Loving nature

1. LOVING NATURE IS HUMAN ETHICS

Why do we say that loving nature is a quality of ethics?

Nature is the cradle that creates the life of all species, humans among them. It can be said that humankind is the summit of nature's creation. So we must love nature, and that too is an expression of ethics.

Going back in time, billions of years, let us look at how the Earth and all things were formed. Some people hold that around fifteen billion years ago the universe began from a great explosion. They are the followers of the Big Bang theory. According to some religions, the universe was created by God. This has no basis at all, so we cannot believe it. Buddhism does not accept that there is a God who created everything. According to the Buddha, the earth and the life of all species are formed by many factors, many causes and conditions. That statement is simple but never wrong. However far science advances, it acknowledges that all things and events are formed by causes and conditions, by many different factors. We are fortunate to rely on such a correct teaching.

Speaking of the formation of the earth, we know that in ancient times, when the solar system took shape, the Earth was formed. At that time there were no living things on Earth, no plants, no human beings, only soil, rock and water. The amount of water was never stable. Rains often poured down thunderously, washing away the layers of soil on the surface, leaving the rock bare, and then causing floods. The water would evaporate very quickly, forming clouds, which met cold air and became water again. The sky would pour down rain again. The climate was very harsh, with erratic rain and sun.

Then gradually life began to form out of nature, in extremely tiny microscopic forms. The basic elements that were the precondition for life were carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen. These four elements formed the organic substances of life, and the organic substances gradually grew more complex. According to the conditions on earth, those elements were arranged in suitable ways into water, oxygen, organic substances, protein… Some even hold that at the beginning a comet collided with the Earth and left behind a few organic substances there as the precondition for life.

Of course, for life to form there must be two factors: the material and the mental. From ancient times, even though nothing had yet appeared on the surface of the Earth, no plants, no living things, the invisible world already existed. At that time there was already the world of the devas, the world of hungry ghosts, the world of living beings. That is, by causes and conditions they already existed in that world. They were still waiting for a favourable condition in which to appear. Why so? Because the karma of human beings, the karma of living beings, was not yet liberated, and they always wanted to appear and to exist. It is this very mind that drives us human beings on in the cycle of rebirth without our being able to resist. At that time, in the invisible world, the minds of those beings still turned towards the Earth, which had water, clouds, rivers and mountains, turned towards it so that they could exist and appear. At that time the Earth was as beautiful as a heaven on earth, with majestic mountains, vast rivers and seas, boundless forests, singing birds and blooming flowers, brilliant dawns and gentle sunsets… At that time there was not yet the scene of rubbish thrown out in the street, laundry hung out at the door, and neighbours standing with hands on hips cursing each other as there is now. Devas whose heavenly merit was about to run out were captivated by the beauty of the Earth and longed to become its inhabitants. It was that intense longing that drove the changes in genes and environment that cleared the way for human beings to appear. That is a secret inner factor which we cannot understand if we reason only from the outside.

Relying on science, we can reason according to Darwin's theory: yeast and fungi appeared, then genetic mutations helped plants evolve gradually. We need not deny that, but we must still remember one thing: animals that exist always have two aspects, the mental and the material. We human beings, besides the physical body, have a very complex mental world. When we die, this body is destroyed, but according to popular belief the soul still exists. Buddhism calls it the consciousness or the intermediate being (thân trung ấm).

So when this Earth was newly formed, before there were human beings, we were already present in the invisible world. We were dwelling in the heavenly realms, or dwelling in lower realms. It may also be that we were still even lower beings but had already turned towards the Earth and begun to gather around that dry Earth without life. At that time, the Earth was already enveloped by the life of the spiritual world, which prepared and drove its development. In other words, the lives on Earth gradually took shape because of the invisible driving force of the spiritual world. This is an important point in the formation of life on Earth. So we should not think that life on Earth was formed from material factors alone.

Returning to the material world, we know that, beginning from some stroke of luck, under some favourable conditions, kinds of yeast and fungi gradually appeared in microscopic form. Those yeasts and fungi had a very simple cell structure that allowed them to divide themselves. The fungal cells had to have a nucleus inside. These were membranes of water holding, when broken down, complex proteins. A cell nucleus separates itself in two to form another cell. So the yeasts and fungi spread and spread. However, they could not survive for long. Sometimes they lasted only one morning, and when the sun shone on them they died. Only the kinds of yeast and fungi that could adapt to the harsh changes of climate were able to go on existing. In the process of appearing and dying away, those yeasts and fungi released gases into the air and left rotting remains that became fertiliser mixing into the soil and water. In this way, over millions of years, many kinds of yeast and fungi appeared and were destroyed, and the gases released into the air and the residue left in the soil and water grew ever greater. So the environment of the Earth also changed, becoming ever richer and more complex.

