Orange County Buddhist Church
Orange County Buddhist Church
A WAY OF SEEING (Numbers)
In the August 5, 2007 Opinion section of the Los Angeles Times, there was a very provocative question asked as a subtitle to one of the essays: “Why are we so worried about terrorism when so many more people are dying on our highways?” If you read the article, you might agree with the question. I certainly did, which is why this essay is being written. The title of the essay, written by Greg Easterbrook, a fellow of the Brookings Institution, is Road Kill.
As we all know, about 3000 people died on 9/11/200l. Since then, several thousand U.S. soldiers have lost their lives in Afghanistan and Iraq. Since that same day, 245,000 Americans have died – were killed – in traffic accidents. It’s hard to believe, at least for me. While I know a lot of people lose their lives in traffic accidents, I had no idea the number was so great. Last year, 2006, 42,642 Americans died in traffic accidents. That’s a small-size city. According to Easterbrook, the same kind of numbers holds throughout the world. “Traffic deaths are the fastest-rising cause of death in the world. Yet you’ve heard far more about H5N1 avian influenza, which has killed 192 people world-wide since being detected five years ago, than about the 6 million people who have died in traffic accidents in the same period. Last year alone, 1.2 million people were killed on the world’s roads, versus about 100,000 dead as a result of combat.”
You might wonder why this essay is being written. It is being written because at least two Buddhist teachings are illustrated in those numbers. One is the teaching of dependent co-origination, or interdependence; the other, karma. People ask what the relevance of the Buddha Dharma is; the essay indicated above gives good examples, albeit without any mention of the Buddha Dharma.
It should go without saying that terrorism is a reality with which we must learn to cope and, if at all possible, to erase, but in our everyday reality, we are much more likely to be affected by traffic accidents and, as the Japanese say, earthquakes, lightning, fire, and father, than by terrorism. The last, of course, is not a joke.
Dependent co-origination means, among other things, that for something to exist or to happen, there must be causes and conditions. For a traffic accident to happen, there must be at least one motor vehicle and a driver. There must also be other causes and conditions; for example, falling asleep at the wheel, bending down to pick up something from the floor, talking with, or listening to, someone on a cell phone, reading a newspaper, shaving, putting on makeup, looking at a passenger while having a conversation, going too fast or too slow for the conditions, etc. You can probably think of many other causes and conditions. The problem of course is that while we might be able to think of any number of causes and conditions, we still tend to drive in violation of that knowledge. This is what the Buddha Dharma calls ignorance. Knowing something, but not acting in accordance with that knowledge.
Karma comes into play when we try to determine the moral value of what we think, say or do. There is good karma, bad karma, and neutral karma. There is individual karma and there is group, or social, karma. If you try to beat the light and hit someone, that is obviously bad karma, even though you probably did not intend to hit that person. The intent is important, but an intent that is not thought through to its possible consequences is just as important. An ignorant (see above) intent is a bad intent, and, therefore, bad karma, so even if you don’t hit someone, it is bad karma. Knowing that any one or a combination of the earlier stated possible causes and conditions can lead to an accident and, possibly, even death, and still continuing to do it, is ignorance and bad karma. Trying to find an excuse after the fact of an accident, or even of someone else’s death, will lead to suffering. Unfortunately, even if you are the cause of someone’s death, including your own, many people will suffer.
If nothing else convinces you, simply look at the numbers.
Gassho,
Donkon Jaan
Rev. John Doami
September 2007
