Donating to a better earth ahead

First, let’s consider the chances of being reborn as a non-human creature. The earth is said to be home to 8.7 million different forms of life. Even if you leave out a reasonable proportion for plants (experts would help set the record straight), chances are you would be born again in the form of any one of the remaining millions of creatures – animals, insects, marine species etc. This is where all those who care about afterlife should work, for example, towards preserving our biodiversity and ecosystem. Given that being reborn as a human is a very long shot, you have a good chance of coming here again as one of the other millions of species in the future life. The plight of the sea creatures being washed ashore these days shows why it should worry us – the prospective guests of this planet.

By SUSANTHA HEWA

Understandably, many of us begin to take more interest in the otherworld than in the one we inhabit as we grow old. This enhanced interest in afterlife manifests itself in our increasing engagement with religious activities that have incessantly got crowded out by numerous worldly concerns competing for our attention – education, entertainment, work, money, friendships, loyalties, sacrifices, jealousies and rivalries, duties and responsibilities, etc. Little wonder you forget the blurry existence of a next world, till it begins to loom larger by the day as you inch towards the edge of the precipice.

In many religions the next life is either hell or heaven. Buddhists slightly differ as they believe in samsara the endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth, in which you may repeatedly be born in other realms belonging to ghouls (prethaloka) in addition to heaven and hell. What is of more concern for many is that we may also revisit this world either as a human or in any other life form numbering millions. Thus, by performing religious rituals we expect to be born in heaven or avoid the other possibility of perpetual suffering in hell, or in other disagreeable places like the pretha loka. And most of us relish the idea of coming back as a human, particularly, to be born with a silver spoon in the mouth. This fervent wish to find yourself in wealth and comfort in your afterlife is expressed when we say such things as “pin karanna one ëwage rataka/pawulaka upadinna” (only those who have acquired ample merit can be born in such a wealthy family/country). We also show this partiality towards this world when we want our near and dear ones to be reborn amongst us. This sentiment is given expression repeatedly on banners at funerals: “newatha apa atharama ipadëwa.”

Increased engagement with formal rituals, such as observing the five precepts, alms giving (daana), religious pilgrimages, meditation, etc., is the favoured way to accumulate merit, especially among adults, as a means of ensuring a better deal in the next life. However, given our preoccupation with revisiting this world after death, it is strange that few of us think that bettering the conditions of the planet earth itself, afflicted as it is with many woes, would go a long way in improving our afterlife. Although we can hardly do anything to improve the conditions of the hell and other disagreeable places which are likely destinations, we can surely do a lot to better this world where most of us wish to return to.

As we all agree, our world is plagued with innumerable woes – war, environmental pollution, crime, poverty, starvation, persecution, numerous forms of discrimination and suppression based on skin-colour, “ethnicity,” religion and gender, cruelty to animals, drug trafficking, corruption and scores of other injustices, vaccine nationalism/diplomacy being the latest variant.

If all of us do our bit to rid the world of those ills and injustices, we would leave it one day to return to a slightly improved planet after a post-death sojourn. This is all the more relevant since we are likely to come here again and again countless times in different forms. Thus, aren’t we also doing our own future “selves” or “replications” in the samsaric cycle a good turn, by contributing towards improving the conditions of this planet?

First, let’s consider the chances of being reborn as a non-human creature. The earth is said to be home to 8.7 million different forms of life. Even if you leave out a reasonable proportion for plants (experts would help set the record straight), chances are you would be born again in the form of any one of the remaining millions of creatures – animals, insects, marine species, etc. This is where all those who care about afterlife should work, for example, towards preserving our biodiversity and ecosystem. Given that being reborn as a human is a very long shot, you have a good chance of coming here again as one of the other millions of species in the future life. The plight of the sea creatures being washed ashore these days shows why it should worry us – the prospective guests of this planet.

The dead tortoises and varieties of fish found in their hundreds on our beaches daily, after the calamitous end of the X- Press Pearl, are a grim reminder of the impact of human activity (or, inactivity!) on seemingly safe and inaccessible life forms. It proves the interconnectivity of all earthly life – food for thought for those of us who don’t wish to reappear on this planet in an aquatic shape. Hence, an enhanced sensitivity to our ecosystem would be a predominantly religious concern, as well as a gainful other-worldly investment for the majority in our country. At least vegans, and those who fight against killing animals for meat, have a strong message for all those who seriously wish to avoid being a source of “animal protein” in the life after.

It does not mean that those of us who are more optimistic about returning to this world as a human being have no worries. For example, you never know where you would be born. If you contemplate the possibility of being born in a poor family, you may from now onwards do your best to uplift the standard of living of the poor, so that you may find yourself in relatively improved circumstances on your return. Of course, you could gain merit by being charitable to the needy on and off and get your due merits (kusal), but that would not improve your case if your karmic forces were to consign you to any one of the millions of poor families. Hence the urgent need for helping to eradicate poverty across the globe.

Let’s just consider another instance. Although you may be a Buddhist in this life there is nothing to stop you from being a person of another “ethnicity” and religion at the next turn. Surely you wouldn’t want to come to the earth as one belonging to a suppressed or ill-treated group. For example, nobody would fancy being another person to be strangled to death on a pavement. Or, you would not cherish jumping into the flames of your husband’s funeral pyre in a sati pooja. Many such inequities are aplenty on this planet of ours. Thus by helping in any way you can to alleviate or eradicate suffering and injustice from our world, is a sure way of returning to a better world.

As such, Buddhists, while increasing their attention on the formal and ritualistic aspects of their religion as they mature in years and awareness, would stand to gain more in the afterlife by helping to make this world a more refined place, where all humans can live in dignity without being discriminated on any grounds, and can equally benefit by all the progress we make. Since our samsara can drag us to this earth over and over again even million times in different forms, Buddhists can do a lot to improve our earthly life here. Certainly, it will make our samsaric journey much less painful.