文化と文明
文明のコペルニクス的転換をした軸時代の宗教精神文化革命と前後聖賢人モーセ、ブッダ、イエス、ムハンマッド等は皆世俗を離れ瞑想をし聖なる真善美を発見し世界に戻り戒定慧の実践を新社会・世界建設の為に説き実践し今日に至っている。
これを「歴史の研究」で文明の興亡・挑戦応戦を書いたアーノルド・トインビーは「隠退と復帰」と表現しているが、それは金字塔文明の挑戦に対する命文化の応戦であり文明の諸問題に対する文化による応答・回答であると考えることが出来る。
一般には文明と文化を混同・曖昧にして問題解決に資さないが、文明は物・力（を買う金）を求める人間特有の都市化であり、文化は心・和（を持つ命）を分け合う人間を超えて動植物・生態系・宇宙・進化に共通する真善美聖の創造共有である。
軸時代の宗教革命の本質は自己中心の業生活による罪（分離病）を超え、普遍法への覚醒実践によって聖（全体健全）に至る転換であった。知意情に対応する真善美は精神文化の基本価値であり聖はその統合・調和・繁栄を測る究極基準である。
真・善・美・聖は人間の独創ではなく宇宙・自然・生命の中に現れるものを人類が長い歴史を通して徐々に発見・感得・理解・修養・創造・交流してきたものであり、真善美も拡大深化更新され聖（全体健全）が規範とならなければならない。
地球の内部の熱岩石の流動が大陸を動かし、山河大地を形成運歩し、草木が芽吹き花開き蝶來り、万物生命が栄える。普遍法縁起により地球は内外力により自転公転し星雲群は暗黒物質・エネルギーにより構造形成・拡散・進化し真善美聖を表す。
現代科学は138億年前インフレーション・ビッグバン以後４６億年前の地球誕生、４０億年前の生命誕生、７百万年前の人類系誕生、30万年前の現人種誕生、約5千年前の文明形成、約２千５百年前の軸時代とされ今世界終末時計は85秒前を指す
約１万年前物の生産・農業革命の蓄積は5千年前力の社会・都市革命の権力は２千５百年精神・文化革命をを起こしたが都市国家から国民国家へ発展した文明は王・皇帝・大統領等一極支配の独裁・戦争・核・破局の集合業四苦の袋小路に入った。
金字塔文明は三毒による三Mの奪い合いによるMAD MAGIC MONEYによる税金の金物力保持・行使と命心和無視・軽視の金字塔一極支配であり命帝網文化の法制により金権政治・支配・奴隷化の監視・是正・転換に大衆は注意・をすべきである。
その根本原因は普遍法縁起の相依相対に反する独立主催の自我・自国のの痴による物・力の貪・瞋（三毒）と五禍にある。その解決は法による戒定慧三学と五福にあり身・心（知情意）の地球倫理・禅定・先見により民主・平和・命・共生にある。
文化とは生物・生態系から地球・宇宙に至る一切存在の相互依存の活動と関係の法則の働きに目覚め真善美聖の価値を自覚・修養・創造・交流する営みであり、その実践により全生命・全世界・全世代の健全と調和に参与・貢献する営みである。
Culture and Civilization
The sages and spiritual teachers of the religious, spiritual, and cultural revolution around the Axial Age—including Moses, the Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad—brought about a Copernican transformation of civilization. They withdrew from worldly life, engaged in meditation and contemplation, discovered the sacred values of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty, and returned to the world to teach and practice the Three Learnings—morality, synthesis, and prognosis, or their equivalents in their respective traditions—for the creation of a new society and world. Their teachings and practices have continued to the present day.
Arnold Toynbee, who examined the rise and fall of civilizations and their challenges and responses in A Study of History, described this process as “Withdrawal and Return.” We may understand it as the response of the Culture of Life to the challenges of Pyramidal Civilization, and as culture’s response and solution to the problems of civilization.
