From the Buddha’s Lotus Sutra – based on an Dharmapelgrim editorial, Boeddhistisch Dagblad
Fury, 2024
The Buddhist saying that ‘this world is a burning house’ would seem to be a perfect match for the current climate crisis.
However, the Buddha, to whom these words are attributed, was referring to something else: a general sense of crisis omnipresent in human life, namely the realisation that we ourselves and all things are finite. We are often unaware of it, but everything around us is in a constant state
of decay.
When making this, at first sight, rather sombre pronouncement, the Buddha certainly had no intention of instilling depression. On the contrary, it is precisely by acknowledging the transience of existence that we can have greater clarity in our approach to life