Fleur,
I’m now off my sick bed. You asked:
Can you tell me what your take, as a Buddhist, is about the Tsunami? i am looking right now on the news at footage of a huge buddhist temple in sri lanka that is now an orphanage.
the death toll is up over 100,000 now. what do you feel about that as a buddhist?
Good questions. Buddhists believe we are living in what is known as Samsara, which is a state of flux, change and ceaseless becoming. In other words, daily life! The Buddhist’s goal is to set oneself free from its bondage, hence to ultimately reach Nirvana, which is the release of the limitations of existence. However, Theravada (Hinayana) and Mahayana schools differ as to its meaning, but the realisation for both is perfect knowing.
As a Buddhist I am shocked, but not surprised, at the Tsunami earthquake. I am shocked and immensely saddened as to the level of human life lost but not surprised that such a cataclysmic incident should have occurred. Because we live in Samsara nothing is permanent and, therefore, disasters, unfortunately, are a part of life. It wasn’t god-made, bad karma on the part of so many people or evil spirits. It was just a terrible event, like so many other earthquakes or natural disasters. The loss of life may have been greater with the Tsunamai, but it was a natural disaster all the same.
From a Buddhist perspective, all those poor souls who perished will carry their karma with them and be reborn into whatever states their karma dictates. For many here reading that statement will be taken as hard to believe, but there is much evidence to prove reincarnation (Actually, rebirth, which isn’t quite the same. In reincarnation one assumes one has a transmigratory soul, whereas in rebirth no immortal entity passes from one life to the next. Rather, each life is a result of the karmic effect of the previous one).
While I’ve been in bed these past four days I’ve had plenty of chance to read and reflect – and to have some extraordinary dreams (I usually don't sleep at all well and can never remember dreaming). In spite of the seriousness of my main illness I have no fear, because Buddhism and Ramana have proven to me that death is merely the start of a new beginning.
Ian
