Welcoming Anagarika Ficus into the Sangha

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cyril
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Welcoming Anagarika Ficus into the Sangha

Post by cyril »

Buddhist monks from north-east Thailand have been so worried about the environment, they have been ordaining trees with sainthood since 1990!This unique trend emerged after a period of extensive deforestation in Thailand and Cambodia between 1961 and 1998. Phrakru Pitak Nanthakthun started and has been leading ceremonies to dress trees in ochre robes. After locating the oldest and largest trees in a forest, he — in the presence of members of his surrounding lay community — recites the appropriate scripture and then wraps the trees in traditional orange robes — just as is done for a novice monk. The tree is now sacred — and no logger will dare touch it. The tree is now a sacred monk. To harm an ordained monk is a religious taboo and legal offence.
https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/other/ho ... ar-BBTYwaa

I can only imagine that keeping the 10 novice precepts must be piece of cake when you are a tree. Except maybe that one about taking food after mid-day.
"You have to make the good out of the bad because that is all you have got to make it out of."
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well wisher
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Re: Welcoming Anagarika Ficus into the Sangha

Post by well wisher »

:rolling: LOL. Go trees! The rise of the treants!

Seriously thought, are trees and vegetation sentient or not?
I would prefer to think they are not sentient.
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Ayu
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Re: Welcoming Anagarika Ficus into the Sangha

Post by Ayu »

They are sentient in their own certain way.

A German forester, Peter Wohlleben, investigated about the teamwork between the trees of a forest and he found out, trees in a forest are working together like a social network.
https://www.peter-wohlleben.de/?set-culture=en

I think, trees are wise. They are able to heal human minds. They don't kill, don't lie, don't steal, don't eat that way and they do not consume alcohol as well. :lol: So, precepts are no problem.
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Queequeg
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Re: Welcoming Anagarika Ficus into the Sangha

Post by Queequeg »

While I have no problem with Buddhanature of trees, some folks will get apoplectic about that.

They do something similar in Japan - identifying trees or even whole forests, mountains, islands, as sacred, and its not unusual to find trees that are centuries old that have been carefully cared for since they were planted - talking about trees that are 800 or 1000 years old!

As a gardener, one of the greatest insights I've had is that one's view must think beyond the season and envision the endeavor through the years down the line. Its another level of gardening to see centuries. Something to be said of a person who can think in those terms.

Now that we have so much power to shape our environment, as a species we need to cultivate an attitude of stewardship toward nature, rather than an attitude of conquest. If ordaining trees gets people to do this, this is great. Cause people to think about the lifetime of the tree, which in turn I think helps think of us in the same time spans. Seems as technology moves faster and faster, its more and more necessary to deliberately contemplate time spans beyond the moment, consider how our actions have repercussions long into the future.
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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well wisher
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Re: Welcoming Anagarika Ficus into the Sangha

Post by well wisher »

I agree there needs to be more educated balance between people's livelihood and economic prosperity, and respect for natural environment.

Harvest too much tress or natural excessively and too quickly, and nature strikes back such as floods & mudslide, also you end up harming yourself via more toxic pollination, ... etc.
These are well proven facts already, plenty of well documented historical cases, even plenty of ongoing examples too in many different countries.
So overall I agree that it is good and heartening to see these Thai monks ordaining those trees, in light of mass deforestation in Thailand.

But on the other extreme, you might even anger vegetarians if you apply that sentience categorization TOO broadly; like if you apply it to all vegetation and fruits and vegetables, then -
Does that imply that the Jains were more correct after all?
Would you rather have human race die from mass-starvation to avoid harming sentient vegetables? At least it would be peaceful end :shrug:
Aren't us humans part of nature as well?
Queequeg wrote: Mon Feb 25, 2019 6:11 pm Now that we have so much power to shape our environment, as a species we need to cultivate an attitude of stewardship toward nature, rather than an attitude of conquest. If ordaining trees gets people to do this, this is great. Cause people to think about the lifetime of the tree, which in turn I think helps think of us in the same time spans. Seems as technology moves faster and faster, its more and more necessary to deliberately contemplate time spans beyond the moment, consider how our actions have repercussions long into the future.
:good:

Agreed, maybe a more properly balanced & responsible & measured approach is a better concept to go by, generally speaking?
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cyril
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Re: Welcoming Anagarika Ficus into the Sangha

Post by cyril »

well wisher wrote: Wed Feb 27, 2019 3:23 pm
But on the other extreme, you might even anger vegetarians if you apply that sentience categorization TOO broadly; like if you apply it to all vegetation and fruits and vegetables, then -
Does that imply that the Jains were more correct after all?

There is an academic paper titled "The Problem of the Sentience of Plants in Earliest Buddhism" authored by Lambert Schmithausen. If you have a scribd account, you can read it there. It used to be somewhere on the net as a free pdf but for some reason I cannot find it anymore. The author argues that plant sentience was actually accepted in Buddhism at an early stage. Hence the Vinaya rules against harming plants and seeds, or roaming around during the rain season (to prevent harming seedlings and saplings), or eating bulbous plants such as onion and garlic, and so on. It's an interesting read.
"You have to make the good out of the bad because that is all you have got to make it out of."
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Tenma
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Re: Welcoming Anagarika Ficus into the Sangha

Post by Tenma »

Dalai Lama's Environmental Verses(from the Dalai Lama's "My Spiritual Journey"):

