Karma : Just Nature

There is a piece at art in the Singapore Art Museum - an untitled axe by Tang Da Wu, which has a small branch sprouting from its wooden handle. It's a subtle and elegant statement I think - of the deep irony of how nature is used to destroy nature - as the axe is a tool with its handle made of wood, which is used to cut wood.

It hints of how humans warp nature unnaturally, turning it against itself. Of course, the real irony is, humans are part of nature too, even if they forget this and try to lord over it. And this abuse of nature eventually has its effects reflected upon humans themselves. Call it poetic justice if you will, it's really karma. It's really nature at work - something perfectly natural.

Related Article: Of Nature, Human-Nature, Buddha-Nature & “Hellboy II” -
http://buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=12,6888,0,0,1,0

Meat : Global Warming

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Buddhism : Green Awareness

The Buddha's Great Love of Nature



Trees

Historically, the Buddha realised enlightenment during his deep meditation under the Bodhi tree. Having awakened, he saw with perfect clarity, the interdependence of all things in the universe, including the intricate inter-relationship that humans have with nature. The whole of nature is seen as a great harmonious family of plants, animals, humans and all other beings great and small.

Out of gratefulness to the tree, for having sheltered him from the elements during his quest for the truth, the Buddha spent an entire week gazing at it with a profound sense of gratitude. With this act of devotion, mindfulness of the importance of nature was the first lesson that the Buddha taught. To commemorate this incident, a shrine was erected at Bodhgaya in India where he stood.

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Consumerism : Need Vs Want

Jan: Is it okay for me to buy this T-shirt?
San: If you need it, just buy it - there's really no need to ask me!
Jan: I guess I was hoping to hear the voice of conscience from you!
San: I hope you heard it loud and clear - from me - and yourself within!

Reduce, reuse, recycle -
Buy less and waste less;
Share more and save more.

Excess : Good Stuff

The cashier wanted to pass me a free reusable bag - yes, the eco-friendly kind. Of course, it has the logo of the shop on it - the bag's an ad too. I thought for a moment, before replying that I don't need it. I remarked to her that I have enough of these resusable bags already, and that to be truly eco-friendly, I should not take so many of them.

Now, isn't this a case of “too much” of a good thing becoming a bad thing? “Too much” is the key phrase. However, there can never be too much of doing this - “Reduce, reuse, recycle.” Too many forget to reduce consumption in the first place, while imagining recycling will save us all. Recycling is really the last resort. There should be less need to recycle through less consumption.

Using too many eco-friendly stuff when you should simply use less of any stuff is a case of over-consumption too. For a good introduction to the multiple interlinked ills of mindless consumption, please watch this nicely done educational yet entertaining video - www.storyofstuff.com

Evil : Little by Little

Think lightly not of evil,
‘It will not come to me’,
for by the falling of water drops
a water jar is filled.
The fool with evil fills himself,
he soaks up little by little.

- The Buddha (The Dhammapada)

Speaking of evil that happens to fill up “little by little”, I'm reminded of standby electricity that becomes energy wastage. In the light of the global climate crisis, such carbon footprints are a curse to the Earth's well-being - or rather, a curse to the well-being of the planet's living beings. A source says up to 5% or more of the expended energy in households seeps away as standby electricity. You can imagine this being much more in offices and such. If such wilfully neglected little yet steadily continual energy wastage is not one of the “little evils” of everyday life, what is? Do switch off unused electrical appliances all the way - now - at the socket. On the behalf of fellow Earthlings, thank you :-]

Joke : Toilet Paper

In April this year, it became somewhat a joke when Sheryl Crow mentioned this as a means to combat global warming - “I propose a limitation be put on how many squares of toilet paper can be used in any one sitting.” She later says it was meant to be a joke, but that she's glad it got people thinking and talking about the climate crisis.

Whether it was really meant as a joke or not, if you think carefully, it IS indeed one of the ways to cut wastage of energy and resources, even if it is a meagre effort... among many other green stuff we can and should do. As Stonepeace put it, “If every bit helps, help in every bit.” (By the way, I recycle the tiny circles of punched paper too.)

Think lightly not of evil,
‘It will not come to me’,
for by the falling of water drops, a water jar is filled.
The fool with evil fills himself,
he soaks up little by little.