When the Earth's environment became richer, a kind of plant corresponding to that environment appeared (such as algae and moss). In this way, over many millions of years, the residues left by algae and moss made the Earth's environment more complex. At that time simple plants appeared, at first only small plants and later large ones. When simple plants appeared, bacteria and animals also appeared. Gradually, on Earth there appeared boundless forests and great grasslands that made a favourable living environment for the next kinds of animals to appear and develop.

There are two ways of explaining the appearance of animals on earth. According to the scientist Darwin, it is the phenomenon of genetic mutation through heredity. Because the outside environment grew richer and acted on the animal's body, it stimulated the hereditary nucleus, DNA, causing its structure to change. Because the structure of the DNA nucleus changed, genetic mutation occurred, and an animal could gradually change into another species close to it. For example, a small lizard gradually became a dinosaur through gene mutation, or human beings are the result of gene mutation in monkeys. In general, according to Darwin's theory, the appearance of animal species is also stimulated and driven by the outside environment.

The second way of explaining seems more mythological. For example, the birth of a fish might be explained like this: in some hollow in a rock there is a body of still water, with no current acting on it, which happens to gather many factors of life, including the spiritual factor of some species in the invisible world. That is, the beings of all species in the invisible world wanted to live, and found a hollow in the rock with water, gathering many factors, many atoms of life and at the same time having a spiritual element, and then turned towards it and merged into it. After some time, a fish swam out from within it. The event takes place like a miracle, a myth. We would have to practise to the point of attaining the Path before we could verify this. The same goes even for a huge animal such as the elephant. In a pile of leaves several hundred metres thick, accumulated over years and hidden in the deep forest, there was an air pocket gathering many conditions of life, where bacteria perhaps had not yet developed enough to consume it. An invisible being that wanted to appear and exist turned towards it and entered it, and gradually from within that pile of leaves an animal like an elephant appeared. Several million years later, when the environment had changed, it became an elephant as we see today. It is also said that at one time dinosaurs appeared in such piles of leaves.

Two theories, two completely different ways of explaining. But through them we also see that life is formed by many factors. Among them, the influence of the spiritual factor is very important.

So, the cover of plants had fully appeared; in other words, boundless forests covered the Earth, which was the condition for animals to appear. In the process of changing itself, developing itself and regulating itself, nature gradually created all species, and finally human beings appeared. So we can affirm that nature, and above all the forests, is the cradle that created human life. Therefore we must love and cherish nature. Loving and cherishing nature is respecting the life of all species, is being grateful to our own nest. That too is a quality of ethics. In the lesson on the Loving Mind, we also discussed this matter.

If loving nature is loving our own life, and is a quality of ethics, then destroying nature is destroying life, and the end of the world will come. Of course, the end of the world will come in many ways, but deforestation is the way that brings it fastest. This is easy to understand because today the air we breathe is mainly oxygen, which makes up one fifth of the air. It is the photosynthesis of green plants that absorbs the carbon dioxide people release and supplies oxygen to people. So it is the forests that create the oxygen that keeps us alive. The proportion of oxygen in the air is very hard to change unless people cut trees and destroy forests. When deforestation takes place, that proportion will change, perhaps from one fifth down to one tenth. Then people will feel it harder to breathe. If we do not stop it and let deforestation go on more and more, the proportion of oxygen in the air will fall very fast. Past one tenth, it will fall faster still. Only one factor acting on it would be needed for the oxygen to disappear completely. Then people would no longer have air to breathe and could only struggle and die. That would be the end of the world for human beings. This could very easily happen, because today deforestation is occurring seriously everywhere. We will return to this matter in a later section.

2. LIVING IN HARMONY WITH NATURE WHILE STILL RESPECTING SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL PROGRESS

At present we are living in a world where science and technology have made extraordinary progress. It is hard to imagine how far science and technology will advance in the future. Already the achievements of science leave us overwhelmed. More and more, people enjoy the many modern comforts that science brings. But what is worrying is that scientific progress takes people further and further from nature. When we have every comfort, people hardly need nature any more. In the past, when the weather was hot and stifling, people would sit in the breeze in the shade of a tree or run to the river to bathe and cool off. But today we have air conditioners and fans to bring in the breeze…

Science and technology are indispensable for a civilised, progressive society. But the progress of science and technology sometimes goes against the laws by which nature creates life. Not to mention that, relying on scientific progress, people also make weapons and ammunition to kill one another. Just by sitting in one place and pressing a button, people can control missiles that travel hundreds of thousands of kilometres to bombard an opponent's country. At present, nuclear weapons that can kill people en masse have become a great threat to humankind. It is said that the number of atomic bombs in the world could blow up ten earths like ours. Yet some great powers still race madly to build nuclear weapons, bringing the life of the world ever nearer to the brink of destruction. This is very dangerous. Most recently, in the war in Iraq, America used all the most advanced weapons to end the war quickly according to plan. It was also an occasion for America to test some modern weapons that it had newly built.

