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From Other Paths
Please note: Religious tolerance and interfaith dialogue have long been topics of discussion in Pagan circles. For many individuals, what they understand about other religions comes from their own background, experience or training. In this forum, articles will be offered by writers of other belief systems - some with similarities to Pagan thought, some with differences - in the hopes of increasing understanding and expanding the foundations of knowledge. In no way should it be construed that the content of these pieces reflect the personal beliefs of the staff of Goat and Candle; they are merely presented as educational tools.
Chris Pauling explains how a well known Buddhist teaching holds the key to environmental consciousness.
Buddhism has something fundamental to say on the environmental issue, because it addresses the basic human attitudes that lie at the heart of our planet's problems.
The root cause of our problems- personal and planetary-is our view of ourselves as separate, isolated individuals, walled off from the universe around us. This view leads us to see selfishness as necessary. It leads us to put narrow limits on what we see as our responsibility. And it leads us to live a life that is out of harmony with the universe, so that we suffer, and the world suffers with us.
But the Dharma tells us that this view of ourselves is mistaken. Our idea of separate selihood is a delusion, and a profoundly damaging delusion. We are all part of each other and the world we inhabit, and whenever we harm another being or injure our environment, what we are hurting is ourselves.
Buddhism exists to help us break out of the prison of isolated selihood and wake up to the true nature of reality-to help us become Enlightened. The Enlightened person is fully aware that everything in the universe is inter- connected, not just as an intellectual concept, but in every fibre of their being. Such a person will inevitably live in harmony with the world around them. They will no more willingly hurt another being or desecrate the environment-no matter how far away the damage takes place-than they will willingly hurt themselves. In a world of Enlightened beings there could be no environmental problem.
This is not to suggest that the answer to the world's problems is for everyone to become Enlightened-at least not immediately. Our problems are urgent, and something more practical is needed in the short term.
But Buddhism is above all a practical tradition. It recognizes that for most of us the state of 'Final, Unsurpassed Enlightenment' is still a long way off. And it offers us ways in which we can invite some degree of Enlightenment to take root in the midst of our delusion, gradually altering the way we think and feel, and-more important from a purely practical point of view-immediately changing the way we act, so that the effect we have on the world around us becomes more like that of an Enlightened
In the short term Buddhism helps us live a more harmonious life in two main ways. Firstly, it offers us a vision of what it means to be a human being that is very different from the one our society trains us to accept - a vision in which life is a spiritual quest rather than a fight for survival or material goods. Simply changing our image of ourselves in this way does not add up to Enlightenment, but it helps. We may not be able to transcend our egotism in one bound, but we can quite quickly refine our image of ourselves so that we judge our richness by what we are rather than by what we own or consume.
And this change is vital. The only real answer to our planet's problems is for all of us-all those who enjoy the affluent life-style of mainstream culture in the West-to own and consume much, much less. Our most important environmental problems are the result of the sheer level of economic activity in our societies. The greenhouse effect, for example, is mainly due to C- from the burning of coal, oil, and gas-the fuels that power our economic machine. We have no large-scale alternatives to these fuels except nuclear power, which is not an option many people will relish. The prosperity that we largely take for granted is based on making major changes to the composition of our planet's atmosphere, and hoping that future generations will find some way of dealing with the problems we cause.
But as long as we see ourselves as essentially material beings, judging the richness of our lives by our material 'standard of living', we will never willingly give up even a little of this prosperity. Before we can persuade people to let go of the myth of economic growth as the way to human happiness we need to put something in its place-something spiritual rather than physical.
As well as giving us a vision of what it means to be a human being that makes a return to a sustainable life-style possible, Buddhism also offers a set of practical guide-lines to help us live in concord with our surroundings. As a way of moving towards Enlightenment the Dharma encourages us to behave as though we were already Enlightened-as though we were already fully aware of the interconnectedness of all things in the universe, down to the very depths of our being. To help us do this it provides a set Enlightened being would behave, which Buddhists undertake to observe as training principles. We may not become fully Enlightened tomorrow, next week, or next year. But if we make the decision to work towards Enlightenment by living according to the Buddhist precepts, our behaviour will immediately become more like that of an Enlightened person, and our life will become more in harmony with our environment.
The first-and most important-of these training principles is to refrain from harming other living beings, and instead to engage in acts of loving-kindness. This precept is basic to the Buddhist approach to life, and it is also basic to any solution to the world's environmental problems. It encourages us to soften our usual antagonism towards what is foreign to ourselves, and instead develop an attitude of caring, nurturing concern for the world around us.
