Ch.15 - Awakening in an Age of Degeneration
Chatral Rinpoche: A Prayer in a Time of Ecological Crisis
The Five Virulent Degenerations
The Four Kinds of Beings
The Five Recommendations for the Welfare of Householders
[This chapter investigates why we currently find ourselves in an age of degeneration and what the ground for an age of regeneration actually is.]
Chatral Rinpoche: A Prayer in a Time of Ecological Crisis
Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions,
Turn your enlightened intention towards us!
May all sentient beings tormented by this present age
Of the five virulent degenerations,
Know that they possess a treasure that can alleviate
The various portents of decay in the physical world and its inhabitants
Due to the ripening of their wrong intentions and actions.
A treasure grounded in the renunciation of harmful actions
And the cultivation of altruistic actions,
Granting all the spiritual and temporal well-being one could desire.
This is the supreme wish-fulfilling gem of good heart
Associated with all supreme spiritual practices.
Endowed with this (good heart),
May all beings cultivate love and compassion for one another,
Without hatred, and without fighting or quarrelling.
May they enjoy the glorious resources of happiness -
All they could possibly desire,
And swiftly attain the level of conclusive awakening!
Twenty-five centuries ago the Buddha spoke of an age of degeneration when beings lose their moral compass and become obsessed solely with selfish pursuits at great detriment to themselves, others and the world in which they live. Below is a list of the five signs of degeneration that he identified.
The Five Virulent Degenerations:
1. The Degeneration of Time. The quality of things deteriorates, food becomes less nutritious, grain tastes less good and does not ripen, the environment becomes degraded, famine and wars proliferate, and new diseases arise.
2. The Degeneration of Disturbing Emotions. The virtue of householders declines, negative emotions proliferate, ideas of self proliferate to the point where pride, competitiveness and greed become so embedded that beings find it almost impossible to surmount them.
3. The Degeneration of Views. Wrong view proliferates, beings cannot see what is happening to them and reject the truth when it is spoken, they tend to believe in wrong philosophies and find it hard to believe in right view. They reject the law of Karma and Dependent Origination. The majority hold views that are morally degenerate, and become intolerant to the point of hatred.
4. The Degeneration of Physical Form. Appearance degenerates, obesity proliferates, intellect degenerates, good health degenerates, beings become harder to help and harder to subdue.
5. The Degeneration of the Life Span. Afflictive conditions proliferate and gradually the life span shortens.
At times such as these the choices that beings make will determine their welfare or suffering.
Of these five signs which the Buddha described that mark the coming of an age of degeneration, one of them is that beings reject the truth even when it is put in front of them. The truth in the end is right in front of us every day if we are only willing to see it. The question is - are we willing to pay attention?
There are many reasons put forth for the demise of organised religion in societies that have gone through development into the modern world order. Religion is often seen now as a violation of personal freedom. We have fought as many wars over our rights to freedom of choice as we have over religion, but freedom of choice only ever leads to flourishing in the hands of those who make intelligent and virtuous choices. In the hands of those who do not it quickly leads to degeneration.
It is not just religion that we have rejected in our modern world. We have removed a sense of the sacred from almost everything in our lives. Marriage is not sacred, bearing children is not sacred, sex is not sacred, our planet is not sacred, we do not view each other as sacred. Recently there has been a tremendous effort put forth to bring meditation to the masses in the form of mindfulness, in the hope that it might ease the stresses and strains we are experiencing trying to make sense of our position in a modern world. In doing so almost all of the spiritual context within which it was originally taught has been removed, in the hope that it might not offend or put off anyone or be seen in any way as some kind of indoctrination.
I was approached a while ago and asked to put together an eight week course in meditation, the brief being that I had to make sure that all spiritual references or references to the source of the teachings were removed so that it could be taught in schools and hospitals. I was effectively asked to remove the spiritual context from the one thing that historically has helped us find just that within our lives.
Have we ever stopped to ask whether it might be the case that the alarming increase in depression and hopelessness that so many otherwise fortunate human beings are now experiencing might actually be because they lack that very spiritual context to their lives? While we may initially think what we need are tools by which to cope better with life as it is, at a deeper level I believe we are actually longing to find a deeper sense of meaning while questioning the actual direction we are heading. That is what so many of us today are actually looking for. What we are being offered are tools by which we can cope well enough to stay on the trajectory we are on. But it is not help to stay on course that we need, but encouragement to embrace a wholesale change.
I have little doubt that there are countless people out there just waiting for permission to embrace a quantum change of direction. Experience suggests that deep and profound change tends only to happen when it is thrust upon us. The problem with this is that forced change inevitably brings with it far more suffering and hardship than the choices we make for ourselves consciously. A slap in the face with a wet fish, though unpleasant, is not nearly as difficult to live with as being knocked off your feet with the ground giving away from beneath you, and if it serves to wake us up before we fall asleep at the wheel it has served an important purpose. The further out of alignment with the truth behind our lives we get, the more inconvenient that truth feels.