A comfortable life makes people stray from nature. The further they stray from nature, the more they destroy their own lives. For example, in the 1970s of this century, people came to know the comfort of air-conditioned rooms. But living and working in an air-conditioned environment, many illnesses have arisen. According to Business Week, October 1994, one of the illnesses regarded as a problem for people working in air-conditioned comfort, especially in high-rise buildings, is SBS (sick building syndrome). The two countries with the highest rate of people affected by SBS are America and Australia. Besides SBS, the medical community has also discovered another illness called BRI (building-related illness). This illness arises from food poisoning, bacterial infection… from air-conditioned rooms. Sinusitis, headaches, dizziness, sore throat, dry throat… are the illnesses that appear most often when working in an air-conditioned environment. More seriously, the CFC gas released from air conditioners rises into the sky and can destroy the ozone layer, a layer of gas formed of molecules of three oxygen atoms that protects the earth from radiation, including the sun's ultraviolet rays. The chlorine gas emitted from industry and refrigeration technology will make holes in the ozone layer. At present the holes in the ozone layer over the North and South Poles are getting larger, so the temperature of the earth is rising. The danger is that ultraviolet rays acting directly on the earth cause skin cancer. In places where the ozone layer has holes, many species have been wiped out. Large animals with high endurance survive, but incurable diseases arise in them.

So the progress of science has brought people many comforts and at the same time gradually destroys the life of people and of all things. On the other hand, enjoying an overly comfortable life, people's merit also gradually diminishes. This is precisely the premise of cause and effect. But in reality all of us like comfort in our lives. The most visible example is that formerly people only walked or used bicycles for transport. When life became better, everyone rushed to buy motorbikes. Because of the needs of work, because of health conditions… many then bought cars as well. Even in some temples, the monks must use a car to take care of temple business or to go and teach the Dharma in distant places. In the future, as life develops, some will go to the big cities and build high-rise temples. Then the abbot will live on the top floor and go up and down by lift. The basement will be the place to park cars. In the temple, the monks will be equipped with every comfort and so on…

On the other hand, the more comfortably we live and the further we drift from nature, the more people have on their minds. As a result, life loses its simplicity and ease. Meanwhile, we live in order to seek happiness. Depending on one's ethics and on a selfish or altruistic outlook, people will seek happiness for themselves or for others. As disciples of the Buddha, we choose as our ideal in life to seek happiness for others. More than anyone, we understand clearly the sufferings brought by a selfish mind. But to bring happiness to everyone, we must hold a correct view of happiness. Many people think that having money is happiness. For in their view, "with money you can buy even the immortals", and they will be able to do whatever they want. Others hold that having position and power is happiness, because with position and power they can order everyone about. People who are reflective and experienced in life think differently about happiness. Someone said: "A moment of pleasure leaves a thousand years of regret; true happiness is the serenity of the mind." That may be an experience drawn by someone who has gone through a youth of pleasure-seeking and idling. Having passed beyond that rash period and looking back, they see that what is called fun in this life, which once stirred up their minds, in the end was only suffering and unease. Now, for them, true happiness is only the serenity of the mind. But understanding this is not simple. In our youth we do not feel this deeply. For when young, with body and mind still developing, people find life fun only when their minds are stirred by love, hatred, jealousy, longing… As people with good roots who have entered the temple to practise, we may believe that peace is happiness. But only at a certain age, after passing through a complicated, restless and agitated life, do we truly understand it.

According to the Buddhist view, true happiness is a peaceful inner mind. But living in the present age, the comforts of science and technology make us worry more. This sounds unreasonable but it is the truth. For example, in the past, travelling on our own feet, we also felt tired but had nothing to worry about. Now, travelling by motorbike or car, we have so many things to worry about. First we have to learn the basic knowledge of its complicated technology. From time to time the vehicle breaks down and repairs are very costly, not to mention breakdowns along the road. Then, when we drive ourselves, we have to worry about taking the driving test… In general, motorbikes and cars are very convenient for work but do not give us the peace we had when we walked.

