- Progress, Development and
Survival of Man on this Earth as viewed by a Buddhist
Ven.
Professor Dhammavihari
In
1998 , i.e. three years from now, Sri Lanka would claim having had fifty years of
independence. Can we be sure of the direction in which we as a liberated people, liberated
from centuries of colonial rule, have targeted our development process during this
reasonably long period. From where have we picked up the norms or the yardsticks with
which to measure our own progress , not only in the area of economic development , i.e.
revenue for our state from anywhere ? Or on the other hand , have we been caught up in a
competitive , and at the same time a meaningless escalation ?
We need to check on its sustainability and its wholesomeness, wholesome
to the people for whom it is planned. Are not the people of the land and the land itself
becoming a cat's paw in the so-called development process ? According to the old stories
we have learnt as children , it is the monkey and certainly not the cat who enjoys the
nuts so pulled out of the fire.
The last three decades or more of Sri Lankan history yield enough
evidence for the verification of this. Not merely gusty winds , no matter where they have
had their origin , have blown across our country. We have also been caught up in
devastating whirl winds. Today it has to be admitted that we have lost sight of or we have
been made insensitive to many important facts of our very existence in this small island
which for many centuries has had its own distinct identity.
Multi-ethnicity and multi-religiousness have well and truly been
realities in this country for centuries. As far as our memories go, even as far as the
early decades of this century, the people of Sri Lanka , no matter to whichever ethnic
group they belonged or in which part of the island they lived , did not require to be
tutored on this subject. Minor aberrations of relationships have occurred from time to
time , but they have been corrected without long lasting side effects. The process and the
spirit of give and take has been effectively so good that very little of what might be
called serious grievances has persisted.
Personal identities of ethnic , religious or political groups and their
peaceful co-existence were never believed to be mutually hostile. Even taking a look back
into ancient history , the presence of temples for the worship of Hindu divinities by the
royal ladies of Indian origin, within the palace yard of Polonnaruwa , is ample testimony
to this. The first half of this century knew of considerable cultural inter-filtration
among the Buddhist, Hindu, Christian and Islamic communities of Sri Lanka. We do need to
make a very serious and honest attempt for the restoration of such a climate. It is not
because it serves the needs of any single group , but because it serves well the cause of
all concerned.
With this brief clinical observation of the Sri Lankan infant of today,
forty seven years after its delivery , and with the assigned task of rearing it to a
healthy and robust growth, let us see how much of our own traditional wisdom could be of
benefit to us. In the Buddhist context, development basically means the development of
man, his character, his personality, his humanness in brief, alongside the improvement of
his material prosperity. This latter are important in terms of the quality of life and in
terms of the magnitude of achievement. Without getting an adequate awareness of this, he
would not be able to visualize the perimeter of man's development. Viewing development
from a highly egoistic angle, either singly or collectively, he would be completely
heedless of the ill-effects of his development plans on everybody else besides himself, on
the lives of others, on their cultural and religious preferences. He would turn out to be
essentially unethical. The increase in the quantity and quality of material accessories
which usually accompanies the concept and process of modern development has to be viewed
as being only peripheral. Harnessing of all resources for the achievement of supersonic
success in this area of materialistic development and economic gain has led many nations
and power blocs of the world to unscrupulous and , at times, despicable ways of
achievement. It may even be described as a descent to vulgar levels of exploitation of man
and nature.
Take just one look at the so-called industrial development of the
world. Lack of correct and adequate vision and lack of planning in the interests of the
world we live in has led to the overrunning of the activities of man into questionable
areas of environment. That industrial waste comes in the wake of industrial production
must be obviously clear to planners and policy makers, even though their laying down of
policy often remains confined to the papers on their tables. Value judgements must be
evident within the framework of their thinking. Otherwise, one has a right to ask as to
who accepts responsibility for the consequences of their planning. This serious and grave
offense of omission is now being recognized and reckoned with at international level.
Think of the great disaster that has come upon the Great Lakes of North
America. A crime committed many many decades ago. Their aquatic life is ruined to the very
rock bottom. On this side of the Atlantic, the same is true of the Baltic and the
Mediterranean seas. It is so even of Lake Baikal in Soviet Russia. Over the last thirty or
forty years the world has been learning the bitter lessons of these. But the obstinacy and
the stubbornness of those, both above and below, in this part of the world makes us
insensitive to the pollution and destruction of the environment that man, in his search
for development, is generating here, right at our door-step. We are making dead seas of
what were once flourishing breeding grounds of fish and prawn, and for that very reason,
veritable sources of pleasure and delight because of the very presence of life therein.
