Bhikkhus All is Burning

“Bhikkhus, all is burning.” This is the first line of what is known as The Fire Sermon a well-known teaching given by the Buddha.  It is more specifically dealing with the burning of sense desires—as it goes on, the eyes, ears, tongue, body—etc are all burning with desires.  It is this passion of desire—which causes suffering.

These words came to my mind as we entered 2020 watching the scenes of the devastating fires in Australia.

While the Buddha’s teaching is really referring to individual suffering and its cause, it is just this on a societal level which has created the mess that we are now in.  Make no mistake, Australia and California (among many other weather-related catastrophes) are really the “canary in the coal mine” and such events will be coming to a “theater” near us in the not too distant future.

It is society’s continual craving and desire for more and more. . .  you name your poison of choice. . . which has both drained the resources of the earth and led to over and unnecessary consumption.

We are all subject to the traditional three poisons of greed, aversion and delusion and the purpose of our practice is to see how these three poisons manifest in us individually, to look at this closely, and replace with a heart/mind of generosity, compassion and wisdom. These qualities are innately present in us all. We all can recognize the sacred in all things and live with a healthy balance between what we truly need and our desires. 

As we head into 2020, perhaps we can bring a more perfect vision into our individual responses to a rapidly changing world—consider what we can do individually (say reducing our use of disposable plastics) and how we can impact societal change. 

Things are happening, there is indeed, to quote Joanna Macy, a great turning.  Whether it will happen in time, we don’t know but in our own practice and in the ways we relate to the world and society, know that we are part of this great turning.