In fact, people recognised this long ago. It is told that one day, on arriving in a certain land, Zhuangzi saw an old man toiling to carry a pair of buckets of water to water his plants. Meanwhile, in the surrounding villages, people had made tools for watering that were faster and more convenient. Seeing this, Zhuangzi asked the old man: "Why don't you copy your neighbours and make a watering device to make it less hard on yourself?" The old man answered: "Machinery brings a machine-like mind." That is, mechanical devices also make one's mind mechanical and more complicated. He held that it was better to work a little harder but not have to worry about anything. For him, serenity of mind was more precious than a comfortable life. It is a simple story but it makes us think. It is true that when we have advanced technology, we have to worry more.

In the present age, the arrival of the computer marked an extraordinary step forward for human society. The computer is very convenient for people in study and work. Besides functions such as entering data, printing, storing and processing information, through the computer network people can talk directly with one another even from half a world away. Many universities in the world have been conducting distance teaching through the Minitel network. Professors increasingly use modern means such as distance-learning software, CD-ROMs, interactive compact discs… in their teaching. But with modern, sophisticated and complex technology like the computer, to approach and learn it we must have a certain level of knowledge. Programmers must understand thoroughly everything from the machine and the mechanism of signal transmission to its diverse software systems. Not only that, people must always find ways to resist attacks by viruses. If we are not careful, when an incident occurs, all our information and data will be wiped out.

So, by using a computer we save a great deal of time and effort. But our minds must always be working to keep up with the latest information. And for that reason our minds, too, find it hard to have peace and serenity.

Besides sophisticated, complex machines like the computer, other industries also bring our lives many very convenient articles such as plastic bowls, basins and cups… The achievements of science and technology make our materials more beautiful and more durable. But it is precisely those polymer products, which are hard to decompose, that fill the world with rubbish faster. That is also one of the causes of environmental pollution, contributing to the destruction of life on earth.

The real advances of humankind often bring destruction with them. This is a paradox but it is real. Only after millions of years of change and transformation did nature create life. But people, with their marvellous intelligence, have created modern techniques that in turn destroy nature. This can be seen as a betrayal. So the development of science accords with natural law, but we need to weigh and choose, and must not invent recklessly and in turn destroy the source that created life for ourselves.

An amusing science-fiction story has made quite a few people think. In the story it is said that a few centuries later there will be no human life on Earth, only robots. For humans tried to build robots and improved them every day to make them more intelligent. One day the robots' intelligence escaped human control, and they sought to wipe out humans and become masters of the Earth, because if they let humans survive, one day geniuses capable of inventing modern techniques would appear and destroy the robots and take back mastery of the Earth. However, some of the robots used reclaimed human parts such as livers and lungs… Once, the alarm machine of an institution signalled that there was human life in the institution. Receiving the machine's alarm signal, the head of the human-extermination unit rushed off to search. When he went into the canteen and saw two people drunk and swaying, he thought they were humans and seized them, but they apologised to him and said they were robots programmed to sway from side to side whenever they were drunk. He went elsewhere, heard music and saw several robots dancing with one another. Again he thought they were humans, but they were not. These were robots whose function was to dance like that when they heard music. He searched and searched but could not find any human. Afterwards he gathered all the staff of the institution and said: "There are still surviving humans in our institution but I cannot find them. So I have not fulfilled my responsibility. I will use this gun to kill myself." Hearing this, the lady director said: "But you won't feel pain, because you are a machine person, you are a robot." The robot answered: "No, in my body there is still attached a human lung. When I shoot there, I will feel pain." He put the gun to his chest and fired a shot. When the gunshot sounded, blood spurted from his chest but he did not die. At that moment, a cry rose from among the people standing below. He ran straight down, seized that person, pulled him up and said: "This is a human, for only a human feels the pain of fellow humans."

The story ends, but that conclusion still troubles the reader. Clearly, unlike machines, people have feelings and reason, so they feel the pain of their fellow humans. However sophisticated machines may be, they cannot have that. Yet we keep seeking sophistication in machines, not knowing that happiness is not a comfort that can replace human beings. Happiness is sympathy and love between people. If we keep chasing modern technology, we will gradually lose true happiness, because our minds will become more complicated and our inner selves less at peace.

Practitioners today also cannot go against science and technology, because it is the inevitable progress of humankind. But we must choose skilfully and keep close to nature. So, if we are free to choose, we should seek out distant villages. There we can live in clean air, with rows of trees giving shade, green rice fields, winding rivers, the crowing of roosters in the morning, the twittering of birds and so on… Our hearts will be more at peace when close to nature. At the same time, we must have knowledge of heredity, of the environment, of waste, of the life of plants and animals… With understanding of those matters, we will be conscious of seeking a life close to nature, and of protecting nature and the living environment around us.

