|
Vishvapani |
 |
I'm not the modern kind of gardener who likes decking and laylandii, or the lazy kind, commended by the RSPB this week, who let native plants run wild. Being no kind of gardener at all, I passed over the story that sparrow numbers have declined two-thirds in 30 years because modern gardening starves them of food. Then the talk of sparrows reminded me of Hamlet's line suggesting that even small things can have a larger meaning. 'There is a special providence,' he said, 'in the fall of a sparrow.'
What he means is that there's a pattern to events, but we usually can't see it. We try to direct our lives and guide whatever we're responsible for; but we fool ourselves if we think we really know what consequences our actions will have. That garden makeover wasn't intended to deny birds the insects that feed their chicks, but the small effects of individual actions were magnified when many people also chose decking over grass. No blame attaches to that, but it's sobering to find you're part of something that causes suffering you never intended. So what does it mean to act well when consequences are so unpredictable?
For Buddhists this is where karma comes in. Contrary to popular belief, karma doesn't mean that whatever happens to you is fate, or that it's all somehow your fault. Much that happens is simply beyond our control. The word 'karma' means 'action' especially those actions we consciously choose. Every choice expresses our values and motivations, so as the consequences of an action ripple outwards they're stamped with the mindset and emotions that prompted them. That mindset shapes the life we lead and the world we inhabit, although the process is hard to track and may only be visible after many years. A violent act driven by hatred, for example, moulds a person's character, affects how others respond to them and brings more violence into the world.
In that sense the seeds of the future are present in each moment, so Buddhism suggests that acting ethically means paying close attention to what's happening right now. That doesn't replace thinking about consequences, but it puts the stress on honest self-awareness and sensitivity to our environment. The Buddha called this attitude 'being mindful and alert' or, as Hamlet put it, 'Readiness is all.'
Copyright 2008 BBC