Meditation is the pathway by which we gradually come to reject the things that are for our detriment and delight in the things that are of our genuine welfare. It helps us reach a point of willingness to let go rather than begrudge the idea of having to do so. If we begrudge the suggestion that we need to change, it is usually not just because it is inconvenient, but because it interferes with our personal ambitions and the pursuit of our goals and desires. Meditation helps us gradually bring into focus the things that are actually of meaning in our lives and the things that are causing us suffering.
When I left my last teacher in Sikkim, at the end of years of intensive training in meditation, his final request to me was to return home and to continue to meditate for the benefit of others. Over the years many people have come on retreat with me to learn meditation, and almost all of them come hoping that meditation will in some way enrich their lives.
At the end of retreat I explain to them the two basic principles that our welfare and progress in the future stand upon. Firstly, if we are going to continue to centre our life around the pursuit of our desires, we will need to be totally unwilling to harm others or ourselves in the pursuit of our desires. The second is that if we wish to secure our welfare for the future we should not expect to take out more than we put in.
These principles are in effect nothing more than expressions of the basic principles that govern all life. It is the living in alignment with the intelligence behind life that brings flourishing and happiness, and living in conflict that brings degeneration, despair and suffering.
The Four Kinds of Beings
So let us return to the four kinds of beings and the direction in which we are heading.
Those born in the light and moving into the light are those rare individuals who recognise their good fortune as most certainly not to be taken for granted. They have turned their supporting karma towards improving the welfare of others, and in doing so give more than they take out in life. They are maintaining their good fortune for the future.
Those born in the light and moving into the darkness are those beings who, intoxicated with the pursuit of their desires and turning their accumulation of past merit solely to the gratification of those desires, are taking out far more than they put in. These are the group who are spending their investment account in an unsustainable way, and in doing so causing suffering both for those around them and for themselves, now and in the future.
Those born in the darkness moving into the light are those unfortunate individuals who struggle to find support for their lives, and yet in spite of this surmount the tendency to feel hard done by and instead turn their lives to the patient improving of their lot, by giving of themselves in some way that improves their welfare and the welfare of others.
Those born in the darkness and moving into the darkness are those unfortunate individuals who, finding themselves in a position of hardship, fail to find the humility to accept that their life is as it is, and expect it to improve without making the efforts for it to do so. And beyond that even seeking to take from others what they have rightfully acquired, rather than seeking or accepting the generosity of others for support.
This is how we might reflect upon the second principle for our welfare, namely overcoming the confused belief that it is appropriate to take out more than we put in.
The planet that we have lived upon has managed itself for billions of years, sustaining a balance whereby the life that it sustained did not draw out more than it put in. Life has been perfectly recycled at every level without any accumulation of toxic waste or any diminishing of the natural resources that support it. The oceans and rivers remained pure and teemed with life, the oxygen cycle and the nitrogen cycle were kept perfectly in balance, and everything that died decayed without leaving any toxic residue from its presence here. And all of this without anyone managing it or interfering with it in any way.
This basic principle of life governs the fortune or abundance that we experience in life and the ease with which we are supported. It has taken a tremendous amount of resource for us to be born and grow to maturity so that we can embark upon this adventure of life with any hope of finding joy and fulfilment in it. Even the decision to bring forth life by bearing children needs to be made upon the reflection that we have the requisites by which to support that life we intend to bring forth. When we do this without making such a reflection we put in place a renewed cycle of suffering. Being born without the support we need for our lives is a reflection of a lack of good fortune.
One of the ways we accumulate such good fortune is by providing for those who come after us in some way, whether it be as parents or as contributors to the welfare of our communities and societies. When we fail to find ways to contribute we start the transition out of good fortune into misfortune, or from misfortune to continued misfortune and suffering. Whether we are relying upon our investment account or running on overdraft in our life now, once we draw more than we deposit, it is only a matter of time before we can no longer take for granted the support for life we have grown used to.
This fundamental principle governs life at absolutely every level, and it is utterly non-judgemental, not favouring one being over another.
Most of the despair that exists in the world today is on account of us not getting the things we want, whether that is the rice and water needed to feed our children or the promotion we are hoping for at work. When we stop seeing our good fortune as a rare and extraordinary blessing and start to take it for granted, we start the gradual and inexorable process of conscious degeneration and bring to an end the time of our flourishing on this planet.
We may well not have much materially to give, but we may be one of those fortunate few who are not spending their entire time struggling just to uphold their elaborate lives. Sometimes the signs of good fortune may not be what they appear, and we may not always recognise the opportunities that come our way. It is a sign of degeneration of consciousness when those of good fortune suffer more than those with little.
When I lived in Bali, I lived by the sea in a quiet fishing community. One day I was standing on the beach with a local fisherman who was fishing. An American tourist walked past and started talking with us. The man fishing pulled in his line and took two small fish off the hooks. Placing them in a bucket beside him he started packing up to leave.