In the West, people too are gradually returning to nature. Whereas before they made chemical drugs to treat illness, now they have combined to make herbal medicines. Western drugs can make patients recover quickly but have very dangerous side effects. Meanwhile, herbal medicines both cure illness and increase the body's resistance without causing side effects, though they may take longer. This has been applied in Eastern medicine since ancient times. When symptoms of illness appear, people usually look into the origin of the illness, see which organs have weakened and lost resistance, and find ways to raise that resistance. In this way, medicines prepared from plants can treat illness at the root without wrecking the body as chemical drugs do. Our bodies are made of very complex proteins, so the structure of natural plants is more compatible than the simple molecular structure of chemicals.

In fact, nature already holds flowers, grasses and leaves compatible with the complexity of the human body. They can regulate our bodies in the right measure, in harmony with nature. So the more advanced we become, the more we must keep close to nature and cherish it. Moreover, as disciples of the Buddha, people with love for all species, love for simple life, and deep gratitude, we cherish nature all the more.

3. CREATING A NATURAL SETTING

Loving nature, we must create a natural setting in harmony with our own lives. For us, to live in a temple located in the countryside, close to nature, surrounded by vast rice fields, hearing the rooster crow in the late night or each night towards dawn, is a happiness. Some people who have lived in such surroundings for many years find it quite ordinary. But if we have to live in a big city, constantly facing a bustling life, we will long intensely to hear the familiar sounds of nature. So wherever we are, we should plant greenery, the denser the better. Now that the environment is more and more polluted, we must plant greenery all the more actively.

As for where we live, we should choose a roomy, airy place, not a crowded, cramped one. Some people like living in the city and so just buy a small house, build a small loft, put an altar to the Buddha there and call it a temple. Stepping into such places, people feel bewildered.

We know that loving nature is a natural quality of ethics. Those who love nature are people with ethics. Moreover, a genuine Buddhist practitioner always loves freedom, simplicity and closeness to nature.

In life, if we have to choose between two solutions, the technical and the biological, we should choose the biological one, because it is closer to nature. For example, if the temple has empty land, except for the places where cement paving is necessary (the technical solution), we should use the biological solution to protect the soil (planting grass to hold the soil). Today the biological solution is being used by everyone. On newly built roads, people lay asphalt only on the cut surface of the road, and on the two sides, instead of building stone embankments, they plant grass to keep the asphalt from collapsing.

Formerly, when people did not understand what grass does, they hated it. For farmers, weeds were the enemy. They said: "The effort of planting is effort thrown away; the effort of weeding is effort that feeds you." Having planted rice or maize does not mean you will have food. Only when the weeds are pulled out thoroughly and the crops grow well can one hope for a result. But when people learned that grass plays an extremely important role in the ecological environment, they let grass develop. Especially in places where the soil is poor, the denser the grass grows, the better. For after only a while, a layer of fertile soil will appear there and we can plant greenery.

Besides the biological solution, we can use the manual solution. For example, to get rid of rats in the fields, besides technical solutions such as electricity or chemicals such as poisoned bait and glue, people also set traps (cage traps, snap traps). This is a manual solution that is both effective and does not harm the environment. (Here we do not yet discuss the question of the wrongdoing and merit of taking life.)

In life there are many other matters concerning technical or biological solutions that we must choose between. For example, to decorate our lives, we should use real flowers rather than artificial ones. Or to keep plants green and fresh, we should use organic fertiliser instead of chemical fertiliser. In eating, we should let food have its natural colour and flavour instead of using colourings or MSG and so on… In general, in every case, if we can choose, it is best to choose the biological or manual solution.

In addition, we should not keep birds in cages or fish in tanks, because it both creates karma and goes against nature. Some people justify keeping birds and fish by saying it is to hear pleasant singing, to watch the fish swim for the eyes' enjoyment, and to have a natural setting where they live. In fact it is an act against nature. For birds and fish, what is more natural and happier than flying freely under the open sky, swimming about in cool, clean water? That is their true environment, their nature. If we create a natural environment for ourselves by destroying the naturalness of animals, we create wrongdoing. Later, sometimes without having committed any crime, we will be unjustly imprisoned. That is the karmic result of keeping birds in cages and fish in tanks in a previous life.

Today, in Europe and America, birds and animals are very close to people. Buddhists who have lived in America tell that sometimes people only need to tap a few times with a hand and squirrels living in burrows will crawl out to eat rice. In advanced Western countries, people have gradually come to love animals greatly. They do not kill them, so people and animals live in great harmony. Many Westerners who come to Vietnam are very frightened to see that in restaurants people prepare dishes from frogs. Sometimes after the dish has been prepared, the frog still looks alive, in a jumping posture.

What is very hard to understand is that in a certain temple the abbot had a great "initiative": he had a fish tank built right below the main hall where the Buddha is enshrined. When bowing to the Buddha, the novices kept looking up and down to see the fish swimming about in the pool. As practitioners, we must cherish nature and respect the freedom of all species, and we should not do such things.

