkages are all-pervasive and inextricable.
In the exposition of the Thai monk Buddhadasa Bikkhu, “the entire cosmos is a cooperative. The sun, the moon and the stars live together as a cooperative. The same is true for humans and animals, trees, and the earth. When we realise that the world is a mutual, interdependent, cooperative enterprise then we can build a noble environment.”
Coexistence rather than Conquest
The aim that Buddhism instils in every individual mind is emancipation from suffering. The route to that emancipation is not the pursuit of power and possessions but the very opposite – the rejection of the pursuit of those materialistic goals which are so greatly imperilling the human future.
Conquest of the natural environment, of other species or of other groups of the human family is hence the very reverse of the ideals which Buddhism teaches. Co-existence is vital and this requires a recognition and respect of those other species and groups and not an attempt at dominance.
State Duties towards the Environment
Buddhism specified certain basic virtues of rulers in the Dasa Raja Dharmaya. These included:
Generosity
Morality
Nonviolence
Friendliness
According to Cakkavattisihanada Sutta the ideal king is expected to protect not only people but quadrupeds and birds.
King Asoka’s 5th Pillar Edict stating that he in fact placed various species of wild animals under protection is one of the earliest recorded instances of a specific governmental policy of conservation.
Also, in Sri Lanka, edicts were issued that not a drop of water was to be permitted to flow into the sea without first serving the needs of agriculture. There were also royal edicts prohibiting the felling of virgin forests.
Ignorance as the Cause of Wrongdoing – the need for environmental education
Buddhism is very clear in its teaching that often the cause of wrongdoing is ignorance rather than wickedness or sin. The natural corollary of this, in the context of the environment, is the need for environmental education.
It consequently becomes the duty of those interested in the environment to spread knowledge regarding the damaging consequences of the environmental destruction we take for granted.
Practical Activism
Buddhism has been the inspiration in recent times for much practical work on environmental protection. It is often ranged against governments which seek to improve their economies by rapid “development” which often takes the form of damaging the environmental heritage. The practical movements Buddhism has inspired in several countries are of importance to the rest of the world.
To quote a recent review of this activity, “there has been a kind of Buddhist revolt against the deterioration of nature” in countries like Thailand.
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In the result Buddhism offers us a range of powerful concepts for the protection of the long-term future through such principles as interdependence, universalism, moderation, trusteeship, environmental protection, environmental education, sustainable development and a consciousness of the rights of future generations.
Buddhism’s infinite treasury of wisdom cannot any longer be neglected without damage to the human future.
End Notes
i. Samyutta Nikaya,L.Freur (ed.), 5 vols., London.PTS, 1884-1904, Vol. I,pp.70-76,80
ii. Anguttara Nikaya, R..Morris and E.Hardy (eds.) 5 Vols., PTS, 1885-1900, Vol.II,p.182; see also, O.Abeynayake, Fundamentals of Buddhist Polity;1996, Maha Thera Narada, The Buddha and His Teachings, pp.106-113
iii. Suttanipata, in the edition translated and edited by H.Oldenburg and R.Pischel (London, Pali Text Society, 1883), see V:143-52.
iv. Klas Sandell (ed.) Buddhist Perspectives on the Ecocrisis, Kandy, Sri Lanka Buddhist Publications Society, 1987.
v. See Huston Smith, The Religions of Man, Harper & Row, NY, 1858,p.121
Fenning, p.18.
vi. Gray, Dennis D.,1987. “Buddhism Being Used to Help Save Asia’s Environment”, Seeds of Peace 3(2):24-26
Dhammapada, verse (author’s translation).
- Asian Tribune -
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