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佛家
以上所提到的儒家的觀念，使我想到古代佛家的教導－－「地」是一位大菩薩，一位偉大的覺悟者，讓我們在她身上生存、成長，走向覺悟之道。這個生命－－「地」是我們的母親，她賦予我們生命，滋養我們；我們死後亦還歸於她。我們對她所負欠之愛與尊敬，亦與負欠我們的人身父母相同。「地」是所有靠她而活的眾生之母。既然眾生都和我們有相同的父母，他們就都是我們自己的兄弟姐妹，我們應該珍惜、尊敬他們，就如同珍惜、尊敬我們人類家庭的兄弟姐妹一樣。
1989年3月禪宗祖師、法界佛教總會創辦人，宣公上人訪問費城盤斗山的教友派中心。當時有人問他：「我們如何保護我們的生態和全球的環境？」他答：「人法地，地生萬物－－動物、植物及眾生。另一方面，地法天。古人說：『天覆我於上；地載於我下。』當北極圈的臭氧層被破壞，在那附近有大量輻射線。那就是人類破壞生態平衡與天地保護作用的案例。」
上人繼續說道：「天法自然，這兒『自然』的意思是內在的真，在所有現象之下。乃內在生命力，不增不減。你可以稱之為佛性，亦平等而普遍地在眾生之內。這不是說佛比眾生高一等，問題在於其是否有智慧。
佛已經返本還源；眾生卻為慾望所蔽，而失去其本有的智慧。」上人又說：「最根本的救治環境之道是返璞歸真，不爭、不自私、不貪、不妄語。」
「最根本的救治環境之道是返璞歸真，不爭、不自私、不貪、不妄語。」這什麼意思呢？當佛覺悟時說道：「奇哉！奇哉！奇哉！一切眾生皆有佛性，皆堪作佛，但以妄想執著而不能證得。」
佛說過使我們疏遠我們生命真源－－我們的覺性，唯一的原因就是我們污染的心和那些污染物－－自私、慾望、貪婪、生氣等等，使我們抓緊一些東西不放，而遠離我們本有的佛性。當我們在疏遠的情況時，我們就會以不自然的方式影響我們的世界，而遲早使自然環境的模式產生變形；這種變形就會造成污染與種種其他環境的問題。這就是使我們瞭解，如果追溯環境問題的原因夠深遠的話，將發現其源頭在於污染的心；心被煙霧所蔽，使本有清淨光明的自性及其普遍的互通性都不復可見。
你們有些人或者想著：「若在兩千五百年前，佛在世時就真的如此的話，那時污染的問題還小，為什麼現在問題這麼重大呢？」原因有些很明顯，有些就比較難找到。
其中一個很明顯的原因是人口爆增。想想看，人口爆增本身就是嚴重干擾和疏遠我們之心與世界自然模式的現象。記住，古道家之教導自然的狀態是少欲。當然人口爆增的問題是極為複雜的，但是當我們發現複雜和混亂時，即應返回最基本的原則。
另一重要的原因，或許不明顯而與因果及責任有關。耶穌說道：「你種什麼，就收成什麼。」亦是對佛家傳統眾所皆知的「因果報應」其作用之簡要的說明。佛家強調吾人之口業及身業是意念－－心中微細或非微細的習氣、慾望、想法－－的產物。如果我的意念是善良清淨的，我的所作所為也會是善良清淨的；如果我被污濁的心推動著，充滿自私自利的慾望、貪婪、憎恨、暴力，那我的言語和行動就會與我的內心一致。我們傾向於用心中有色及變形的透鏡去看這個世界及其眾生。混濁污染的心導引著混濁污染的行動，破壞與染污這個星球－－我們全體的母親，我們的家。
有解決方法嗎？
我們究竟怎樣才能同心協力確保我們的母親－－地球的連續不斷的活力與健康呢？清潔我們的巢窩呢？如果我以清澈純潔的心，無私的慈愛，以和平對待自身與世界，那我的言語及行動，自然而然地會促進地球及其生態系統的活力，而不需要我特別刻意或努力去做什麼了。
然而現代科學與科技，已經留下了我們對自身的所作所為的影響全然無知之後果。如果我們所作所為的因果，其歷程是極長遠複雜又糢糊時，那將使我們很難對我們所作所為的後果，接受正確的責任。我想這是另一個造成我們環境問題的主因。
在古代的世界，人們對其環境之作為，其大部份後果，都可以清楚地看到。而現代的世界，依靠精明地使用我們的知覺，卻仍嫌不足。例如臭氧層，我們就看不到；或者當我們用紙時，我們會看得到，甚至想得到那些樹或氧化劑及其他用於造紙過程的化學劑，倒人我們的河川嗎？或者當友人去買一個大漢堡包時，他們看不到牧牛是怎麼回事，牛吃什麼，糞便又都去哪兒造成污染了，當然他們沒有直接參與或看到牛被殘殺。很多小孩甚至不知道牛肉和牛奶是從牛而來；他們對於一連串因果的知識，僅限於他們個人所見，所經歷－－超級市場的塑膠包裝而已。因此在現在的世界，我們必須瞭解，要以一種新的，特別的努力，去注意我們所作所為的後果。
總之，我建議在處理污染和其他問題時，不論地區性的或全球性的，我們可以從剛剛所提到的古代的一些想法中受益。有三種觀念特別值得我們注意：
1．我們要特別注意我們的心和意念：即使我們認為原因是崇高的，如果我們在盛怒中去做，而不尊敬每個有關聯的人，那我們只會把事情弄得更糟。而且理所當然，暴行只會帶來更多的暴力。
2．我們所作所為的後果，其因果關係的知識應是我們行為的依據。無論相互之間的因果，是多麼糢糊與複雜；無論其影響是多麼久遠，在我們工作和日常的活動，必須特別地努力教育我們自己，我們的子女及社區人士，關於我們行為對環境的影響，並為之負起責任。我們不可以把責任推給後代。由上述討論所得的解決之道之一，是將我們的生活簡單化。
3．我們應增強瞭解我們和此星球所有生命間的因果，及根本的相互關係，並深深地尊敬我們的母親－－地球，及其年長之子女，所有是人或非人的兄弟姊妹。
我堅定地相信如果我們強調這三種辦法，自己以身作則，同時教育我們的子女，那我們就真能不僅在克服污染與環境惡化，而且在阻止社區的分裂並賦予活力，在尋覓我們自己生命意義和滿足上，有真正的進展。
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BUDDHISM
