Environmental Ethics of Buddhism

International Journal of Environmental Science and Development, Vol. 11, No. 3, March 2020 Environmental Ethics of Buddhism Oyuna V. Dorzhigushaeva and Aryana V. Kiplyuks can help to overcome the gap between actions and their Abstract—The article deals with the importance of the moral consequences. The law of karma states that all our actions, potential of Buddhist culture for the formation of ecological words and thoughts form the conditions of our existence in stereotypes of modern human behavior. Rituals, rites and the future: each of us experiences the consequences of what customs of environmental importance, and the main he thought, said and did in the past. Thus, the law of karma philosophical categories of Buddhist ecological ethics that influenced the attitude to nature in the Baikal region are encourages a person to take responsibility for his current life considered. The basic provisions of the ecological ethics of as well as all the future ones. Buddhism, in particular, such concepts as Karma – the What is the mechanism of the law of karma? In popular expression of human environmental responsibility, Ahimsa - the understanding, each act has ethical value; actions committed principle of nonviolence, Bodhichitta – kindness and by an individual in relation to other creatures return to him compassion for all living beings. The special value of these back in the next life. Karma is to some extent fatal as no one concepts lies in the fact that they have already had a beneficial effect on the mentality and ethical culture of the peoples of can escape the consequences of their own actions, but at the many countries, softening the mores and instilling respect for same time it is assumed that everyone can consciously create the Environment. better conditions for their future life. In this sense, an individual forms his own karma. Here you can see the Index Terms—Environmental ethics, human environmental potential way out of a critical situation, including the responsibility, ethical culture, Buddhism, moral, ecological environmental one. The 14th Dalai Lama says in his sermon: traditions, religious ethics, basic concepts. “I, as a Buddhist monk, think that believing in laws of karma is very useful in everyday life. If you believe that there is a connection between the action and the result, you will I. INTRODUCTION become more attentive to the consequences produced by your The environmental problem is global, not only because it actions in your own life and the lives of other people” [2]. poses risks to the humanity, but also because its solution In the Abhidharmakosa system, karma is the current requires significant universal effort. It is a challenge to the arrangement of dharmas, which, according to the law of humanity in general and each individual person in particular. conditioning (pratītyasamutpāda), affects the location of The initially inherent sense of unity between man and nature dharmas in subsequent moments. Karma is divided into takes on deep moral meaning. Today it becomes more and mental, bodily and verbal. Since actions and words are first more important to awaken in people a sense of responsibility born in consciousness, consciousness is considered to be the for the life of other living beings, a sense of involvement into main formative factor. Thought is the creator of both personal everything that happens on Earth. destiny and the fate of the whole world, that is why moral In most cases the environmental problems arise not degradation of society entails the physical degradation of the because of some villains who seek to destroy the planet. The world. As the 14th Dalai Lama says, a spiritual man is the one situation is much more complicated. The division of labor who participates in a joint effort to save the Earth [3]. and subsequent alienation of man led to a gap between the Geshe Jampa Thinley identifies four characteristics of actions of people and the consequences of these actions. This karma. gap occurred on motivational level. Modern technology 1) The certainty of karma means the following: what reason extends the possibilities of our activities in time and space, you create, so the result will you get. When you create and even highly specialized science is not able to calculate all negative karma, it is impossible to get a good result. This the consequences of people’s activities. The Dhammapada is the quality of karma. You must understand that if you says: “Until evil does not ripen, the fool considers it to be harm others, you cannot achieve happiness ... This law sweet like honey. When the evil ripens, then the fool will never change, because it is a law of nature [4]. abandons to grief” [1]. 2) There cannot occur phenomena with no reasons coming from a certain moment. “If you take positive actions, you should not worry about the future – you will have 100% II. RESULTS positive results” [5]. The law of karma. The understanding of the law of karma 3) “The reason you created does not disappear” [6]. 