破局苦
「長い輪廻の間に流してきた涙の方が、四大海の水よりもはるかに多い」とブッダ（覚者）は言ったが、自他・衆生・一切の過去・現在・未来に至る諸苦は限り無い。過去の苦は現在に及び現在の苦は未来に至り自分の現在の楽は他者一切の未来の苦になるかも知れない。
個々の生物には避け難い生老病死の四苦があり、一般的な愛別離苦・怨憎会苦・求不得苦・五蘊盛苦と合わせて八苦と言われる。人類が受け継いだ業三毒の貪瞋痴はその共同体である社会・国家・文明に妄想・束縛・差別・搾取・殺戮・破壊として時空に拡大している。
過去の戦争、奴隷、植民、征服、文化・宗教・人種・民族・原住民・性別等差別・破壊・殺戮、産業・軍事・核・汚染・破壊・殺戮等が現在の差別・苦になり、現在の戦争・核兵器・原発・汚染・破壊、他種差別・搾取・殺戮、環境汚染・破壊等未来世界苦になる物がある。
ジェラルド・バーニーは1993年地球倫理宣言発出の世界宗教会議で「我等何を為すべきか」の講演で人口・貧困・食料・資源・環境・種絶滅等の相互関連問題を「地球問題群」として科学技術だけで解決出来ず価値観行動転換が必要とし宗教の反省・役割を強調した。
「国家主義と戦争の世紀」を超えて21世紀は新しい世紀になる事が望まれたがロシアのウクライナ戦争、イスラエルのガザ破壊・殲滅及び米国とのイラン戦争や気候変動対策逆行、国家主義・軍事・核強化、軍事独裁等、更にはパンデミック、AI悪用など新しい苦がある。
終末時計は世界終末までこれ迄最短の85秒とされたが、核戦争ボタンが個人の手中にあり戦争の成り行き次第心理で何が起きるか分からず実は0秒と言える。ステーブン・スター達は高高度核爆発で文明の基盤そのものを破壊し得る核が所有されていると警告している。
縁起世界では一切が繋がっておりその一ヶ所の小さな異変が個人・社会・世界の死・破滅・破局になる可能性がある。縁起世界は帝釈網で例示されるが、その個々の真珠も実際には酸素・引力・電磁場・素粒子・量子等から見れば他と離れていずお互いに織りなされている。
高高度核爆発による電磁パルスは電力・通信等社会基盤を破壊し、都市の大火災煤煙は核の冬を起こして日照・気温・農業生産を激減させ、世界的飢餓をもたらす可能性がある。気候変動・森林破壊・海洋汚染等他の環境問題は生命を支える諸条件を破壊する恐れがある。
これらの苦は一個人・国境・世代・種の境界を超えて波及する。現在人類の便利・利益・権力の追求が、他者・他種・未来世代の生命と生存条件を奪い得る。破局苦の特徴は諸苦が相互連関し、累積・増幅・連鎖して生命を支える全体的条件そのものを破壊し得る事である。
Catastrophic Suffering
The Buddha (the Awakened One) said, “The tears you have shed throughout the long course of saṃsāra (birth-death) are far greater than the waters of the four great oceans.” The sufferings of oneself and others, of all beings and all existence, throughout the past, present, and future, are immeasurable. The sufferings of the past extend into the present, and those of the present reach into the future. What brings pleasure to oneself today may bring suffering to others and all existence in the future.
Every living being inevitably encounters the Four Sufferings of birth, aging, illness, and death. Together with the four additional sufferings—separation from loved ones, encountering those one hates, not obtaining what one desires, and the suffering of the flourishing five aggregates—these constitute the Eight Sufferings. The Three Poisons of greed, hatred, and delusion, inherited through humanity’s accumulated karma, have expanded across space and time into delusion, bondage, discrimination, exploitation, slaughter, and destruction within human communities, societies, states, and civilizations.
The wars, slavery, colonization, conquest, discrimination, destruction, and slaughter of the past—based on culture, religion, race, ethnicity, indigenous identity, gender, and other distinctions—together with industrial, military, and nuclear activities, pollution, destruction, and killing, have produced discrimination and suffering that persist into the present. Likewise, today’s wars, nuclear weapons, nuclear power plants, pollution and destruction, discrimination against other species, their exploitation and slaughter, and environmental contamination and devastation may become sources of suffering for the world of the future.
At the 1993 Parliament of the World’s Religions, where the Declaration toward a Global Ethic was proclaimed, Gerald Barney delivered an address entitled “What Shall We Do?” He described the interconnected problems of population, poverty, food, resources, the environment, species extinction, and other global concerns as the “Global Problematique.” He emphasized that these problems could not be solved by science and technology alone, but required transformations in human values and behavior, calling upon religions to reflect critically on themselves and fulfill their responsibilities.
It was hoped that humanity would move beyond the twentieth century, the “century of nationalism and war,” into a new and better twenty-first century. Instead, we have witnessed Russia’s war against Ukraine, Israel’s destruction and devastation of Gaza, war involving the United States and Iran, reversals in climate-change measures, the resurgence of nationalism, military and nuclear buildups, and military dictatorships. In addition, new forms of suffering have emerged through pandemics, the misuse of artificial intelligence, and other developments.
The Doomsday Clock has been set at 85 seconds to midnight, its closest point ever to global catastrophe. Yet the power to initiate nuclear war rests in the hands of individuals, and no one can predict what might happen under the changing circumstances and psychological pressures of war. In this sense, we might say that the clock already stands at zero seconds. Steven Starr and others have warned that nuclear weapons capable of producing electromagnetic pulses through high-altitude nuclear explosions could destroy the very foundations of modern civilization.
In the world of Dependent Origination, all things are interconnected. Even a small disturbance in one place may lead to death, devastation, or catastrophe affecting individuals, societies, and the entire world. This world of interdependence is illustrated by Indra’s Net, in which every jewel reflects all the others. Yet even these individual jewels are not truly separate: through oxygen, gravity, electromagnetic fields, elementary particles, quantum phenomena, and other physical relationships, they are mutually connected and interwoven.
Electromagnetic pulses generated by high-altitude nuclear explosions could destroy essential infrastructure, including electric power grids and communications systems. Smoke and soot from massive urban fires could produce a nuclear winter, drastically reducing sunlight, temperatures, and agricultural production, potentially causing worldwide famine. Climate change, deforestation, ocean pollution, and other forms of environmental destruction also threaten the conditions that sustain life.
These forms of suffering extend beyond the boundaries of individuals, nations, generations, and species. Humanity’s present pursuit of convenience, profit, and power may deprive others, other species, and future generations of their lives and the conditions necessary for survival.
The defining characteristic of catastrophic suffering is that different forms of suffering are interconnected, accumulating, intensifying, and cascading into one another until they threaten to destroy the very conditions that sustain life as a whole.
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