Those Confucian ideas that I have just mentioned bring to mind an ancient Buddhist teaching that the earth is a great enlightened being, a great Bodhisattva, who gives us a place to live on her body, to grow and to walk the path to enlightenment. This being, the earth, is our mother. She gives birth to us, nourishes us, and it is to her that we return at death. We owe her the same kind of love and respect that we should have for our human mothers. The earth is the mother of all the beings that live upon her. Since all of those beings have the same mother as we do, they are all our own brothers and sisters. We should cherish and respect them as we should the brothers and sisters of our own human nuclear family.
In March 1989, the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua, Chan Patriarch and founder of the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association, visited Pendle Hill, a Quaker center in Pennsylvania. When he was there, he was asked the question: "How do we protect our ecology and the global environment?" He replied,
People should model themselves after the earth. The earth produces the myriad things: animals, plants, and the teeming creatures. The earth [sometimes interpreted as the principle of vital energy], on the other hand, models itself after heaven [sometimes interpreted as the principle of spiritual energy]. It is said, 'Heaven covers me from above, while the earth sustains me from below.' A section of the ozone layer has been destroyed in Antarctica and there has been incredible radiation all around that area. That is a case of humans destroying the ecological equilibrium and the protective function of heaven and earth.
The Master went on to say:
Heaven goes on to model itself after nature. Here the meaning of 'nature' is the intrinsic truth that underlies all phenomena. As the eternal life-force, it neither increases nor decreases. You could call it the Buddha-nature, which is found equally and pervasively among all living beings. It is not the case that Buddhas are intrinsically higher than living beings. Rather, it is a question of whether one has wisdom or not.
The Buddha has returned to the source and recovered his original nature; living beings are covered over by desire and so have lost touch with their original wisdom. The ultimate way to rescue the environment is to return to a state of innocence and truth, and not to engage in fighting, selfishness, avarice, and deceit.
What does this mean? "The ultimate way to rescue the environment is to return to a state of innocence and truth, and not to engage in fighting, selfishness, avarice and deceit." At the time of his enlightenment the Buddha said:
How amazing! How amazing! How amazing! All living beings have the potential to become fully awakened. Only their polluted minds and their attachments keep them from doing so.