In the life of the Buddha, our Teacher, four great events all took place in forests. First, he was born in a forest. According to custom, as the day of birth approached, Queen Māyā had to return to her home town of Devadaha. But when the party reached Lumbinī Garden, the Queen went into labour. The Buddha was born in such circumstances. It seems that he declined golden palaces and jewelled halls in order to be born in a cool green forest. When he attained the Path, he was also beneath a Bodhi tree. His first teaching took place in the Deer Park, where deer ran about, close to people. On later occasions he also sometimes taught in a lecture hall, but his first teaching took place in the forest. At the end of his life, he passed away in a forest. Though he did not say it, the four great events of his life left a very important message for later generations.

What is that message?

First of all, we must acknowledge that the Buddha had important teachings that he did not put into words. If we have enough wisdom, we will see those teachings through his life itself. Here we speak of only two important things he left. The first is meditative concentration. Before entering Nirvana, he was silent, lay on his side and began entering and leaving each level of concentration. The crowd did not know, but the holy monks did. At that time, Venerable Anuruddha told everyone: the Blessed One has just entered the first jhāna; the Blessed One enters the second jhāna; the Blessed One enters the third jhāna; the Blessed One enters the fourth jhāna; the Blessed One returns to the third jhāna, the second jhāna, the first jhāna; the Blessed One again enters the first jhāna, the second jhāna, the third jhāna; the Blessed One enters Nirvana. Why did he not enter Nirvana directly, like other Zen masters, but enter and leave many levels of concentration like that? Could it be that this was an extremely important final teaching that he wished to leave to later generations? Could it be that he wanted his disciples to be able to enter and leave the levels of meditative concentration freely in that way? That is, a meditator who wants to enter a certain level of concentration must be able to enter that level. Having such mastery and such freedom, we have successfully carried out his teaching. If not, however many collections of scriptures we study, however fluently we can expound the Dharma, however we may go abroad to study and earn a doctorate, we still have not understood, still have not fulfilled the Buddha's last wordless testament.

So when we are young, we must study and also try to practise. When we grow up, we must work for the Path, creating merit, and also do research, but we must strive diligently to practise meditative concentration so as to be able to enter and leave the levels of concentration freely, as the aspiration, the important message that the Buddha left us in the sacred final moments of his life.

The second important message we can understand through the four great events of his life. That he was born, attained the Path, gave his first teaching and passed away, all in a forest. Could it be that, understanding the hidden yet great value in the life of the forest, he wanted to teach us to cherish nature and be close to nature? In the Buddha's time this was not very important, because forests had not yet been destroyed. But now, when forests are being destroyed so much, it has become urgent. Understanding his intention and carrying out that teaching, we will see the great benefits that forests bring to human life.

So, even though we live in an age of ceaseless advances in science and technology, we still remember the wordless message the Buddha left. Modern science and technology can help people build great houses and give human life every comfort, but let us try not to stray from nature. Let us always keep our attachment to green trees so that we can find precious things from them.

4. THE INTERACTION OF GREEN PLANTS WITH HUMAN SPIRITUAL LIFE

Green plants not only help people sustain life but also interact with people in the spiritual domain. Indeed, plants also have a spiritual life, also have feelings, and also know what happens around them. But plants are by nature passive and cannot express their psychological reactions even though they know and react. If we take a knife to cut down some tree, its whole body gives an alarm. It seems they also show suffering and plead with people, but we do not know their alarm, and do not see that pleading and suffering.

The methods of cultivating the ngãi plant are also based on the principle of spiritual interaction between people and plants. Because green plants also have a spiritual life, sorcerers exploit that feature by looking for the ngãi plant, one of the kinds of plants with a spirit more special than others, to cultivate it. At first he feeds the ngãi plants very special food. It is said that some kinds of ngãi are fed with chicken eggs, even a whole chicken. One need only throw an egg or a chicken into the ngãi bush, and a little later only eggshell or chicken feathers remain there.

Some people swear that they have seen with their own eyes kinds of ngãi that eat popcorn. When the sorcerer puts popcorn into small pots of ngãi, strangely the soil in the pot, which had been ordinary, moves up and down by itself and slowly draws the kernels into the earth. The ngãi master raised the plant and fed it like this for several years, so it feels deep gratitude towards its master. Only then does he train himself to command the plant's spirit for his own purposes. Because the spirit of a plant knows more things than people, if he wants to be a fortune-teller, he will train the ngãi plant to know everything beforehand and tell fortunes for others. When a client comes to draw a divination, the master prays to the ngãi plant and it tells him that person's past. In this way he need only repeat the voices echoing in his ear. Or if he wants to curse or put a spell on someone, he orders the ngãi plant to send its spiritual force to harm that person, making them suffer headaches and writhing stomach pains and so on…, which treatment never cures. That is how ngãi is cultivated. The principle of cultivating charms is the same. In the invisible world there are many kinds of hungry and thirsty spirit soldiers; the charm sorcerer concentrates on offering them food regularly, year after year. Gradually, around him there is a whole force of spirit soldiers and spirits who have received his kindness. Then, whatever he orders them to do, they will do.

