"Church Seeks Dialogue
with Buddhists to Save Mother Earth"
Message Signed By Cardinal Jean-Louise Tauran and Archbishop Pier Luigi
Celata, President and Secretary of The Pontifical Council
--Comments in Retrospect---
By Darmitha-Kotte
An article with the captioned subject signed by the above named individuals
was supposed to be issued by the Vatican to mark Wesak, appeared in
the Daily Mirror of 20th May 2008. No doubt this is a very timely gesture
on the part of The Catholic Church and The Vatican to attempt to "stretch
out their hands with a goodwill gesture".
The statement is interesting indeed to say the least. For whatever
reasons best known to the Catholic Church and the Vatican, it now seems
evident that they must make the move towards better understanding with
other religions and in this case they are using "Wesak" to
send out their message to Buddhists. The third paragraph of the article
states(quote): " Experience teaches us that dialogue
fosters the desire within the person and the community to share the
goodwill and harmony which already exist and indeed to reach out ever
more courageously to others, ready to embrace the challenges and difficulties
that may arise."(end quote)
The same article further states (quote):" The United
Nations General Assembly has declared 2008 as The International Year
of Planet Earth. As inhabitants of the earth and believers, Christians
and Buddhists respect the same creation and have a common concern to
promote care the environment which we all share. Preservation of the
environment ,promotion of sustainable development and particular attention
to climate change are matters of grave concern for everyone. Many governments,
NGOs, multinational companies and research and tertiary institutes in
recognizing the ethical implications present in all economic and social
development are investing financial resources as well as sharing expertise
on biodiversity, climate change, environmental protection and conservation.
Religious leaders too, are contributing to the public debate. This contribution
is of course, not just a reaction to the more recent pressing threats
associated with global warming. Christianity and Buddhism have always
upheld a great respect for nature and taught that we should be grateful
stewards of the earth. Indeed it is only through a profound reflection
on the relationship between the divine Creator, creation and creatures
that attempts to address environmental concerns will not be marred by
individual greed or hampered by the interests of particular groups.
On a practical level can we Christians and Buddhist not do more to collaborate
in projects which confirm the responsibility that falls to each and
everyone of us?............................In this way Christians and
Buddhists together can be harbingers of hope for a clean, safe and harmonious
world. Dear friends, I trust that we can promote this message within
our respective communities through public education and our good example
in respecting nature and acting responsibly towards on common planet
Earth. Once again let me renew my heartfelt greetings and wish you a
Happy Feast of Wesak"(end quote)
Goodwill and harmony in all aspects of life are brought forth by learning
to " live and let live" and respecting the customs and habits
of others in the same spirit one respects one's own customs and habits.
For Buddhists the world over, this is certainly not a difficult duty
to perform. However, through history until the present day, we have
learnt that with other theistic religions this principle does not apply
"from them towards others" unless it has some specific
benefit exclusively for their own use and there has been too much disharmony
created by them towards believers of other philosophies and religions.
Buddhism cannot be termed as " a religion" because it is a
way of life taught by Lord Buddha and not a blind faith in a Creator.
God and this is the major difference between Buddhism and Christianity.
In every lesson Lord Buddha taught us through His lifetime, very high
importance has been placed on all "living beings and their right
to life irrespective of whether they be humans or animals and even plant
life has not been excluded in this. The Lord Buddha has laid out very
stringent rules about even lopping off a branch of a tree and the repercussions
of doing it. However, human beings in other religions have been given
supremacy over animal and plant life and they have been taught that
those "were created to serve man" therefore, any and every
destruction could be meted out in the name of religion! This is unfortunately
the beginning of harm and destruction to the environment and plant Earth
that Pope Benedict XVI and the Vatican are now trying to protect and
to do this, they are seeking the help and understanding of Buddhists-
does this sound plausible?