The Buddha was saying that the only reasons that we are alienated from the true source of our being, our enlightened nature, is that our minds are polluted and those pollutants–selfishness, desire, greed, anger, and so forth–cause us to cling to the very things that alienate us from our natural enlightened state of being. In our state of alienation, we then influence the world around us in unnatural ways, which sooner or later result in distortion of the natural patterns of the environment. That distortion then can cause pollution and other environmental problems. What this is telling us is, that if we trace the causes of environmental problems back far enough, we find at their source polluted minds, minds that are smogged over so that their original clear, pure, bright nature and their universal interconnectedness are no longer visible.
Some of you may be thinking: If this was the case at the time of the Buddha, over 2,500 years ago, when problems of pollution were relatively small, why are the problems now so immense? Some of the reasons are obvious, and some are more difficult to get at.
One of the obvious reasons is the population explosion. Think–the population explosion itself is a sign of severe disturbance and alienation from the natural patterns of our own minds and the world. Remember the ancient Taoist teaching that the natural state is one of few desires. Of course the problem of population is extremely complicated, but when we find complication and confusion, we need to return to basic principles.
Another important reason, which is perhaps not as obvious, has to do with causation and responsibility. Jesus' saying, "As ye sow, so shall ye reap," is also a succinct statement about the workings of cause and effect, or karma, as it is known in the Buddhist tradition. Buddhism emphasizes that our verbal and physical behavior is the outcome of our intentions–subtle or not-so-subtle mental habits, desires, and ideas. If my intentions are good and pure, my behavior will be good and pure. If I am motivated by a turbid mind, filled with selfish desires, greed, hatred, and violence, then my speech and actions will accord with what is in my mind. We do tend to see the world and its living beings through the tinted and distorted lenses of our own minds. Turbid and defiled minds lead to turbid and defiled actions, that destroy and pollute the planet that is mother and home to us all.
WHAT SOLUTIONS ARE THERE?
How then can we all work together to clean up our own nest and to insure the continued health and vitality of our mother the earth? If I am motivated by a mind that is clear and pure, a mind filled with selfless loving-compassion, a mind at peace with itself and the world, then my speech and actions will naturally, and without special effort or intention on my part, promote the vitality of the earth and its ecosystems.
However, one heritage of our modern scientific and technological world has been a widespread breakdown of awareness of the consequences of our actions. If the causal pathways of our actions are very long, complicated and obscure, then it is very difficult for us to take proper responsibility for the consequences of our actions. This, I think, is another major cause of our environmental problems.
In the ancient world, for the most part, people could see clearly the consequences of their own environmental actions. In the modern world, the astute use of our own senses is often not enough. For example, we cannot see ozone. Or when we use paper, do we see or even think about the trees or the dioxin and other chemicals that are used in the paper-making process and then are dumped into our waterways? Or when someone buys a Big Mac, they do not see what is happening when the cow is grazing, what it is eating, where the manure ends up, and of course they do not directly participate in, or even see, the killing of the cow. Many little children do not even know that beef and milk come from cows. Their knowledge of the causal chain stops with what they personally see and experience: the plastic packages in the supermarket. For them, beef and milk come from MacDonalds and the supermarket. Therefore, in the modern world we have to realize that paying attention to the consequences of our actions is going to take a new kind of special effort.
In conclusion I would like to suggest that in tackling pollution and other environmental problems, both locally and globally, we can benefit from some of the ancient ideas I have presented. In particular there are three notions that deserve our special attention:
1) We should pay special attention to the state of our own minds and our own intentions. Even if we feel that our cause is noble, if we act out of anger and without fundamental respect for everyone involved, we are only making matters worse. And, of course, violent action only begets more violence.
2) We should act out of knowledge of the causal consequences of our actions, no matter how obscure and complicated the causal interrelationships might be, and no matter how long term the effects might be. In our daily activities and in our jobs, we have to make a concerted effort to educate ourselves, our children and our communities about the environmental consequences of our actions and to take responsibility for them. We cannot in good faith shift responsibility to future generations. One result of this kind of analysis may be the simplifying of our lifestyles.
3) We should increase our awareness of our fundamental and causal interrelationship with all life on the planet. We should have profound respect for our mother earth and have profound respect also for our elders, all older children of mother earth, and for all our brothers and sisters, both human and non-human.
I firmly believe that, if we can emphasize these three approaches, both through own example and in the education of our children, then we can really begin to make some headway, not only in overcoming pollution and environmental degradation, but in revitalizing and stopping the fragmentation of our communities, and in finding real satisfaction and meaning in our own lives.
The End
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