‘Hey, pal! Why don’t you trail three lines at a time? That way you would catch more fish. That way you could get what you need for your family and sell the rest at the market. If you then saved up one day you could buy a boat and trail a whole bunch of lines and catch a whole bunch of fish. I bet it wouldn't take long before you could hire someone else to go fishing for you and then you would be free to do anything you want.’
‘But I am doing what I want,’ said the fisherman with a smile, as he turned and walked off up the beach.
The Buddha suggested that it is through the relinquishing of our greed and need for more that we free ourselves from suffering. He came to this conclusion because he saw such a pervasive tendency for beings to bring misery upon themselves in the pursuit of what they want. There are however hosts of beings who have upheld their virtue and continue to experience the wondrous display of life from a position of relative ease.
The devas in the heavenly realms are also experiencing their domain from a similar or even greater sense of ease. Such beings object to the Buddha's conclusion that life is suffering because they do not currently experience it as such, quite rightly making the reflection, ‘Wait a minute. But this life and our world are so very extraordinary and wonderful, surely it would be a travesty if we did not delight in it and enjoy it in all its splendour.'
They are right, of course. But the truth is that the only beings who genuinely do come to delight in life and all its splendour are those who have a limit to what they are willing to do in the pursuit of their desires, which is why harmlessness is the other basic principle for the welfare of beings.
Let’s say there was something you wanted very badly. What would you be willing to do to get it if you were willing to harm yourself or others in the pursuit of your desires? If you wanted it badly enough, perhaps there would be no end to which you would not go to acquire it. This is the point at which life begins to degenerate. Only when we are unwilling to cause suffering to ourselves and others in the pursuit of our desires does that pursuit not lead to our demise. There are countless examples today where the acquiring of the things we want brings intense suffering to others, and yet we still find ways to sanction it. This breakdown of moral conscience is the second sign of what the Buddha called the virulent degeneration of consciousness.
All of this fails totally to reflect upon the sacred nature of life itself, and is an expression of a willingness to cause suffering to others in the pursuit of what we want. There are countless examples where we take out more than we contribute and are willing to cause suffering both to ourselves and others by doing so. No one is telling us what we should and should not do. As fortunate human beings we are free to choose for ourselves, but we do need to understand that the choices we make define not just our present but our future.
The Buddha said that times of virtuous governance were a reflection of the virtue of the people. Times of corrupt or unvirtuous governance are a reflection of their lack of virtue. We flourish, be it under the guidance of others or when left to make decisions for ourselves, only when we ourselves choose to uphold a basic moral code that would stop short of allowing us to cause harm or suffering to another.
The Five Recommendations for the Welfare of Householders
So there are five things that are recommended for the welfare of householders like us who are wishing to make progress in our lives and limit the degree of hardship and suffering we experience. Those five guidelines on conduct are:
To not take life, and if you can, to try to not harm another being deliberately.
To not take what is not yours.
To not speak falsely, and if you can, to not speak in such a way that would bring people to opinions that would be to the detriment of another, ie to not gossip or slander or talk harshly. To not lie but to be honest, and above all to be honest with yourself.
To not engage in sexual misconduct, which is such activity that is a scattering of your energy and spirit in a way that brings suffering to yourself and others, or the breaking of promises or vows to a partner, or the causing of another to break such promises. And beyond this to show moderation with regard to lust, because lust is a deep, deep instinctual drive and it takes tremendous strength of character to not be driven by it. Much of the suffering in this world is not what it may at first appear to be, and far more of it than we might think is on account of not being able to restrain our lust.
To not intoxicate yourself to the point of losing your mindfulness where you might behave in ways that you would never normally do.
These five commitments to conduct, or as they are called in Pali Sila, these are the guidelines for the protection of our basic welfare. In truth, to think we are going to make progress in meditation without being willing to do our best with regard to these five things is just vanity.
So it is important to reflect upon the degree to which you feel you could make an aspiration to keep those five precepts. These five precepts or commitments are for our protection from coming to grief or unnecessary suffering in ways that we might not be able to anticipate. So many times we see people whose lives have been completely undone by moments of negligence or decisions that were made while their mind was driven by anger, greed, lust or pride.
One of my teachers was a famous healer in Burma. He was the last in a long line of traditional medicine men, and I spent many years working with him and learning how to make and administer his medicines. The medicines themselves were wonderful indeed, and over the years I have seen some wonderful results in those who used them.
Although I would not ask my students to do the same, every time he offered the medicine to anyone he would tell them that for as long as they wished to take it, they must uphold the five commitments. One day I asked him if it was an absolute requirement that people taking the medicine would keep their precepts to which he replied, ‘The medicine is merely for relieving the afflictions of the body. The precepts are what frees them from suffering. That is how they really heal themselves.'
He was right in so many ways. It is our conduct that is our greatest protection. To seek to be free of suffering without understanding that doing so will require us to live virtuously and considerately is little more than vanity.