4) Multiplication. Any action has a lot of consequences, just Manuscript received August 25, 2019; revised January 6, 2020. This work as circles on water from a thrown stone. By planting one was supported in part by RSF, project №19-18-00412 seed, you can get many apples and trees in future. At the O. V. Dorzhigushaeva is with the Department of Philosophy, History and same time, a bad deed can give a lot of bad results. Cultural Studies, East-Siberia State University of Technology and Management, Ulan-Ude, 670013, Russia (e-mail: [email protected]). The role of the avijnäpti element in the law of karma is of A. V. Kiplyuks is with the Department of International Law, Buryat State extreme interest. This element gives moral meaning to University, Ulan-Ude, 670000, Russia (e-mail: [email protected]). doi: 10.18178/ijesd.2020.11.3.1243 154 International Journal of Environmental Science and Development, Vol. 11, No. 3, March 2020 actions, gestures, and words. Different people can perform implementation. the same action with different goals and for different reasons. In the twentieth century, the movement for an ethical The avijnäpti element takes into account the ethical value of attitude towards animals began to gain strength. Its each act and adjusts its karmic consequences. For example, it theoretical justification was made by the great humanist of neutralizes the consequences of good deeds which were our times, Dr. Albert Schweitzer. Schweitzer created a based on reward, etc. universal ethics, according to which the ethical attitude of The law of karma differs from the doctrine of retribution in man to animals was completing the duty of man to the world. other religions, it transfers the burden of responsibility for “Until we include animals in our common circle of one’s destiny as well as the fate of the world onto the well-being, there will be no peace in the world.” In his shoulders of people, each person in particular. The law of opinion, “ethics is the responsibility for everything that karma is impersonal; there is no one to judge and give lives.” punishment. It can be compared with the natural science law, Today we are faced with the need to recognize our moral no one can arbitrarily cancel, for example, the law of gravity. duty to nature. Environmental pollution primarily affects the In Buddhist eschatology, the degradation of the world is life of animals. The mass death of animals due to oil spills, due to the moral degradation of people, their frivolous radiation, pesticides, etc. has become familiar. attitude to their responsibilities to the world. In karikas Environmental reality dictates the need for strict legal and 99-102 of the Abhidharmakosa text, the destruction of the moral sanctions for the conservation of wild animals. In this world and the death of living beings are described. The time case, understanding of interrelationships between humans of the end are characterized by sharp reduction of human life and animals as full representatives of biota can be helpful. and catastrophic decline in the moral condition of people. How does Buddhist ethics solve this problem? Buddhists They are vicious, obsessed with immoral appeals, money do not deny that animals possess the ability of thinking and making and committed to false teachings. The causes of emotional sufferings. They believe that due to a number of death are war, famine and disease. Vasubandhu notes that circumstances animals simply do not have the conditions for these disasters will not be the same across continents. Listing the development of these qualities. The first sermon of the the types of destruction of the world - by fire, water and wind, Buddha, Dharmacakrapravartana Sutra, along with five Vasubandhu argues the possibility of destruction of atoms. ascetics was heard by two gazelles. Their image entered the Taking into consideration that Vasubandhu wrote mind and heart of the Buddhists so much that these gazelles Abhidharmakosa in the 5th century AD, we find this became a symbol of the first turn of the wheel of dharma. hypothesis very challenging for its time. In contrast to Among the animals most revered by Buddhists are: elephant, European orientation towards progressive development, the bull, lion, turtle, swan, peacock, as well as all animals Buddhist philosopher models downward-type sociogenesis representing the twelve-year cycle. as one of the possibilities for society development. As a The attitude of Buddhists towards animals can be even source of cosmogenesis, Vasubandhu indicates the totality of characterized as exalted. A Korean Zen master told his karmic traces of living beings’ activities. In the 19-20 monks: “From the time of plowing and sowing, until the food centuries the concept of common social karma was touches your mouth and saturates your body, it is not only the developed by Buryat Buddhist philosophers [7].

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