O Lord Tathagata, born in the tree of the Ikshvaku lineage,
O Unparalleled One who sees the all-pervasive interdependence
Between environment and sentient beings,
Samsara and nirvana, animate and inanimate,
O You who teach in this world from compassion,
Confer on us Your loving-kindness!
O Savior, whom we invoke with the name Avalokiteshvara,
Because You embody the compassion of all the Buddhas,
We pray to You to make our minds ripen and bear fruit,
So that we can observe reality without illusion.
Stubborn self-centeredness, which has impregnated our minds
Since beginningless time,
Contaminates, soils, and pollutes the environment
Created by the shared karma of all sentient beings.
Lakes and pools have lost their clarity and freshness.
The atmosphere is poisoned.
The heavenly canopy of nature, rising into the burning firmament
Has shattered, and sentient beings
Are suffering from diseases heretofore unknown.
Mountains with eternal snows, resplendent with glory,
Are bending and collapsing, reduced to water.
The majestic oceans are overflowing their age-old limits
And drowning islands.
Fire, water, and wind expose us to countless dangers.
Oppressive heat is drying out our luxuriant forests,
Lashing our world with unprecedented storms,
While the oceans are yielding their salt to the elements.
Although peoples do not lack wealth,
They cannot buy themselves the luxury of breathing pure air.
Rain showers and streams no longer clean anything
But become inert, powerless liquids.
Human beings and living organisms, countless in number,
Inhabiting the realms of water and earth,
Are tottering beneath the yoke of physical pain
Caused by malignant ailments.
Their minds are weakened by laziness, stupidity, and ignorance.
The joys of the body and mind have gone far, far away.
We are uselessly soiling
The beautiful bosom of our Mother Earth,
Destroying her trees to serve our short-term greed,
So that fertile soil becomes sterile desert.
The interdependent nature of the external environment
And the internal world of human beings,
As described in the Tantras
And in treatises on medicine and astronomy,
Has been verified by present experience.
The earth is the house of living beings;
It is equable and impartial to animate and inanimate alike.
Thus spoke the Buddha with a voice that speaks the truth,
Taking the great Earth as his witness.
Just as a noble being recognizes the kindness of a wise mother
And shows gratitude to her,
So we should treat with affection and thoughtfulness
The Earth, our universal mother,
Who gives everyone equal nourishment.
Let us abandon waste and pollution
Of the clean, clear nature of the four elements,
And let us stop destroying the well-being of peoples!
Let us devote ourselves on the contrary to actions that benefit everyone!
Buddha, the Great Sage, was born beneath a tree,
Then sat beneath a tree to complete his Enlightenment,
After having conquered his passions.
And it is beneath two trees that he passed into nirvana.
In truth, the Buddha held trees in high esteem.
The place where the emanation of Manjushri,
Lama Tsongkhapa, caused his body to be born,
Is marked by a sandalwood tree
Whose leaves by the hundreds of thousands bear the effigy of the Buddha.
Is it not well known that certain transcendent deities,
Eminent divinities and spirits of place,
Establish their residence in trees?
Flowering trees clean the wind
And let us breathe an air that regenerates life.
They charm the eyes and calm the mind.
Their shade creates a welcoming place of rest.
In the Vinaya, the Buddha advises monks
To care for fragile trees.
This teaching teaches us that it is virtuous
To plant trees and protect their growth.
The Buddha forbids monks to cut down
Or to have others cut down living plants,
To destroy seeds or soil the green, fresh grass.
Should that not inspire in us
Love and protection for our environment?
It is said that, in the heavenly realms,
Trees emanate from the blessings of the Buddha
And echo his words,
Expressing his fundamental teaching of impermanence.
It is trees that bring rain
And retain the essence of the soil's fertility
The Kalpataru, the wish-fulfilling tree,
Is supposed to grow on the Earth to help us accomplish all our goals.
Long ago, our ancestors ate the fruits of trees
And covered themselves with their leaves.
They learned to make fire by rudding wood together,
Even in this era of science and technology,
Trees provide shelter for us,
Chairs to sit down in and beds to sleep in.
When the heart is burning with the fire of anger, fed by arguments,
Trees offer their fresh, welcoming shade.
In trees reside the sighs of all life on Earth.
When they have disappeared,
The continent called by the name of the Jambu tree
Will be nothing but a gloomy, devastated desert.
Nothing is dearer to the living than life.
Having recognized this, in the rules of the Vinaya,
The Buddha establishes prohibitions,
Such as not using water that contains living creatures.
In the remote lands of the Himalayas,
In the old days, in Tibet, they forbade hunting and fishing
And even construction work at certain times.
These traditions are noble, for they preserve and cherish
The lives of the humblest creatures, innocent and defenseless.
Playing with the lives of other beings, without hesitation or feeling,
As in sporting activities like hunting or fishing,
Represents senseless and useless violence,
Defying the solemn rights of the living.
While being attentive to the independent nature
Of all creatures, both animate and inanimate,
We should never relax our efforts
To protect and preserve the energy of nature.
A special day, in a special month of every year,
Should be dedicated to the planting of a tree.
Thus, we should take up our responsibility toward our brethren,
For our own greatest happiness, and the happiness of all.
May the force of observing what is right,
Abstaining from evil conduct and harmful actions,
Feed the prosperity of the world and increase it!
May such an attitude increase the vigor of living beings
And allow them to flourish!
May pastoral joy and natural happiness
Continue to grow and spread, embracing everything that lives!
Tenma
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Re: Welcoming Anagarika Ficus into the Sangha

Post by Tenma »

A commentary to the Dalai Lama's prayer and great pictures of trees and shrines:

http://www.obregoneditions.com/Buddhist ... quette.pdf
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