Buddhist attitude towards nature and animals

Buddhism does not assume a strict boundary between humans and animals. Buddhism offers a vision of radical inter-identification.  A vision where all living beings are identified with all other entities. This vision does not merely teach that we are all in this together, but that we all are this, “rising and falling as one living body”.  Thich Nhat Hanh  says that We are not separate from anyone or anything else.

“A human being is an animal, a part of nature.  But we single ourselves out from the rest of nature.  We classify other animals and living beings as nature, as if we ourselves are not part of it.  Then we pose the question, “How should I deal with Nature?” We should deal with nature the way we deal with ourselves.  .  . ! Harming nature is harming ourselves.”

Radical Buddhist interdependence does not allow for an independent entity, action, word, or thought; all things influence all other things.  Each being, each act, is critical to every other being and every other act.   The sun, the moon and the stars live together as a cooperative.  The same is true for humans and animals, trees and the Earth.  

Radical Buddhist interdependence requires people to see that cruelty and exploitation are counterproductive.  Harming one entity harms all that exists, including oneself. All things are contained in one moment and one moment contains all things.  This combination of single and universal in one unity culminated in the concept of “Buddha-Nature”. Everything has inherent value, spiritual value, and one can learn important religious truths from every aspect of the physical world. The great Japanese Buddhist philosopher, Dogen (1200–1253), taught that the splendors of nature hold the essence of enlightenment, and that spiritual ideas themselves are “the entire universe, mountains and rivers, and the great wide earth, plants and trees”.

Buddhist moral conduct is “built on the vast conception of universal love and compassion for all living beings”. Buddhism inherited ahimsa from its land of birth, India, and added some uniquely Buddhist expressions of this universal moral ideal, such as metta (loving-kindness) and karuna (compassion).  Teachings of compassion, including compassion toward nonhuman animals, have a high profile in the ancient and foundational Buddhist Pāli Canon.  Nonviolence, loving kindness, and compassion are applied to human beings and animals alike; Buddhist literature features prominent injunctions not to kill any living being.  The Dhammapada 78 a popular and important text in the Buddhist canon teaches that those who follow the Buddha will not only avoid causing harm but will “ever by night and day” “find joy in love for all beings”. This ethic of compassion is consistent with core Buddhist philosophies: karma and oneness.  For a Buddhist practitioner, harm done to others is harm done to oneself because we are all one and we are bound by kamma. The Buddhist is to remember that “All have the same sorrows, the same joys as I, and I must guard them like myself”.  We are all equally fellow creatures.  “There is never a hint in Buddhist teachings that intellectual ability a sophisticated sense of self”. Buddhism teaches followers to exhibit “an unlimited self giving compassion flowing freely toward all creatures that live”.

The virtue of compassion is “one of the indispensable conditions for deliverance”.  The Dali Lama has often stated that loving-kindness is his religion. One who is cruel will not attain to nirvana; only those who “hurt no living being” will reach nirvana. A truly great person is not one who succeeds in worldly matters, but one who “hurts not any living being” according to Dhammapada 74. The Sutta-Nipata found in khuddakanikaya includes the following beautiful verses to spiritual literature encouraging compassion for human beings:

“May all be blessed with peace always - all creatures weak or strong, All creatures great and small - creatures unseen or seen Dwelling afar or near -born or awaiting to take birth, May all be blessed with peace - as with her or his own life, A mother protects her only child at the risk of her life, let all-embracing thoughts for all that lives beings, an embracing love for all the beings in the universe.”

According to Dhammapada verse no. 81.

“Compassion is expected of monks, saints, and all Buddhists, non-injury, are an ethical goal for every Buddhists. Buddhists are encouraged to choose their livelihood so as to avoid harm to living beings.  It would be unthinkable for most Buddhists to capitalize on factory farming of any kind, as it would be unthinkable for a Buddhist to run a business exploiting the cheap labor of poor children or to earn their living as a soldier.  Even keeping animals in captivity is contrary to teachings of loving-kindness, for the captive elephant “remembers the elephant grove”

Those who successfully travel the Buddhist path will be filled with mercy, living a life that is “compassionate and kind to all creatures”. For the Buddhist, good conduct requires “putting away the killing of living things” and holding “aloof from the destruction of life,” even at the dinner table. All beings tremble before danger, all fear death.  When a man considers this, he does not kill or cause to kill. According to Dhammapada verse no. 54.

“All beings tremble before danger, all fear death.  When a man considers this, he does not kill or cause to kill.  All beings fear before danger, life is dear to all.  When a man considers this, he does not kill or cause to kill. He who for the sake of happiness hurts others, who also want happiness, shall not hereafter find happiness.  He who for the sake of happiness does not hurt others, who also want happiness, shall hereafter find happiness.”

The first and most fundamental Buddhist precept requires followers to refrain from killing—not just human beings, but all living beings.  This proscription against killing “is central to the Buddhist tradition.

