..续本文上一页ion of the environment. From a Buddhist perspective, what is most striking when we reflect upon these problems as a whole is their essentially symptomatic character. Beneath their outward persity they appear to be so many manifestations of a common root, of a deep and hidden spiritual malignancy infecting our social organism. This common root might be briefly characterized as a stubborn insistence on placing narrow, short-term self-interests (including the interests of the social or ethnic groups to which we happen to elong) above the long-range good of the broader human community. The multitude of social ills that fflict us cannot be adequately accounted for without bringing into view the powerful human drives that lie behind them. Too often, these drives send us in pursuit of pisive, limited ends even when such pursuits are ultimately self-destructive.

　　The Buddha”s teaching offers us two valuable tools to help us extricate ourselves from this tangle. One is its hardheaded analysis of the psychological springs of human suffering. The other is the precisely articulated path of moral and mental training it holds out as a solution. The Buddha explains that the hidden springs of human suffering, in both the personal and social arenas of our lives, are three mental factors called the unwholesome roots, namely, greed, hatred, and delusion. Traditional Buddhist teaching depicts these unwholesome roots as the causes of personal suffering, but by taking a wider view we can see them as equally the source of social, economic, and political suffering. Through the prevalence of greed the world is being transformed into a global marketplace where people are reduced to the status of consumers, even commodities, and our planet”s vital resources are being pillaged without concern for future generations. Through the prevalence of hatred, national and ethnic differences become the breeding ground of suspicion and enmity, exploding in violence and endless cycles of revenge. Delusion bolsters the other two unwholesome roots with false beliefs and political ideologies put forward to justify policies motivated by greed and hatred.

　　While changes in social structures and policies are surely necessary to counteract the many forms of violence and injustice so widespread in today”s world, such changes alone will not be enough to usher in an era of true peace and social stability. Speaking from a Buddhist perspective, I would say that what is needed above all else is a new mode of perception, a universal consciousness that can enable us to regard others as not essentially different from oneself.

　　As difficult as it may be, we must learn to detach ourselves from the insistent voice of self-interest and rise up to a universal perspective from which the welfare of all appears as important as one”s own good. That is, we must outgrow the egocentric and ethnocentric attitudes to which we are presently committed, and instead embrace a "worldcentric ethic" which gives priority to the well-being of all.

　　Such a worldcentric ethic should be molded upon three guidelines, the antidotes to the three unwholesome roots:

　　(1) We must overcome exploitative greed with global generosity, helpfulness, and cooperation.

　　(2) We must replace hatred and revenge with a policy of kindness, tolerance, and forgiveness.

　　(3) We must recognize that our world is an interdependent, interwoven whole such that irresponsible behavior anywhere has potentially harmful repercussions everywhere.

　　These guidelines, drawn from the Buddha”s teaching, can constitute the nucleus of a global ethic to which all the world”s great spiritual traditions could easily subscribe.

　　Underlying the specific content of a global ethic are certain attitudes of heart that we must try to embody both in our person…

《The Buddha & His Message Past, Present, and Future》全文未完，请进入下页继续阅读…