The Japanese Buddhist priest and philosopher, Nichiren (1222–82), remarked, “In a country where the three poisons [of greed, anger and foolishness] prevail to such a degree, how can there be peace and stability? . . . Famine occurs as a result of greed, pestilence as a result of foolishness, and warfare as a result of anger.”[i]
The three unwholesome roots—greed,
hatred, and delusion—when left unchecked, manifest in varying intensities,
affecting both individual behavior and societal dynamics. The interdependence
of these roots is profound. Greed can swiftly morph into hatred when desires
are thwarted by others or challenging situations. Delusion underpins these
roots, leading us to believe that we must possess certain things or loathe
certain people, causing us to cling desperately to desires and prejudices. The Dhammapada
warns that the net of delusion is the most potent source of entanglement,
trapping us in a cycle of misery and suffering: “There
is no fire like passion, there is no grip like ill will, there is no net like
ignorance, there is no river like craving.”[ii]
The greatest delusion in Buddhism is the false belief in the ego, which drives
us to construct, defend, and glorify our sense of self.
These poisons not only
afflict individuals but also manifest on a collective or societal level. When we
are controlled by these negative states of mind, we compete for power and
status, leading to conflicts and violence. This collective struggle entrenches
the cycle of suffering, as societies become embroiled in disputes propelled by
the same greed, hatred, and delusion that plague individual minds. Understanding
and addressing these dangerous poisons within ourselves is essential for
personal liberation and for building a more harmonious and compassionate world.
Hatred thrives on
conflicting interests and often seeds social and political conflicts,
escalating into wars and atrocities like genocides and ecocides. Leaders and
institutions exploit hatred to rally people to egotistical goals or collective
causes. Unfortunately, in so many places around the world, what unites
individuals and groups seem to be a shared hatred for the other—immigrants,
ethnic minorities, religious minorities, and so on. Contemporary society bears
witness to this promotion of hate, with nationalism turning into nativism and
xenophobia, religious fervor becoming radical fundamentalism, and
self-protection metamorphosing into terrorism. The destructive cycle of hate
spreads like a virus, infecting communities and nations alike.
Similarly, the social
ramifications of greed and delusion extend far beyond the individual level. The
insatiable desire to accumulate wealth is ingrained in people of all ages and
backgrounds, fostered by constant advertising online and offline. Companies
seeking continuous growth and profit use alluring words and captivating images
to sell not just products but a lifestyle, a dream, a vision of success and
happiness achievable only through material accumulation. Our frenzied consumer
culture drives the globalized world bent on economic prosperity, affecting
diverse societies from secular Amsterdam to Buddhist Bangkok to Muslim Dubai.
The scholar monk Bhikkhu
Bodhi aptly illustrated the pernicious effects of the three unwholesome roots
on a global scale:
Through the prevalence of greed the world has
become transformed into a global marketplace where human beings are reduced to
the status of consumers, even commodities, and where materialistic desires are
provoked at volatile intensities. Through the prevalence of hatred, which is
often kindled by competing interests governed by greed, national and ethnic
differences become the breeding ground of suspicion and enmity, exploding in
violence and destruction, in cruelty and brutality, in endless cycles of revenge.