Traditionally the Dharma encourages us to cultivate this attitude mainly towards other sentient beings-human and animal-starting with those near to us, then extending our goodwill to the global and even cosmic plane. But loving-kindness does not confine itself even to what we normally recognize as sentient beings. It is a basic attitude of heart which expresses itself in our relationship with everything that lies outside the boundaries of the self. We express it by caring for and nurturing our friends, our colleagues, our garden, our local countryside, its wildlife-and our planet. It is an attitude that springs from a deep reverence for the entire universe, from realizing that the world we live in is an astonishing miracle, and from seeing every part of it as holy.
At the practical level this precept has one clear implication for our everyday behaviour which could have far-reaching effects: that we should be vegetarian. If we are trying to develop and express loving-kindness towards other beings-including animals-we might do well to start by doing them the favour of not eating them. And if enough people made this gesture of goodwill towards their fellow beings this would bring important environmental benefits.
It takes much more agricultural land to supply an individual's food needs through animal as compared to vegetable foods. If affluent Westerners opted for a vegetarian diet this would release an enormous amount of grain to feed the less fortunate. It would reduce the pressure to develop wilderness regions like the Amazon rain-forests. It would mean that land now used for agriculture could be farmed less intensively, or even returned to the wild. It would mean less chemical fertilizers polluting our waters, less greenhouse C02 released from the energy-intensive manufacture of nitrates, and less herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides sprayed on our land. To limit ourselves to a vegetarian diet is one of the most significant contributions we can make to solving our planet's problems.
The second of the Buddhist training principles asks us to refrain from taking A taste of the good life? anything which is not freely given to us, and instead to cultivate and express an attitude of open-handed generosity. Taking the not-given covers not only outright theft but all forms of exploitation. It includes all use of power- political, economic, or personal-from which we get benefits at the expense of others.
The first and second precepts go hand in hand. To the extent that our basic response to our environment is not one of cherishing and caring, it is usually one of antagonism and exploitation, in which we feel justified in using whatever lies outside the boundaries of the self for our own purposes, simply because it is within our power to do so.
One of the most shockingly graphic examples of this combination of antagonism and exploitation is the slaughter of whales for profit. Today whaling seems like a throwback to an older, grosser, more brutal vision of mankind-but a vision which still lingers, and still exerts its effects. Much of human history is a story of violent exploitation, in which groups and individuals have competed to exercise their power, using subtle methods when these would suffice, using bloody violence when all else failed. Of course we have moved on. Today most of us find it unacceptable to use violence to enforce our wishes-at least where human beings are concerned. Now we play the game by more civilized rules. But taking the not-given still largely underlies our political and economic systems.
It is this attitude which leads people to destroy a rain-forest for their own benefit, stealing it from the people and animals who already live there because they have no power to resist. It is this attitude which leads people to feel justified in exploiting animals for economic ends, often in ways which are horribly cruel, because they are more intelligent than their victims. It is this attitude which leads businesses and governments to discharge poisons into oceans which-if they belong to anybody-belong to all the beings on our planet, and especially to those that live in them.
The use of power is so much a part of our history that to many people the suggestion that we should cease to take the not-given seems too radical to be taken seriously. And it is radical. It asks us to make a clean break with our bloody past, and move on to another level of consciousness. It asks us to take the next step in our evolution.
We take this step as individuals- societies are an expression of the individuals that make them up. One way we can do this is to practise the opposite of exploitation, generosity. If we really care about our environment we will have many opportunities to be generous. A return to a sustainable way of life will mean sacrifices-real sacrifices, that hurt. But we can approach this gradually. We might start by going without that second car, or trading down the first car for a smaller, more economical model. We might give away a larger proportion of our income to a worthwhile cause. We might give up a job for an organization which we know harms the environment, and take a drop in income as a result.
We can also be more generous with our time. One of the personal bonuses of adopting a simpler life is that we need to spend less of our life earning a living. This leaves us with time and energy we can put to better us-perhaps working for a charity or pressure group, or helping to spread the Dharma, as well as just enjoying our precious human life.
Enjoying our precious human life is also what the third precept-to refrain from sexual misconduct, and instead cultivate stillness, simplicity, and contentment-is all about. The precept is not asking us to give up sex, it is asking us to be content with our present sexual situation, and not indulge in useless sexual craving.
Sexual desire can be seen as the epitome of all craving, but craving can also take many other forms-junk food, tobacco, alcohol, and all the many forms of 'entertainment', are just a few of the things it can latch on to. Craving is a treadmill that keeps us running so hard we never experience the real joy of life. It is this treadmill that drives the consumer society, and all the environmental damage it causes.