Civilization and culture are generally confused or left vaguely distinguished, which does little to help solve our problems. Civilization (urbanization, from civitas: city) may be understood as the uniquely human process that seeks Matter and Might, with Money (3Ms) to acquire them. Culture (cultivation), on the other hand, is the creation and sharing of Truth, Goodness, Beauty, and Holiness through the sharing of Heart, Harmony, and Holy Life (3Hs). It extends beyond humanity to animals, plants, ecosystems, the universe, and evolution itself.
The essence of the Axial Age religious revolution was the transformation from sin (Separate Sickness), arising from self-centered karmic life, to holiness (Wholly Wholesomeness) through awakening to and practicing the Universal Law (Dharma, Dao, etc). Truth, Goodness, and Beauty, corresponding respectively to intellection, volition, and emotion, are the fundamental values of spiritual culture. Holiness is the ultimate criterion for evaluating their integration, harmony, and flourishing.
Truth, Goodness, Beauty, and Holiness are not uniquely human inventions. Rather, they are manifested in the universe, nature, and life, and humanity has gradually discovered, appreciated, understood, cultivated, created, and communicated them throughout its long history. Our understanding and appreciation of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty must continually expand, deepen, and be renewed, while Holiness must serve as their guiding norm.
The Earth’s internal heat and the slow movement of its rocky mantle move the continents, forming and transforming mountains, rivers, and lands. Plants sprout, flowers bloom, butterflies come, and all forms of life flourish. Through the Universal Dharma of Dependent Origination, the Earth rotates and revolves under the influence of internal and external forces, while galaxies and other cosmic structures form and evolve through gravitational processes involving dark matter, and the universe expands under the influence of dark energy. In these universal processes, we can recognize manifestations of Truth, Goodness, Beauty, and Holiness.
According to modern science, the universe began its early evolution through inflation and the Big Bang about 13.8 billion years ago. The Earth formed about 4.6 billion years ago; life emerged approximately 4 billion years ago; the human lineage appeared about 7 million years ago; modern humans (Homo sapiens) emerged about 300,000 years ago; civilization developed about 5,000 years ago; and the Axial Age began about 2,500 years ago. Yet today, the Doomsday Clock stands at only 85 seconds to midnight.
The accumulation of material production through the Agricultural/Production Revolution about 10,000 years ago, and the concentration of political and social power through the Urban/Social Revolution about 5,000 years ago, helped give rise to the Spiritual/Cultural Revolution about 2,500 years ago. Nevertheless, civilization, which developed from city-states to nation-states, has reached a dead end through the concentration of power in kings, emperors, presidents, and other rulers. Humanity now faces the Four Collective Sufferings of dictatorship, war, nuclear catastrophe, and civilizational collapse, arising from collective karma.
Pyramidal Civilization is characterized by the struggle to acquire and monopolize the 3 Ms driven by the 3 Poisons. Its systems of MAD MAGIC MONEY (Mutually Assured Destruction: Nukes, Military-Academic-Goverment-Industry-Complex, Means Of Nearly Every Yield) sustain and exercise control over money, material resources, and power, including those obtained through taxation, while disregarding the 3 Hs. This results in pyramidal, centralized domination. Citizens must remain vigilant in monitoring, correcting, and transforming plutocracy, domination, and enslavement through legal and institutional systems grounded in the Culture of Life Indra-net.
The fundamental causes lie in the delusion of independent, self-subsisting selves and states, contrary to the interrelated relativity of the Universal Dharma of Dependent Origination. This delusion gives rise to greed for the 3 Ms coming from the 3 Poisons, resulting in the Five Calamities: Delusion, Bondage, Discrimination, Exploitation, and Destruction.
The solution lies in practicing the 3 Learnings—morality, synthesis, and prognosis—and realizing the Five Blessings: Awakening, Freedom, Equality, Friendship, and Peace. Through global ethics, meditation, and foresight, cultivating body and heart-mind, we can establish democracy, peace, respect for life, and harmonious coexistence.
Culture is the activity of awakening to the workings of the universal laws governing the interrelated relative activities of all existence—from living beings and ecosystems to the Earth and the universe—and of consciously cultivating, creating, and communicating the values of Truth, Goodness, Beauty, and Holiness. Through this practice, culture participates in and contributes to the health and harmony of All Lives, the Whole World, and All Future Generations.
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