Because green plants have a spirit, when we live among them and have affection for them, people naturally develop more intuition. When looking at another person, some can know what that person is like. This is called the spiritual interaction between plants and people. It is precisely because of love for plants that people are given energy by them. After a time, the human mind becomes clearer. This is very strange. That is why ethnic minority people living in the highlands often have very strong spiritual power. From time to time we meet a few people who sell traditional herbal medicine at the market. They have very special abilities. Just by glancing at us, they can tell fluently what illness we have and what will happen to us in the coming time… Those who practise meditative concentration, if there are many green plants around them and they love and tend them, will after a while find it easier to gather the mind and easier to notice when wandering thoughts arise.

Living in a world with few green plants, the human mind also becomes barren and dry. So, going to a place with many green plants, we naturally have the feeling that the people living there are gentle and kind. In the West, people cherish green plants greatly. Someone told how, at a spot where a young tree was growing up, a worker from the electricity company came intending to cut it down to lay an underground cable. But a tourist passing by stopped him. The worker would not give way, saying he was following his superiors' orders. Besides, it was public work. But the other person said resolutely: "If you cut, cut me; you may not cut the tree." Passers-by, among them a girl who was a film star, seeing this also stopped and surrounded the worker so he could not cut the tree. Living in a civilised country, people have understanding and so cherish life and cherish nature in this way. And perhaps because of that they also enjoy more merit than other places.

The last thing we must acknowledge is that living with forests, the human mind also becomes calmer. This is a very true principle but we have to be subtle to see it.

5. PLANTING FORESTS IS A GREAT MERITORIOUS DEED

Speaking of nature, we usually think at once of forests.

The reason we call on everyone to replant large forests is that forests have two effects. First, forests recreate the living environment. Forests hold groundwater and prevent drought and flood. Thanks to forests, water is retained near the surface and does not sink deep into the earth. It is the surface water that is so necessary for human life and for all living things on Earth. Experience has proved this. At a certain forestry station, after a hundred mẫu of melaleuca forest was planted, the surrounding land naturally turned into water-fed fields. The people there all grew rice. After a time, the timber had to be harvested, the trees were all sawn down, and the surroundings again turned into barren, dry land. So forests have the effect of drawing water up near the surface, giving life to people and all species.

The second effect is that forests supply oxygen to people and help purify the air. If forests continue to be cut down recklessly, there will be no more oxygen, and the end of the world will come for people and all species on earth. If we love humankind and cherish life on this earth, we must save the forests and re-create green forests to preserve the life of all species. That is a very great meritorious deed. Although we also do many meritorious deeds such as relief for compatriots hit by natural disasters and floods in one place or another, at present the extremely important task is to re-create forests to save the world. In fact, natural disasters happen because of human error. We can help people overcome to some extent the difficulties caused by natural disasters, but we can never help them escape suffering as long as they go on living wrongly. Only by helping people live ethically, giving them faith in cause and effect and calling for forests to be replanted…, can we help them escape such sufferings.

Besides recreating the living environment and keeping water on the surface, forests also have the effect of restoring spiritual interaction for the world. Today, human minds are gradually drying up because forests are shrinking more and more. So we must re-create forests to lift up the human mind. If there are many green forests, the life of the human mind will change and be much better.

At present, quite a lot of temples have been built, so we do not need to build more big temples. What is important now is to plant a great many forests, because the world needs forests. Many people do not encourage monks to build temples but advise them to plant forests instead. The advice sounds a little strange but is very reasonable. For planting forests is a great meritorious deed, and planting forests is more important than building temples. Only in places with an academy, where many monks and nuns are gathered, do temples need to be built spaciously for the convenience of the monks' and nuns' study and daily life. As for ordinary temples, competing with one another to build them big and beautiful is a sign of the decline of the Buddha's teachings.