Think lightly not of goodness,
‘It will not come to me’,
for by the falling of water drops, a water jar is filled.
The sage with goodness fills himself,
he soaks up little by little.

- Dhammapada (The Buddha)

Environmentalism : Spiritual & Physical

As your mind is your immediate environment,
if there is no spiritual environmentalism,
there is no physical environmentalism. - Stonepeace

While the lack of physical environmentalism arises from attachment, aversion and delusion, spiritual environmentalism arise from the eradication of the attachment, aversion and delusion in our minds - by transforming them to generosity, loving-kindness and wisdom.

Name : Change It

Simple green tip -
Stop calling the items you use “disposable” -
especially when they are actually reusable and recyclable.

When you stop calling stuff “disposable”
and call them “reusable” and “recyclable”.
chances are you will reduce, reuse and recycle more.

Change your thoughts and words,
and your actions change.
Don't throw away your blessings - extend them.

Green : Bad Faith

In the papers on 7 September 2007, there was news that the Mc D's in Japan offered its Big Mc at half of its usual price for those willing to “show” commitment to the environmental cause (e.g. global warming) - by checking 39 boxes on a form in the government's Environment Ministry's website. The heavy traffic crashed the website.

This is most ironic - because the main ingredient of Big Mc is beef and according to the 2006 report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), “Livestock's Long Shadow” - “The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems at every scale from local to global... The livestock sector is responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions measured in CO2 equivalent. This is a higher share than transport.”

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Favour : Save Energy

Don: Hey! Please switch off the light! It's bright enough already!
Jon: Hey! I turned it on as as I thought it wasn't bright enough. I was trying to do you a favour by turning it on.
Don: Thanks, but I am also trying to do you a favour by asking you to turn it off.

Let us do one another the favour -
of saving energy,
of saving the Earth,
of saving one another.

Irony : What Is?

There is irony only when you relate,
but it can also be ironical not to relate. - Stonepeace

An example of the above is an ad I saw on TV about a year ago. It was promoting a large supermarket chain. As an attempt to portray its seemingly ubiquitous nature in the country, its plastic bag was shown flying randomly in the wind.

Just a while before the ad aired, there was a complaint in the papers about one of that supermarket's cashiers trashing a plastic bag without second thought when an extra given to a customer was returned. There was also an article of plastic bags being the most common litter being blown hither and thither ubiquitously. Ironical to relate, and even more ironical not to relate... in the light of the importance of environmentalism.

Evil : Litter Bugs

Think lightly not of evil...
for by the falling of water drops a water jar is filled.
The fool with evil fills himself, he soaks up little by little. - Dhammapada

Why do some litter?

1. Because it is so clean, that a little litter won't be a big deal.
2. Because it is so dirty, that a little litter won't be a big deal.

Why do some not litter?

1. Because it is so clean, that a little litter would be a big deal.
2. Because it is so dirty, that a little litter would make it a bigger deal.

Why do you litter or not litter?

Green : Is Dharma

Living the Dharma Includes Being Green

It is incredibly bizarre to me when I come across short-sighted Buddhists who see environmentalism and vegetarianism as not being part of the Dharma. They express resistance to the green movement, thinking it is straying away from the Dharma, which is only about advancing towards enlightenment - period. Here is my simple reasoning on why the two issues are more integral to living the Dharma than it seems, in the course of advancing towards enlightenment...

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Nature : Stone Peace

Here are some verses from Maha-Kassapa the Arahant, who expresses appreciation for nature -

Those rocks delight me, the colour of blue clouds, beautiful, cool with water,
having pure streams, covered with Indagopaka insects (v.1063).
Being covered with flax flowers as the sky is covered with clouds,
full of flocks of various birds, those rocks delight me.
Not filled with householders, but resorted to by herds of deer,
full of flocks of various birds, those rocks delight me.
With clear water and wide crags, haunted by monkeys and deer,
covered with oozing moss, those rocks delight me.
There is not such pleasure from the five-fold music as there is
for someone with intent mind rightly having insight into Dhamma (vv.1068-71).

If the enlightened make peace with nature, we the unenlightened better start making deeper peace with it.