Delusion sustains the other two unwholesome roots by giving rise to false
beliefs, dogmatic views, and philosophical ideologies devised in order to
promote and justify patterns of conduct motivated by greed and hatred. Through
the prevalence of greed the world has become transformed into a global
marketplace where human beings are reduced to the status of consumers, even
commodities, and where materialistic desires are provoked at volatile
intensities.[iii]
Thai Engaged Buddhist scholar Sulak Sivaraksa echoed these sentiments, arguing that personal greed—characterized by an unquenchable thirst for accumulation and relentless possessiveness—manifests in society as systems like capitalism, consumerism, and unchecked resource extraction that disregard environmental boundaries. Similarly, he identified the seeds of individual hatred as giving rise to global militarism and the infrastructure that sustains war. Sivaraksa reserved his sharpest criticism for those who perpetuate delusion, such as advertisers and mainstream media. According to Sivaraksa, many societal woes stem from their incessant promotion of unnecessary goods and harmful ideas that divert people from a fulfilling, contented life, instead leading them toward poverty, isolation, and alienation.[iv] Therefore, “If we are serious about getting rid of greed, anger, and ignorance in ourselves,” Sivaraksa contended, “we must inquire how we actively or passively take part in perpetuating the three poisons in society as ‘structural violence.’”[v]
If these toxic influences
are not removed from our lives, humanity will continue to experience various
forms of violence and abuse, both environmental and otherwise. As Sahni
observed,
As long as the mind is influenced by the
three unwholesome principles of rāga, dosa and moha or greed,
hatred and delusion the human race will be stricken by environmental and other
forms of exploitation, as well as selfish actions, greedy consumer cultures,
dissatisfaction and other attitudes that can be looked upon as vices.[vi]
In the Sutta Nipāta,[vii] Ajita asked the Buddha,
“What is it that smothers the world? What makes the world so hard to see? What
would you say pollutes the world and threatens it most?” The Buddha replied, “It
is ignorance which smothers, and it is heedlessness and greed which make the
world invisible. The hunger of desire pollutes the world, and the great source
of fear is the pain of suffering.” Facing the ecological crisis today, these
words from the Buddha are especially striking. Indeed, the late Thai monk
Buddhadasa posited that climate change and other imbalances in nature result
from human moral degeneration, which impacts the external dimension of the
world.[viii] Similarly, the Dalai
Lama observed, “Destruction of nature and natural resources results from
ignorance, greed, and lack of respect for the earth's living things. This lack
of respect extends even to the earth’s human descendants, the future
generations who will inherit a vastly degraded planet if world peace doesn’t
become a reality and if destruction of the natural environment continues at the
present rate.”[ix]
James Gustave Speth, a
co-founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council and former dean of the Yale
School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, concurred with the late Buddhist
teacher in these sentiments. In 2013, Speth remarked to a British radio
presenter:
I used to think that top global environmental
problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse, and climate change. I
thought that with thirty years of good science we could address these problems,
but I was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed, and
apathy, and to deal with these we need a spiritual and cultural transformation.
And we scientists don’t know how to do that.[x]
[i] Quoted in Daisaku Ikeda, A New
Humanism: The University Addresses of Daisaku Ikeda (London: I.B. Tauris,
2010), 233.
[ii] Dp 251.
[iii] Bhikkhu Bodhi, “Message for a Globalized World,” Buddhist
Publication Society Newsletter, n.d., http://www.vipassana.com/resources/bodhi/globalized_world.php.
[iv] Matteo Pistono, Roar:
Sulak Sivaraksa and the Path of Socially Engaged Buddhism (Berkeley, CA:
North Atlantic Books, 2019), Kindle edn.
[v] Sulak
Sivaraksa, The Wisdom of Sustainability: Buddhist Economics for the 21st
Century (Asheville, NC: Koa Books, 2009).
[vi] Pragati
Sahni, Environmental Ethics in Buddhism: A Virtues Approach (New York:
Routledge, 2007), 165.
[vii] Sutta Nipāta 5.2.
[viii] Buddhadasa, “A Notion of Buddhist Ecology,” Thai Buddhism, nd,
http://www.thaibuddhism.net/Bud_Ecology.htm. Buddhadasa Bhikkhu’s ideas come from a number of
works that have been compiled and translated by Grant A. Olson. Olson gives the
title of his translation “A Notion of Buddhist Ecology.” In addition to the
negative effect on nature, Buddhadasa Bhikkhu asserts that internal
degeneration hinders spiritual progress.
[ix] Dalai Lama,
My Tibet (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995), 80.
[x]
https://ncipl.org/environmental-crisis-not-environmental-spiritual/
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