Interconnectedness

The other night, I turned on a flashlight and worked at my computer. There is an outside light that was also helping to illuminate my room as I worked. Looking up from my computer screen I noticed a big lizard on the wall. As I watched it, a moth flew into the room probably attracted by the light, and soon it became dinner for the lizard. I had the thought that by my action of deciding to work in the evening, my light which attracts bugs, also feeds the lizards. In return, the lizards eat all of the bugs that fly in, because the room is bug free by morning!

Everyday, I am served my meals by a wonderful man, named Dukhi. In return, I share my meals with him. In return, he teaches me new hindi words.

Everyday, I am served a huge lunch which I share with Dukhi. The leftovers are placed in the refrigerator in case I feel the need for dinner. Then in the morning, the leftovers are removed from the refrigerator and fed to the scrawny dogs. In return, the dogs are relatively friendly to me and will probably protect me, should I ever need their protection!

The grass grows green on the lawn of Nava Nalanda Mahavihara University (NNMU) campus. I've observed old men work all day hand cutting the grass. Later, a lawn mower was brought in to cut the rest of the grass. The clippings were swept into piles and then women and girls would carry the clippings away, probably to feed their animals. The other day I visited a brand new school, Nalanda Heritage School, which just recently opened. Col. Nehru the director thanked Dr. Panth of NNMU for giving him grass to start a lawn for the children to play on. Looking out over the flat land were little tufts of grass neatly placed, probably the same tufts that the old men were picking out by hand!

Dr. Panth wrote an article that I just read about “Buddhism and the Environment.” In this article, he discusses cultivating correct practice by increasing awareness of the natural world and its interconnectedness. All of nature is related and “vibrating with life.”