Lunawa lagoon, said to be now stacked with industrial waste, is a good example. It is a
good example of misguided industrial expansion. I stress here the word misguided because
whether in the private sector or at state level these developmental ventures must be
launched after careful deliberation and counselling. Bypassing instruction, and even
danger signals, primarily in the interests of personal gain has been witnessed too often
in Sri Lanka, and that far beyond a point of annoyance.
This approach to the question of development necessarily sets limits on
all sides. But it must be admitted that limits are and have to be a sine qua non of
all development, for that is the guarantee, on the one hand, for efficiency and perfection
in the very process of development and on the other, against toxication of human life and
pollution and contamination of the environment. It must now be emphatically stated that
whether here or there, any launching of development projects, without accepting
responsibility for the consequences that come in their wake, i.e. without any reference to
what in cultured societies of rulers or the ruled are called value judgements, is
virtually a move in the direction of genocide. At the level of world thinking today,
whether the killing or destruction is of human life or animal life or whether the
destruction results in death or near death, the social scientists are inclined to hold the
policy planners responsible for these mass manouvres. Let us, these wise men we are, not
forget this level of thinking. Therefore any development policy planning which results in
the deterioration of the life of man and the environment in which he lives or eventually
leads to the deterioration of his cultural considerations has to be conscientiously
condemned and rejected even though such a line of action is known to rip the pockets of a
few who are determined to make the money and benefit at the expense of the many. Is any
country or any group of people by duty bound to oblige and support an underworld of this
kind ?
Let us here take an example. Whether it is the lack of concern or the
reluctance to prevent the digging up of the coral belt around the southern shores of Sri
Lanka or the raping of the island's forest cover including the Sinharaja range, or the
diabolically planned or unplanned increase in the production and consumption of alcohol in
the country, all these carry an element of viciousness, a death-dealing sting embedded in
the development conscience. Are we to forgive the pioneers and policy makers for these
lapses simply because they have placed the telescope on the blind eye ? Whether one
directly perceives it or not, the pernicious effects of such actions on the country and
the people are neither to be lost sight of nor treated lightly.
I attempt in this essay to indicate as to what should be the bed-rock
of a development consciousness in Buddhism. Its primary motivation has to be humanitarian
and that too essentially in the direction of magnanimous collective welfare, thus all the
time leaving no room for the overgrowth of egoistic promptings of individuals or of
groups, however large or small. This has to be the true social scientist's attitude of
concern for the good of the vast majority of people: bahunojanassa atthaya hitaya
sukhaya as the Buddhist texts put it. This thoroughly humanistic approach in
determining the correctness or otherwise of man's activities is clearly witnessed in the
Buddha's advice to his own son Rahula , saying that approval for action depends entirely
on the goodness or otherwise of the results of such activity undertaken. One is called
upon to ask the question Does such action have good results on oneself or on others ? One
has to probe into this aspect very carefully: paccavekkhitv‹ paccavekkhitv‹
kammaµü kattabbaµ ( M.I. 415 )
This being the Buddhist attitude to activity, in any form, any where
and every where, the concept of development must be viewed and examined with sanity and
with a down-to-earth realism. Injury to another, man, animal or nature, in any conjured up
vision of development, cannot be permitted. This is not merely a religious consideration.
At least Buddhism as a religion, does not subordinate man to the divine or subordinate
nature to man. Nothing is created for the specific purpose of consumption by man. That is
too primitive a belief of only eat and live. Each has its own rightful place and it is
their healthy and correct coordination which leads to successful growth and development of
the collective total group. The sane world today is becoming aware of it and accepting it
in principle. The ozone belt above the earth, adequate forest cover on land, and many such
others are vital considerations for our own existence on this earth. Let not development
ventures in their warped and distorted patterns ride rough-shod over the peace and
happiness of man on earth.
Anything contrary to this, by whatever name one calls it, development
or any other, and no matter by whom they are started, have to be challenged and rejected,
at least for the survival of man on earth, if not for anything else. It can be done and
has been done by men of courage and sanity in many parts of the world and great
catastrophies have been averted. Let those obsessed with ambitious plans of development
take serious note of this warning. It is written on the wall. Yaavadeva anatthaaya
-attaµ baalassa jaayate. Dhp.v.72
The knowledge of the fool is born to bring about his utter ruin and
destruction.