If we read through the history of Buddhist countries, all ancient Buddhist
Kings paid special attention to wild life, all animal life and also
promoted the planting of trees to protect the environment according
to the teachings of Lord Buddha but with the colonial invasions of the
East India Company and other subsequent invasions, it was the foreign
invader who destroyed the natural habitats of these countries and cleared
jungle land to plant "cash crops" for them to profit through
trading them. All natural resources whether they be rivers, wild life,
minerals, or otherwise were all plundered to suite their purpose- was
this not so? What do we see in the African continent which was once
the cradle of an ancient civilization- today it is reduced to a continent
stricken by drought, famine and poverty and who was responsible for
this disaster- the foreign Christian invaders!
Global warming and environment pollution has not been initiated by
Buddhist countries in this world but by Christian countries who have
thought it fit, to tamper with nature in any which way they deemed fit.
Has it been Buddhist countries that have created nuclear weapons for
which immense testing was done and is still being done secretly, arms,
chemical weapons, invasion into the moon, mars and sending out satellites
to monitor the activities of other developing countries? No. All these
things have been done in the name of "scientific research"
by now wealthy western Christian countries in their quest to gain supremacy
over other nations. What nature has given us must not to be tampered
with at random only to serve the vested interests of western developed
countries. With every space craft and satellite that enters space and
harms the ozone layer with vast amounts of fuel emissions, man has brought
disaster on the entire "planet Earth" as the Vatican states.
With indiscriminate intrusion into outer space, naturally there has
been an interest by subsequent developing countries also to do their
own research but the precedence was created by Christian powers. Who
developed and created nuclear weapons and napalm bombs which brought
horrendous disaster on the Japanese and Vietnam? Subsequently we have
read so much of the inhuman activities initiated by mostly Christian
countries on the rest of the world. Should there be any signs of an
Asian, South Asian or Middle Eastern country attempting to develop their
own defences against western onslaughts that is what has been highlighted
and exaggerated. We hear that the glaziers in the Arctic and Antarctic
are melting ast unprecedented pace because western countries are continuing
to conduct their nuclear testing in those regions.
When The Vatican speaks about Buddhists and Christians working together
to protect planet Earth, The Pope and Archbishops must sincerely be
honest with themselves before they make sweeping statements with a hidden
agenda to dominate countries that practise other faiths. Can the Catholic
Church honestly say that they are and will never intrude into Buddhist
countries and conspire to destroy the religious fabric of those countries?
What are they doing in Nepal,Thailand, Burma and during the last 4 decades
of modern history in Sri Lanka? They have been abusing the hospitality,
generosity and compassion shown by Buddhists and conspiring to destroy
Buddhism in these countries. Are these honest and sincere gestures which
will enable us to build trust and harmony between Christianity and Buddhism?
The terrorist war of the LTTE in Sri Lanka has been fanned, nurtured
and protected by the Catholic Church and other Christian organisation
to destabilize this Buddhist country. Recent developments in Mannar
has proved blaring activities of connivance on the part of Catholic
Church and Christian denomination where their clergy has been actively
involved with storing and transporting weaponry for the terrorists who
are fighting a mythical war against a democratically elected government
which is bound to protect its citizens from terrorism and division of
this country.
There cannot be two yardsticks to make judgements against (1) western
developed countries and (2) developing countries in Asia, South East
Asia, or African countries if the Catholic Church and The Vatican are
sincere in their efforts to save Mother Earth. They need to show by
example not by mere diplomatic vocabulary whether it be in print form
or verbal dialogue, that they are honest and true in every sense of
the words. They must first stop encroaching and destroying other religious
bases and accept their crimes before Buddhist or Hindu countries can
begin to trust them as good friends.
Mother Earth can be saved if all Christian countries begin to "love
and care" genuinely for the wellbeing of Mother Earth in every
action of theirs. Requesting Buddhist countries to cover up Christian
sins will not do. Please be honest with yourselves before you preach
to others about saving Mother Earth.
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