In recent times, many people have researched religions with great care and wondered why Buddhism flourished so greatly in the Lý and Trần dynasties, but then declined until the French colonial period. Meanwhile, some religions in the Mekong Delta attracted millions of followers within just a few years. In the end, people found the cause to be the building of temples. In the Trần dynasty, the kings (such as King Trần Anh Tông) were very fond of building temples. They thought that they had become kings because in a previous life they had built many temples and so had great merit. In that year the country suffered drought and crop failure, but the king still sent people into the forest to fell timber to go on building big temples. The officials who came from a Confucian background held that the reasoning and actions of such kings were not in keeping with what is right, and so opposed them fiercely. For them, the urgent matter at hand was to look after the people, because the people were hungry and suffering. So at that time a movement arose called "Confucians against Buddhism", even though the followers of Buddhism were the kings at the head of the realm. It was from then that the spirit of Buddhism gradually declined until the French colonial period. Later, Buddhism was revived thanks to a number of eminent monks. But in fact, because of the urgent circumstances, they too were concerned only with going to study to raise their knowledge, with building temples and organising the Sangha, and had not yet really gone deeply into practice.

In fact, Buddhism lies in the human mind, not in outward forms. Buddhism exists only when people know how to live altruistically and love and look after one another; it does not exist by means of big temples where the monks and nuns inside are not in harmony. So let us never think that building big temples brings much merit. Planting forests is what brings great merit to the world. All disciples of the Buddha, lay or monastic, must vow to plant a great many forests.

Living in this life, all of us are in debt to the forests. From the chair we sit on, the desk we write at, the house we live in, to buildings and works…, all are made of wood taken from green forests. So we must be grateful to the forests and must replant them. On the other hand, we must learn to limit our use of wood. If somewhere appeals for support in building a temple, we must see whether it is really necessary. If a temple is built for the purpose of competition, chasing outward show and straying from the thought of Buddhism, we need not support it. We should support only forest planting. Understanding the benefits of forests, some teachers always instruct their disciples to remember two things. First, not to build big temples. Second, when the teacher dies, the disciples must not buy a coffin; it is enough to wrap him in a simple mat and bury him to save expense. That attitude is truly worthy of respect. Later, when we go to do Buddhist work, if many lay Buddhists make offerings of money, we do not need to build more temples but should recreate forests. This merit is greater than building big temples. For planting forests preserves life for the world. It has the same significance as giving medicine, money and rice, or as releasing birds and fish to freedom…

It may be that the sutras and Buddhist books until now have not spoken of this because at that time deforestation was not serious. But today, when deforestation has spread to alarming levels, planting and protecting forests is extremely important. We must take an attitude to deforestation and see it as a crime against humanity. Unfortunately, many people today are not yet properly conscious of this. Even leaders (in Vietnam as elsewhere in the world) have not yet seen how dangerous deforestation is, and so have not punished forest destroyers thoroughly. Only when the leaders of the countries of the world understand that deforestation is a crime against humanity will they have a stronger awareness in protecting forests. At present they see crimes against humanity only in taking up guns and shooting people dead. They do not realise that those who go into the forest with chainsaws are also against humanity. So forests will go on being destroyed and human life will go on being threatened.

6. ATTITUDE TOWARDS NATURAL DISASTERS

Today, natural disasters occur frequently, threatening human life all over the world. The main cause is people's attitude to life. We have made mistakes, been selfish, and lived against nature, contrary to nature. So nature has "taken revenge" on us. That is the inevitable reaction, the karmic result that we must bear. What matters is that people must see their own karma and begin by correcting their old, mistaken way of living.

If only a few people are conscious of correcting and adjusting their attitude to life, that is not enough to change the situation of the world today. We must help many people understand together. That is, if we know the law of cause and effect, we must make sure that everyone else knows it too. If we know how to live altruistically and cherish nature, we must make others know how to live as we do. When the world has many people who live rightly, many who believe in cause and effect and karmic results, who live altruistically and cherish nature, this Earth will gradually have fewer natural disasters. So the work of education and spreading the Buddha's teachings is very important, while giving money to relieve areas hit by natural disasters and floods is only temporary and is by way of consolation. The responsibility of monks and nuns today is to educate lay Buddhists to live in harmony with nature and ethics in order to protect the world. For we are people who have received the Buddha's message of cherishing nature and cherishing forests.

We must contribute our efforts to protect this beloved Earth. It is said that long ago, the dinosaurs caused terrible destruction to the environment. They were huge, ate leaves and destroyed forests. Some dinosaurs even ate their own kind. So the dinosaur species had to bear the karmic consequences, and all were wiped out. It can be said that today we human beings are also repeating what the dinosaurs did. That is, we saw down every forest, catch every fish in the sea, catch every animal in the forest, and prepare to receive the end of the world. As human beings, we must not be so foolish as to close our eyes and follow the road of the dinosaurs. Let us act as intelligent people with awareness and responsibility to the world.

Let us cherish nature, save nature, protect the forests! That is the most urgent appeal that we earnestly send to everyone.