Buddhism tells of the basic Four Sufferings of birth, sickness, aging, and death, inevitable for all, and of the Eight Sufferings of not getting the desired, parting with the beloved, meeting with the hated, and the rampant commotion of the five aggregates (form, idea, feeling, formation, consciousness) plus the Four Sufferings. We are now having social and ecological suffering with dictatorships, nukes, wars, etc., and global warming, mass extinction of species, etc.
The source of suffering (duk-kha, wrong-going, dissatisfaction) is said to be the craving (taṅhā, thirst) of the Triple Poisons (craving, divisiveness, delusion) of our karma (action, habit, heredity). Nukes, wars, and the global problematique seem to come from divisiveness, but essentially all come from craving and, fundamentally, delusion. Delusion (a-vijjā/a-vidyā, non-witness, nescience) is no witness of nirvana and of the Dharma of Dependent Co-origination, Law of all phenomena.
The Triple Learnings of morality, concentration, and prognosis solve the Triple Poisons, leading to nirvana and awakening to the Dharma (Truth/Ethic). The Dharma is the law of limitless time and space, thus includes all phenomena in the network of relation and relativity – nothing and no one can escape from it. Violators must suffer from their violations. We see dictators and despots suffering from their crimes and eventually succumbing to instability, insanity and infamy.
The Four Sufferings are natural and inevitable, but can be conquered by cultivation (bhāvanā, causative of bhava, natural becoming) of the Triple Learnings, especially concentration-meditation (samādh-jhāna/ chan/ zen), reaching nirvana and prognosis therein. Nirvana (＝nivāta: no-wind) is the state beyond karma wind blowing us up and down, as in the stock phrase “lamp light in no-wind” (nivāte padīpa). In this state one can calmly and clearly witness the Dharma for prognosis.
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September 17, 2022 C.E.
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Note:
- Global problematique means intertwined global problems like global warming, mass extinction of species, mass production/ consumption/ waste, pollution, population explosion, etc.
- Better than the one conquering thousands upon thousands in wars
Is the one conquering oneself. He is the greatest of war conquerors.
Better is the conquering of self than the conquering of others,
By the self-controlled person always in restrained action.
Even a god, spirits, Death Devil, and Brahma
Cannot overturn the victory of such a person.
Better than the one who would live one hundred years not seeing birth and death
Is the one living one day seeing birth and death.
Better than the one who would live one hundred years not seeing the immortal state
Is the one living one day seeing the immortal state.
Better than the one who would live one hundred years not seeing the highest dhamma
Is the one living one day seeing the highest dhamma.
Dhammapada 103－115
- The Buddha said, “I am decaying, adding my age, passing the journey of my life. I grew old to the age of eighty. Like an old cart moving with difficulty with the help of leather straps, my cart is supported by straps. When, however, the one who has striven stays in concentration with no characteristics, extinguishing every perception and attached to no characteristics, his body is healthy. Therefore, in this world, make yourself an island to resort to and take refuge in yourself and not in others. Make dhamma an island to resort to and take refuge in dhamma and not in others.”
ブッダは一切に不可避な生老病死の基本四苦と求不得苦、愛別離苦、怨憎会苦、五蘊（形態、観念、感覚、行為、意識）盛苦に四苦を加えた八苦を説きました。私達は今、独裁、核、戦争等と地球温暖化、種の大量絶滅等を伴う社会、生態の苦を持っています。
苦 (duk-kha, 不₋行、不満)の源は私達の業（行為、習慣、遺伝）の貪瞋痴の三毒の中の貪欲（taṅhā、渇望）であると言われています。核、戦争、地球問題群は瞋恚（怒り、差別）に由来するように見えますが、全ては貪欲から、さらに根本的には愚痴（無智）に由来します。愚痴（無智：a-vijjā/a-vidyā、無確証、無明）は涅槃と縁起法、一切現象の法の無確証です。
戒定慧の三学は三毒を解決し涅槃と法（真理・倫理）に導きます。法は無量の時空の法であり、相依・相対の網目細工の一切現象を含みます－何も誰もそれを逃れることは出来ません。それを犯す者はその違反により苦しみます。独裁者達や専制者達が彼らの犯罪により苦しみついには不安定、不潔癖、不名誉の討ち死にするのを目の当たりにしています。
四苦は自然で不可避ですが、三学の修行（bhāvanā、bhava自然の成り行きの使役形）、特にその中の禅₋定（samādh-jhāna/ chan/ zen）により涅槃に達してその中にある般若（智慧：診断）により克服できます。涅槃（nirvāṇa/ nibbāṇa＝ni-vāta=no wind, 無風）は「無風の灯火」（nivāte padīpa）の常套句にあるように、業風が私達を動揺させるのを超えた状態のことです。この状態で人は法を冷静に明瞭に直証をして智慧（診断）に供するのです。
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2022共通年9月17日
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註：
- 地球問題群とは相互に関連する地球温暖化、種の大量絶滅、大量生産・消費・廃棄、汚染、人口爆発等の地球諸問題のことです。
2. 戦争で千・千に打ち勝つよりも一己に打ち克つ方が良い、
彼は戦争勝者の最も偉大なる者である。
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他者に勝つよりも自己に克つのが良い。
常に抑制された行為で克己の人により。
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神や精霊、死神や梵天さえも
その様な人の勝利を覆すことはできない。
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例え百年生きても生死を見ることがなければ、
一日生きて生死を見る方が良い。
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例え百年生きても不死の状態を見ることがなければ、
一日生きて不死の状態を見る方が良い。
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例え百年生きても最高の法を見ることがなければ、
一日生きて最高の法を見る方が良い。
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法句経（真理の言葉集）103‐115
3. ブッダは言われた、「私は齢を重ねて人生の旅を過ごして壊れつつある。年老いて八十歳になった。革紐の助けを借りてやっと動く古い荷車のようだ。しかし、努力して無相の三昧に停まり一切の感受を捨て、如何なる相にも執着しないでいる者には身体は健全である。それ故、この世に於いて、自らを依るべき洲（す：しま）とし、自らを避難所として他者に依らないように。法を依るべき洲とし、法に避難所を得て他に依らないようにしなさい。」
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