The continuation of Nature By Buddhist Thought and Wisdom

The continuation of Nature By Buddhist Thought and Wisdom

            The link between deforestation and the rise and fall of prior civilizations has been stated thus far. The previous examples show how civilizations lost there means to live by the reduction of natural resources. Although losing natural resources such as forests may be a critical link to the demise of a civilization, their may be something even more importantly lost in the process. More importantly, it is the loss of thought and wisdom  gained from human symbiosis with nature. This loss is the equivalent to Buddhist expression of the defilement of view (ken-joku). Rather than losing raw materials for the sustainability of civilization, losing the thought and wisdom from the relationship with nature may have significant meaning. We see this opposite outcome of the rise of a new civilization during or after the occurrence of severe climate change. That is, as long as a culture maintains the thought and wisdom learned from living with nature, poverty of material resources for human beings becomes a new opportunity or departure for revolutionizing civilization once again. Many examples of symbiosis between human beings and nature through thought and wisdom are found in history. For example, in Japan there are many regulations and maintenance protocols that stem from symbiosis with nature. Nomoto (1992) who advocates environmental ethnology found many examples in various places in Japan of historical tradition based on thought and wisdom gained from symbiosis nature. For example, there are proverbs and traditions to prevent over hunting and natural resource degradation. One such example is the proverb that explains the foolishness of cutting a horse chestnut tree and planting a new one. In other words, this proverb suggests it is foolish to cut the horse chestnut tree which has provided food until now and to assume that by planting a new one a harvest can be made in a short period of time. It takes three generations to obtain good fruit from the horse chest-nut tree and the proverb warns people to take good care of the trees. There is another tradition that says, “Leave the first and largest mushroom as a seed (Taneko) for future generations when you pick mushrooms.” This proverb suggests the largest mushroom will bear seeds for next year's harvest. Today, we generally venture into the forest to find the largest, most edible mushroom we can find. The thought and wisdom from these traditions appropriately suggests that it is critical to allow natural processes to unfold in time and that permission from nature is warranted. Another thought, “opening the mouth (Kuchiake)” is typically used to begin or open the hunting or fishing season. Nomoto (1992) points out that although the thought of “opening the mouth (Kuchiake)” directly aims at fairly distributing the resources of the mountain or sea among community members, there is also the thought of “praying for a good harvest and waiting for the blessing and timing of resources” at the basis of this tradition. In addition, there are concepts of animals being the “master (Nushi)” of a lake, pond and waterfall in the form of a large eel, a trout (Yamame) and a Dragon God (Ryujin), respectively. If human beings polluted the water of a pond or waterfall, the master (Nushi) left the ecosystem. And, when the master leaves, it is explained that the pond or waterfall will disappear leaving a village exhausted of fortune. This thought suggests that the “masters” were residents and keepers of the environment before people were allowed to live as part of the “masters” ecosystem. These analogies suggest that more important elements exist in nature than human beings alone. Thus, the ethics of the symbiotic relationship between people and nature revolves around the fact that people must not infringe on the habitation place of other living things. The thought of “sharing with other living things” is found in the slash and-burn-land cultures living in the tropical rain forests of Southeast Asia (Takaya, 1992). The slash-and-burn-land cultures believe that all living things contribute to all other living things in the environment, including forest gods and deities. The annual slash-and-burn-land process starts by a farmer determining a suitable location to begin cutting and burning an area of forest. Once the arable location is determined, the farmer announces his/her intentions to work in that particular forest by ordering the dwelling gods or insects to leave. Rice seeds are subsequently planted and a harvest term follows. The farmers care for the area of land as a living entity, as if it has a soul. If the farmers forget to properly care for the soul of the land, the soul will leave and the harvest will not bear fruit. Furthermore, there are protocols and a specific sequence of events associated with a harvest.

            The harvested rice load is first gathered, dressed with beautiful fabric and is then displayed on an alter in the best agricultural barn of the village, after which the ear of the rice is processed. The first batch of rice is cooked after the harvest is completely finished. Then, the specially cooked rice is offered to the gods, ancestors, dogs, birds and even insects. After the village people finally finish eating their own servings, they go into the field to burn in scents whereupon the altar in the barn is dismantled. Lastly, the villagers pay respect and gratitude to the forest from which the process began. The thought that humankind must not infringe on the habitation place of other living things is also seen in this example. Moreover, we can see fundamental ethics that equally share the harvest to other living things and the land. On the continent of Africa there is a proverb describing intergenerational ethics that says, “We did not inherit the earth from our parents; we are merely borrowing it from our children” (Kenyan Proverb; Hoite, 1992). There are many similar traditions and proverbs found between civilizations that have common occupations such as hunting, gathering, fishing or slash-and-burn-land farming. That is, those civilizations are in direct contact with nature and must live symbiotically with nature. All of these traditions and proverbs were produced from a close association with nature and created by an equality, fairness, humbleness and intergenerational ethics. Human beings and civilizations must understand the balanced order and circulation of the natural habitat. We must come to understand that we cannot survive without protecting and respecting our environment. Moreover, if we do not change our current ethical stance towards nature, we will be faced with a life and death struggle for existence.  Although the reasons which ancient civilizations were ruined may be directly correlated with a drain of resources as described previously, we can also conclude that a major reason for the demise of a particular civilization stems from the loss of thoughts and wisdom, as described earlier. Although the traditional taboo, “... you will be cursed if you go to that forest” is told in the epic poem “Gilgamesh,” the Gilgamesh king ignores the tradition and conquers God Funbaba of the forest. Ji-Xianlin (Xianlin, Zhongxin and Ikeda, 2002) pointed out the significance of the following three writings by Dr. Toynbee (Ikeda and Toynbee, 1975); first, “the non-duality of life and its environment (Esho-funi)” of Buddhism is a similar concept to the view of Greece and Rome before Christianity; second, the evolution of Judea monotheism was the beginning of a conscious invasion to the concepts of “the non-duality of life and its environment (Esho-funi),” which was a common concept to human beings; third, as a result human beings were separated from nature and the natural environment was divested to holy retention. These are interesting revelations to therelationship between the rise and fall of civilization and deforestation. Another important factor for the birth of any thought and wisdom from nature is that the region or environment must be lush and rich with nature. Although it may be obvious that such thought and wisdom are born where nature is rich, not much thought is given to traditions after the environment is depredated. Then, why do such traditions evolve while nature is rich? We can conclude that traditions are the result of constant observation and management; i.e., always observing the state of nature and immediately adopting measures to counter the balance of degrading effects. It is also because people are always dependent on nature and must fulfill their knowledge to slight changes in nature. Slight changes in nature effect the development of wisdom. Therefore, the various wisdoms and artifices for maintaining nature are produced.

HU/PL09/007

ven. poddiwala Atthadassi

university of kelaniya

sri lanka