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52 EASTERN HORIZON | TEACHINGS

Making Sense of

the Covid 19 Pandemic

A core teaching of the Buddha is the law of Dependent effects on the environment and humankind. The last
Origination which explains that nothing exists point from AN 3.56 could also explain the mysterious
independently in our world. It also describes the causes appearance of the deadly Covid-19 virus. A recent video
of suffering and the course of events that lead to it. gone viral showing tennis-sized hailstones with spikes
Everything is interconnected and we exist in a complex like the Covid-19 virus from an affected area in China
web of life that is continually changing. Events happen could somewhat corroborate this theory.
in a series, one interrelating group of events producing
another. The current COVID-19 is a classic example – Min Wei: From a Buddhist viewpoint, we create our
the destruction of forests, killing (and eating) of wild own destiny. We should not blame anyone for our
animals giving rise to a virus that has no boundaries. troubles as we are responsible for our own life, either
Now, with the coronavirus, we cannot pretend we exist for better or for the worst. We should practice self-
as an independent entity oblivious to the world around responsibility for our own actions rather than blaming
us. We cannot fly overseas, watch movies in the cinemas, circumstances and environments.
attend dharma talks in temples, or even go shopping
without wondering if we’ll be exposed to others infected The coronavirus pandemic has revealed how fragile
with the virus. We ask our teachers what is the Buddhist our life is, causing death and misery, and reminds
worldview about the origin of such pandemics, lessons us of impermanence. It serves as an opportunity to
learnt, and how to adapt to life in the new normal. experience the three marks of existence taught by the
Buddha which are impermanence, suffering, and non-
Some religions see pandemics like Covid-19 self. Therefore, fear, unpredictability and uncertainty
as a manifestation of divine will, perhaps as a are natural to ordinary life.
punishment for sin and a warning against moral
laxity. What is the Buddhist world view? Is this virus Geshe Dadul: Of course, according to Buddhism,
a karmic consequence of human hubris?
everything in saṃsāra is in one way or the other related
to sentient beings’ karma, individual and collective.
Aggacitta: The Adhammika Sutta (AN 4.70) describes
As Buddhist worldview precludes the concept of a
how unrighteous rulers could progressively and
Creator God, everything occurs due to certain causal
insidiously affect human morality. This causes cosmic
actions committed in the past by the sentient beings
upheavals resulting in poor crops, denatured food,
experiencing the results thereof in the present. These
disfigurement, the reduction of human lifespan and
consequences are not punishments or rewards, but
abundant diseases.
simply natural unfoldings of those causal forces as
they meet their respective conditions. Thus, some of
Paloka Sutta (AN 3.56) mentions that when people are
the karmic unfolding may appear, in a conventional
overwhelmed by unrighteous lust, imbalanced greed and
sense, helpful/harmful. How they affect the individuals’
wrong Dharma there could be deadly violence, upheavals
experience, the choices made, and how beings emerge
of nature leading to drought, famine, and the release
from the situations, is largely dependent on many and
by demons of amanussa (non-humans / humanoids /
various aspects of the individuals themselves.
human-like things), thus resulting in depopulation.
The current pandemic is a natural, karmic
These two suttas suggest that there is indeed a strong
consequence, not just of human actions, but of
connection between moral laxity and its deleterious
everyone touched by it including animals. Nonetheless,