Global Recovery: - United Nations Day of Vesak 2013

Global Recovery :
through Buddhist Ecology
food on the crops, there is an offence of expiation.” 14 In addition, the Mahāvaggapāli
carries his concern of offshoots and worms which only come out from soil when it is
moist – wandering on tours during the rainy season destroys green grass and kills
many tiny creatures. And, the monastic members are even prohibited from breaking
or tearing branches or leaves of a tree. Interruption of a life is an offence. 15
On the other hand tree is considered as one-facultied life, 16 and it is a living home of
deities and other spirits. 17
It is an interesting to study how the Buddha’s concern was towards forest
groves. Buddhist history carries a number of forest grove monasteries offered to
the Buddhist Order (sangha). Among them the Bamboo Grove (Veluvanarama) was
the first monastery offered to Buddhist Order by King Bimbisara of Maghada.
He expounded many dhammas in this grove and compared with it – “greed, aversion,
delusion destroy the self-same person of evil mind from whom they are born, like
the fruiting of the bamboo.” 18 One of another famous analogy of the Buddha is
Dependent Origination and two bundle of bamboos. One bundle cannot stand along,
it needs the support of another bundle. In Khaggavisana Sutta of Suttanipata
the Buddha admonishes his disciple to be like a bamboo’s sprout goes ahead with
confidence to establish his own action is his refuge. Furthermore in monastic code
we read, clergy members are prohibited to destroy even offshoots like bamboo
shoots 19 and the breaking of them is an offence.
Hence, let us look at more examples of bamboo to illustrate the three aspects
of ecology: how living creatures affect each other, their distribution, and abundance.
Bamboo is a very versatile plant and is fast becoming recognized as one of the most
eco-friendly plants in the world. 20 We (especially in Asia) do use bamboo for
building houses for living, safety and security of our lives from various dangers –
human, animal etc. Often bamboo gardens are cleared for agricultural cultivation and
carried out for daily income – buying rice and curries for eating. I have seen this
14 Horner, I. B. (1957), The Book of the Discipline Vol. III, Luzac & Company Ltd, London, p. 259.
15 Thanissaro, J. (1993), The Buddhist Monastic Code, Mahamakut Press, Bangkok, p. 393 ff.
16 Thanissaro, J. (1993), The Buddhist Monastic Code, Mahamakut Press, Bangkok, p. 393 (Narada,
1979:88, there is a certain kind of rūpa-jivitindriya in plant life. But, rūpa-jivitindriya in men and
animals is differentiated from that which exists in plants because the former is conditioned by past
kamma.
17 Thanissaro, J. (1993), The Buddhist Monastic Code, Mahamakut Press, Bangkok, p.394.
18 http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/iti/iti.3.050-099.than.html#bamboo50, accessed on March
15, 2010.
19 (i) From bulbs, rhizomes [e.g. potatoes, tulips] (ii) From cutting or stakes [e.g. willows, rose bushes]
(iii) From joints [e.g. sugar cane, bamboo] (iv) From runners [e.g. strawberries, couch grass] (v) From
seeds [e.g. corn, beans]. See Thanissaro, J. (1993), The Buddhist Monastic Code, Mahamakut Press,
Bangkok, p.394.
20 http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Powerful-Impact-of-Bamboo-on-Our-Environment&id=3916860,
accessed on March 21, 2010.
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