“For survival mankind has to depend on nature for his food, clothing, shelter, medicine, and other requisites. For optimum benefits man has to understand nature so that he can utilize natural resources and live harmoniously with nature. By understanding the working of nature ……..Man must learn to satisfy his needs and not feed his greed. The resources of the world are not unlimited whereas man's greed knows neither limit nor satiation. Modern man in his unbridled voracious greed for pleasure and acquisition of wealth has exploited nature to the point of near impoverishment”[1]

Buddhists are often introduced to Jataka tales at a young age, and children begin to learn that a rabbit is not just an alien other than a thing, but an individual, a member of a rabbit community, and also a member of a larger community that includes all life.  The Jataka help remind Buddhists of the significance of other species. Buddhism is a practical religion aimed at salvation; acts of kindness and generosity are critical to Buddhist salvation.  Buddhist teachings must be enacted in daily life if devotees are to avoid ill an effect in future lives.   Buddhist philosophy teaches that people are merely one small ephemeral part of an interconnected and interdependent universe.  The core of Buddhist spiritual practice is loving-kindness and compassion; the first precept condemns killing. Buddhist philosophy indicates that Buddhists will adopt a vegan diet and stand with on the side of animal liberation.

“If we believe that animals were created by someone for men, it would follow that men were also created for animals since some animals do eat human flesh.”[2]

Buddhists are encouraged to love all living beings and not to restrict their love only to human beings. They should practice loving kindness towards every living being. The Buddha's advice is that is not right for us to take away the life of any living being since every living being has a right to exist. Animals also have fear and pain as do human beings. It is wrong to take away their lives. We should not misuse our intelligence and strength to destroy animals even though they may sometimes be a nuisance to us. Animals need our sympathy. Destroying them is not the only method to get rid of them. Every living being is contributing something to maintain this world. It is unfair for us to deprive their living rights.

Every religion advises us to love our fellow humans. Some even teach us to love them more if they belong to the same religion. But Buddhism is supreme in that it teaches us to show equal care and compassion for each and every creature in the universe. The destruction of any creature represents a disturbance of the Universal Order.

"The essence of Buddhism is kindness, compassion. This is the essence of every religion, but particularly in Mahayana Buddhism. I think this is very important and everybody can practice it without deeper faith. Simply you are a human being; everybody appreciates kindness. In fact when we grow up, we grow up in the kindness of our parents, and without that sort of kindness we cannot exist. This is very clear because today you find that children, who are not brought up within the love of their parents, or where there is a disruption in the family, are later psychologically affected. As a human being, kindness, a warm heart is very important......If you have this basic quality of kindness or good heart, then all other things, education, ability will go in the right direction. If you have a bad heart, then knowledge or ability are used in the wrong direction; instead of helping others, it makes trouble .... Every man has the basis of good. Not only human beings, you can find it among animals or insects, for instance when we treat a dog or horse lovingly."[3]

As genetic engineering is able to change environment as well as human nature and the Buddhist regards this technology as the greatest but it is also very dangerous. The Buddhist notices the whole as a one single unit that consist of many parts that interact among each other. For example our human parts which greatly depends on a health of other parts of entirety. Each component of the world supports another. Neither of the organizations or systems could exist by itself. Each life is able to exist due to existence of other components of nature. And this dependence is not matched in chain, resembling the biological nutritive one but each organization mutually depends on each natural component.

According to Buddhism personal health is considered as dependent on the mentality as well as on the environment conditions. Buddhism refers to nature as an issue influencing and enhancing the sentient life on the way to enlightenment. It is believed that each of the sentient organisms on earth has a right to be treated with respect and all action towards it should be none harming.

According to Buddhism environment is a group of different ecosystems that have great mutual impact on each other. It is said that human, animals and other sentient beings are dependent on one another. Therefore if we harm any member of any ecosystem influences the health of the whole environment. Regarding nature as the sum of the ecosystems that are dependent on each other and in brief changing one part of the integrity influences every other single unit. 

If we are influenced by the nature than the nature is influencing us as well. We being Buddhism can’t deny that the consequences caused by genetic changes done on human that could possibly cause the disability of resonate with nature. Modern biotechnology proves the transplantation or organs from animals to human body. Regarding this point Buddhism says that as connected with the belief that any of sentient organisms cannot be killed or harmed.

Conclusion 

Buddhism is a religion that respects not only human beings that are adherents but also other beings present in whole world. It does not matter for the Buddhists what they deal with. They try to treat people with as strong regard as animals and other nature constituents. Buddhists live in accordance with natural order cycle of life and therefore the acceptance of the dark sides like illness, suffering and death. They accept aid and curing of people who need but the condition is that no one and nothing suffer at its expense.

  

References

1.     Ron Epstein, Religion East and west, Issue 1. 2001, p: 39-47

2.     Ronald Y. Nakasone, Encyclopadia of ethical, Legal and Policy Issues in Biotechnology, Vol.2 by Thomas H. Murry, Maxwell j. Mehlman, 914-924.

3.     Ron Epstein, Edited from a talk delivered at “Spiritual Dimensions of Our Technological Future”, AHIMSA 6^th annual Conference, international House, University of California at berkey, 1998.

Lama Dalai, Purify Our Mind, www.purifymind.com, 26/02/2011.

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[1] Silva, de, Lily, The Buddhist Attitude Towards Nature, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka, 2005-2011.

[2] Maha Thera, Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda, What Buddhists Believe, www.buddhanet.net, 26/02/2011.

[3] Lama Dalai, Purify Our Mind, www.purifymind.com, 26/02/2011.