The cause and the solution for the pandemic
Covid-19 has been on the rampage at present. For a long time in history, pandemics have devastated human life and society, but people have no idea why they occur. We are going to look into the Buddhist’s perspective to find out the cause of pandemics and what the ultimate solution is.
Buddhism taught the principle called “oneness of life and its environment”, which simply means our lives and the environment are inseparable, two but not two, they are closely related to each other as a solid single unity together.
We consider pandemic as a natural disaster, and we sometimes feel powerless in front of the overwhelming power of nature. However, we are not one-sidedly influenced by nature, but also our functions of body and mind could influence the environment to a large scale.
Nichiren Daishonin came to the ultimate realisation that the cause of disasters lies in the religions that people hold so close to their hearts.
When Buddhism becomes corrupted, society becomes defiled and chaotic. Buddhism is like the body and society like the shadow. When the body is twisted, so is the shadow.
(A Comparison of the Lotus Sutra and Other Sutras; Gosho, p. 1469)
He taught the principle of the fundamental cause of misfortune, “Buddhism is like the body and society like the shadow”
It’s not only a pandemic, but also various natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes etc., and all the causes of chaos that occur in our society stem from fundamentally the corruption of Buddhism, in other words, people don’t follow the correct teaching but the heretical ones, and then people’s minds and life states are confused and defiled, which reflect on the environment to a large scale like a shadow.
Nichiren Daishonin also wrote:
If the hearts and minds of the people are tainted, so is their land. However, if their minds are pure, the land also will be pure. The land, in itself, is not divided into two types. Indeed, whether the land is pure or impure is solely determined by our hearts and minds.
(On Attaining Enlightenment, Gosho, p. 46)
Daishonin teaches us that, if people embrace true Buddhism and maintain correct faith in their hearts, then the land becomes a pure, untainted realm. However, if they uphold heretical teachings, then the land turns into a tainted, impure land. We must discard all the heretical teachings and uphold the true Buddhism. When we do so, each of our lives will be purified by the immensely vast and infinite power of the Mystic Law. This purification process will expand from the individual to the whole, to the secular world and society at large, and transform our environment into the pure land, where we could find the ultimate solution for Covid-19 and any other disasters we would face in the future.