Don’t say “Mother Nature” – say “Mother Karma”

 In Buddhism we do not consider nature to be our mother. We do not embrace such ideas of mother nature as a benevolent goddess. We do not venerate “mother Earth”. In fact, as long as we are not enlightened, karma is our only mother because we are born from our karma, that is, from our own thoughts, words and deeds. Individual karma is responsible for what we are now, how we look, how beautiful or ugly we are, how smart or stupid, how healthy or sick, and if we die young or old. We are the effects of our own karma and what we do, say or think creates us in the future. Also, individual karma and the collective karma is responsible for the apparition of world systems and universes, each with their own different physical laws. Actually, you are the mother or parent of the world you live in now with all its exterior appearances, just like you are the creator of your own dreams at night which arise due to your thoughts and actions during the day. The dreamer is the creator of his own dream and because samsara is our collective dream, we are the very origin of all that appears in our samsaric universe. The earth itself appeared from our own collective karma and it is part of our collective dream.

We are the parents of whatever we see, hear or experience here in this world. The nature and everything that exist in our world can be good to us because of our own karma and it can be cruel also due to our own karma, just like a dream can be a beautiful experience or a nightmare depending on the deeds, thoughts and obsessions during the day.

In the dream we also believe that the things we see and experience are real. However, they have only a relative existence in the sense that they are real for us as long as we dream but are not truly real because they are not present when we wake up. In the same way, what we see and experience in our so-called wake up state which is in fact, still part of the samsaric dream, is a relative reality because it will not be present when we truly wake up as Buddhas in the Pure Land of Amida. Actually, only Buddhahood is the true Reality and Sukhavati or the Pure Land of Amida is the capital city of the Realm of the Awakened Ones – the Realm of True Reality. As you know, the word “Buddha” means the “Awakened One”. 

Thus, until we are born into the true Reality of the Pure Land of Amida Buddha and become Buddhas ourselves, we cannot say that nature as it appears to our deluded senses is our mother. Until that moment of perfect Enlightenment, karma is our only mother and father and to whatever we see around us. It is said that the same river is seen by hell dwellers as a river of fire, by the hungry ghosts (pretas) as a river of puss and blood, by the humans as water, and by the gods as a river of nectar. This is a clear indication that all the so-called exterior world is our own projection, a relative reality depending on our karma and not a dear mother who cares for us or hates us and destroys us.

We, Buddhist disciples, should not fall prey to wrong views and do not venerate deified forces of nature because if we do that it is like we are venerating our own projections. Yes, we accept that there are non-human beings out there in the form of powerful spirits or bhuma [Bhumi] gods who inhabit various places in nature but they are also unenlightened samsaric beings drowned in delusion and suffering, so they deserve our respect and compassion, not our veneration. They too, are part of the beings who have contributed to the collective karma that caused this world and universe to appear. They too, have their individual karma that made them what they are now and is responsible for their specific type of illusion, obscurations and powers, but in no way should they be regarded as eternal forces of nature that exist forever. That is not the way beings of various kinds, including gods and spirits are understood in the Buddha Dharma.

Rather than venerating the so-called “mother nature” or “mother earth”[1] or nonhuman samsaric beings, themselves prisoners like us of the same collective dream, we should better take refuge in Amida Buddha and say His Name in faith (Nembutsu) because only through Him we will attain liberation and we’ll be able to help and guide others escape birth and death.

Shinran said, “the Nembutsu alone is true and real”. The Name of Amida is the only contact we have with the world of Reality and Enlightenment, with Amida Buddha and His Pure Land. Although we say it in the dream, the Nembutsu is the only element that does not belong to the dream. The Name of Amida is not part of samsara but the world of Enlightenment and True Reality. When we say the Nembutsu of faith we enter the stage of non-retrogression for discovering this ultimate Reality that we’ll attain upon leaving our present samsaric bodies.

Namo Amida Bu

 

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[1] This teaching is in NO way an encouragement to destroy or pollute nature which is the home of many invisible non-human beings and also our own home until we reach the Pure Land of Enlightenment. Nobody should throw dirt in his own house, even if that house is only a temporary or provisional residence.