Overcoming craving and achieving contentment are two sides of a coin. We crave because we are not content. We are not content because we crave. Somehow we must break the circle. One way Buddhists do this is to take themselves away from the objects of their craving for a while, perhaps by going on solitary retreat, perhaps by attending a meditation retreat with other people. Often our immediate reaction to a much simpler life is a feeling of emptiness, boredom, and sadness. This is the feeling we are trying to hide by running on the treadmill. But usually this feeling passes surprisingly quickly, giving way to a sense of deep contentment, and a deep joy in simple, genuine things. Once experienced, this contentment is so much more enjoyable than our normal, hectic state of mind that we begin to see craving for the deadly trap it is, and even when we return to our normal life it loses much of its power.
Everyone with an interest in environmental issues should try this for them- selves. Learning to go beyond craving can be the key to a new, environmentally friendly way of life, a way of life in which we do not seek our pleasure from junk food in CFC-rich packaging or the latest consumer toys, but instead take delight in those things that will not cost the Earth-in friendship, community, and meaningful, craftsmanlike work; in a gentle appreciation of our planet's beauty; and in a sense of the sheer gladness of living.
The fourth precept is to refrain from false speech, and instead to cultivate truthful communication. It asks us to be honest-with others, and with ourselves. As human beings our capacity for self-deception is enormous. So is our capacity for laying blame at others' doors, while ignoring our own share of responsibility. But the world we live in is the manifestation of the motivations of everyone that lives in it. To understand its problems we need to understand these motivations-with sympathy-and to do this we need to start by understanding ourselves. Then can we begin to do something about our part of the problem, and help others do the same.
We need to be honest with ourselves about our own goals and priorities. If what we really hope for from life is a conventionally comfortable life-style we need to acknowledge this, without attaching blame.-Who would not prefer prosperity to the alternative? But we also need to be aware of the implications of such a life. And if we find that our underlying drives conflict with our ideals we need to admit this too, so that we can begin consciously to decide on our priorities in the light of what we know about ourselves. Then we can decide how far we can honestly put our ideals into practice, and make the hard choices between our immediate self-interest and what we believe in from a position of awareness.
This need for awareness is the principle behind the last of the five precepts, to refrain from clouding the mind with alcohol or other drugs, and instead to cultivate mindfulness. This advice against drinking often gets an unfavourable response from Westerners, partly because alcohol has become so much a part of our social life, and partly because of the joyless attitudes associated with the traditional temperance movement.
Most Buddhists-in the West at least-do not understand this precept to mean they should never drink. The point is to develop and maintain awareness. But reducing our alcohol consumption could have global-as well as personal- benefits. Alcohol is big business, and the industry it supports wastes resources which could be put to better use. In Britain, for example, a high proportion of the best grain-growing land is devoted to producing barley for the brewing industry.
But if the issue of drinking is import- ant, the wider issue of awareness is vital. One aspect of mindfulness is clear, calm, attention to the here-and-now. The development of this quality of mind is the key to going beyond boredom and beginning to enjoy the moment-by-moment act of living. It is the key to finding happiness within the simpler life that would make a sustainable economy possible.
Another aspect of mindfulness is constant awareness of our purpose in being on this planet, and of the ideals that guide our actions. Everything we do has wider consequences, but it takes effort to stay aware of this fact. It takes effort to be aware that every time we use a car rather than a bicycle or public transport we are contributing to the greenhouse effect. It takes effort to be aware every time we eat meat that we are condoning cruelty, and putting another nail in the coffin of the Earth's rain-forests. It takes effort to be aware every time we go shopping of the environmental damage caused by those not-strictly-necessary things we buy, and to consider whether we might be able to live without them.
It also takes a major effort of awareness to look beyond the humdrum routine of our lives to the great issues beyond, and to see that we ourselves have an important part to play in the saga of our age. We tend to think that heroic tasks are reserved for characters in fantasy novels. But the situation we face is just as dramatic and clear cut as any myth. The earth and mankind face catastrophe. To avert disaster we need to forge a new kind of society, and we ourselves need to become a new kind of people. This is the great task facing our generation. It will require heroes willing to rise above petty personal concerns and act from a much wider, more noble perspective. It will require courage, strength, sacrifice, and personal change. The temptation will always be to back away from the challenge and opt for comfort and security. But the fate of the world quite literally depends upon our response.
Reprinted with permission of the
Friends of the Western Buddhist Order
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