Humanity – The place of man in the Universe from a Buddhist point of view

Thangjam Sanjoo Singh *

Wat Traimit - Temple of the Golden Buddha in Bangkok

Long ago man had seen himself as being in the centre of the Universe, as its most important inhabitant. According to this point of view, the world has was made of humans, for themselves to obtain from it what they wanted because they were the most favoured creatures on it and everything that existed on this planet was for their sole pleasure.

This so called “Humanistic” view may be directly responsible for the terrible rape of our planet and our total disregard for the right of the beings which co-exist with us.

For example, there have been tragic cases where certain species of animals became extinct through needless slaughter by unsympathetic humans in pursuit of their sporting pleasure or business purposes.

Even today, the subjugation of nature by science and technology is being applauded. We must increase the number of those amongst us who have already realised the vast destruction that has been wrecked by the man in the name of “progress”.

Up until now nature has been forgiving and it has allowed man to continue to think that this planet was made for him to rape and plunder at will, to satisfy his insatiable greed from material possessions and sensual gratification.

Today, there are many warning signs to indicate that the comfortable times are about to end. Hopefully, if compassion and Right View will not save the world, then at least the same selfishness and desire for self-preservation and self-gratification will force man to give some sensible thought to our impoverished environment and our suffering fellow-creatures on this earth.

To understand the place of man from the a Buddhist point of view, we must first of all look at the Buddha’s view on the cosmos. According to Him, the Universe is to be understood in terms of a vast cosmic space. His teaching categorized the whole universe into three groups: planets with living beings, planet with elements and space itself.

We can see man as a specially favoured creature that had come into existence to enjoy the pleasures of a specially formed planet at the centre of the universe. Buddhism views man as tiny beings not only in strength but also in life span. Man is no more than just another creature but with intelligence that inhabits the universe.

Biologically, humans are weaker than any other beings big or small. Other animals are born armed with some sort of weapon for their protection and survival. Humans, on the other hand, have their minds for everything but not as a weapon. Humans are regarded as cultured living beings because they are to be harmonise with others but not to destroy them.

Religion was discovered by them for this purpose. Everything that lives share the same times force which energizes man. They are part of the same cosmic energy which takes various forms during endless rebirths, passing from human to animal, to divine form and back again, motivated by the powerful craving existence (the survival instinct) which takes place them from birth and to rebirth again in never-ending cycle called samsara are Greed, Hatred and Delusion.

This cycle can only be broken irrevocably through the development of Wisdom which destroys these fetters and puts an end to craving. Our shared fate as beings who inhabit this planet is that we all want desperately to go on living.

All things depend on each for their existence. A man cannot see himself as different from (let alone being superior to) other beings because his body is solely dependent on food, which means he is dependent on plants, water, oxygen, etc. for his existence.

At the same time his mind also exits dependently because the existence of thoughts rely on sense data which are deprived from the external world of objects and persons. The whole universe must be seen as an immense net: if only one knot in it is shaken, the whole net vibrates. Man owes allegiance to the world because he is dependent on it for his existence both physically and mentally.