Extract from:
http://www.buddhacommunity.org/c24/com%2024%20final.pdf________________________________________________________________________________
THE END OF THE WORLD — An Editorial to arouse urgencyScientific evidence appears to be in increasing agreement that the conditioned world as we know it is coming to an end. We may know, in theory at least, that all conditions are impermanent and that everything is in a state of flux and change. But we normally know this from a sense of security based on the regularity of the seasons, annual holidays, weekly visits to the fully stocked supermarket and the reassuring sounds of BBC radio as we eat our breakfast or commute by car
in the daily rush hour to work. But, we have a sense that there are signs, like clouds
on the horizon, that herald changes to the familiar stability of our environment.
Knowing the impossibility of endless economic growth, we hear governments proudly announce policies that encourage just that. Knowing the limits of the earths’ natural resources, we hear of the expanding economies of China and India and of millions of human beings struggling to attain the living standards that we in the West accept as given – and we know that there are simply not enough resources on this planet for all these aspirations be fulfilled.
Poverty, violence and deprivation are the order of the day for billions of our fellow human beings, whilst deforestation continues apace, ice caps melt, sea currents change and the natural habitats of bird, fish and mammals gradually disappear.
It is only natural to react to all this with fear, helplessness or denial because it touches on the key cause of our suffering, craving or Tanha. This craving has
three expressions which we can recognise in ourselves, kama-tanha, or craving for sensual experience, bhava-tanha, craving for existence, and vibhavatanha,
craving for non-existence or self annihilation.
As the First and Second Noble Truths of suffering and craving become more evident, the remaining two Noble Truths of Cessation and the Eightfold Noble path become correspondingly more relevant. If we pause and stop, before getting lost in our reactions, we see that in truth we do not actually know exactly what is going to happen. Our fear and denial is about the future that has yet to happen. More importantly, such feelings do nothing to change anything for the better, if anything they can hasten the very things we fear most. The solution lies in the present, in realising what is real in ourselves. Realisation may not save the conditioned world as we know it, but it is good both for the world and for ourselves Having a wholesome sense of urgency helps prioritise what we put our energy into, for inner transformation requires attention and effort.
The paradox of successful practice is that through acceptance and the letting go of all that we experience, moment by moment, we can discover the cessation of the world within ourselves, as we realise the truths of Dukkha, Anicca and Anatta or unsatisfactoriness, impermanency, and selflessness. With that realisation a Wisdom arises by which we become more sensitive and responsible in our words, actions, and livelihhod. Wisdom finds its natural expression in the World as Compassion.
We become naturally more generous, understanding and kind to the world around us, thus bringing about changes for the better that mirror the change within us. Informed by Wisdom, these changes happen wherever and whatever we do in life.
Two and half millennia ago The Buddha said that the world is ‘on fire’, on fire with Greed, Hatred and Delusion, when he taught that all conditions are fundamentally
unsatisfactory and impermanent. With the arising of insight into the real nature of this world, these fires die out and give rise to peace.
As a child I remember being told a story about St Francis. He was sweeping the courtyard in his monastery when he was asked what he would do if he was told that he was shortly going to die. He replied that he would carry on sweeping the courtyard. The peace of heart and mind expressed in that reply belongs to no specific tradition. It is a universal peace we are all capable of realising for ourselves.
The Buddhadhamma with its Refuge in the Awakened Mind, in the Teachings which point the way, and in a supportive Community of friends, is a beautifully clear, direct and encouraging vehicle that helps us develop insight into the conditioned world. By knowing how to live in the world as an enlightened expression of it, in its moment to moment arising and cessation – we come to peace with Life and Death, come what may.
May all beings be free and happy.
Nick Carroll
Author
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