Collective kamma, whales, and population decline

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Reading this actually made me think of a recent New York Times article on Japan’s massive population decline (“How Japan Lost 3 Million People in Five Years”). It made me wonder about the collective kamma here, specifically regarding their commercial whaling industry.

Whales are massive and have a highly developed consciousness. When we look at the Tika’s explanation of how disrupting these “vital material states” works, it’s interesting to consider how this heavy, collective demerit from commercial whaling might be ripening into the severe demographic and societal contraction Japan is facing today.

Killing and anatta
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This linked source is pay-walled or account walled. I’m quite sure the reason is because they are not having babies. In the developed world, it is a big problem. Immigration is allowed to happen to keep the real estate market on a continued growth rate so the banks do not collapse.

I’m not sure about kamma being a cause although it always plays a role somehow. I think it is a lack of desire due to “educated” decisions rather than incapability to have children.

There will come a time when the breeding of humans genetically and socially will continue degrade and they will kill themselves off. However there will be a small part of that population that will be in the forest and ethical and breed again. The Cakkavatti Sīhanāda Sutta (DN 26).

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I don’t really see the connection,

Beings are owners of kammas, heirs of kammas…

Each one makes their own kamma

MN130

That bad deed wasn’t done by your mother, father, brother, or sister. It wasn’t done by friends and colleagues, by relatives and kin, by ascetics and brahmins, or by the deities. That bad deed was done by you alone, and you alone will experience the result.

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Here is my epitaka quote for you:

The Cakkavatti Sīhanāda Sutta (DN 26)

‘‘dasavassāyukesu, bhikkhave, manussesu tesaṃ sattānaṃ aññamaññamhi tibbo āghāto paccupaṭṭhito bhavissati tibbo byāpādo tibbo manopadoso tibbaṃ vadhakacittaṃ.
When humans have a ten-year lifespan, bhikkhus, for those beings, intense aversion will arise towards one another, intense ill-will, intense mental defilement, intense murderous intent.

mātupi puttamhi puttassapi mātari; pitupi puttamhi puttassapi pitari; bhātupi bhaginiyā bhaginiyāpi bhātari tibbo āghāto paccupaṭṭhito bhavissati tibbo byāpādo tibbo manopadoso tibbaṃ vadhakacittaṃ.
Intense aversion, intense ill-will, intense mental defilement, intense murderous intent will arise from mother to son, and from son to mother; from father to son, and from son to father; from brother to sister, and from sister to brother.

seyyathāpi, bhikkhave, māgavikassa migaṃ disvā tibbo āghāto paccupaṭṭhito hoti tibbo byāpādo tibbo manopadoso tibbaṃ vadhakacittaṃ; evameva kho, bhikkhave, dasavassāyukesu manussesu tesaṃ sattānaṃ aññamaññamhi tibbo āghāto paccupaṭṭhito bhavissati tibbo byāpādo tibbo manopadoso tibbaṃ vadhakacittaṃ.
Just as, bhikkhus, at present, when a hunter sees an animal, intense aversion, intense ill-will, intense mental defilement, intense murderous intent arises; even so, bhikkhus, when humans have a ten-year lifespan, for those beings, intense aversion will arise towards one another, intense ill-will, intense mental defilement, intense murderous intent.

mātupi puttamhi puttassapi mātari; pitupi puttamhi puttassapi pitari; bhātupi bhaginiyā bhaginiyāpi bhātari tibbo āghāto paccupaṭṭhito bhavissati tibbo byāpādo tibbo manopadoso tibbaṃ vadhakacittaṃ.
Intense aversion, intense ill-will, intense mental defilement, intense murderous intent will arise from mother to son, and from son to mother; from father to son, and from son to father; from brother to sister, and from sister to brother.

104. ‘‘dasavassāyukesu, bhikkhave, manussesu sattāhaṃ satthantarakappo bhavissati.
104. “When humans have a ten-year lifespan, bhikkhus, there will be a seven-day period of weapons.

te aññamaññamhi migasaññaṃ paṭilabhissanti.
They will perceive one another as wild animals.

tesaṃ tiṇhāni satthāni hatthesu pātubhavissanti.
Sharp weapons will appear in their hands.

te tiṇhena satthena ‘esa migo esa migo’ti aññamaññaṃ jīvitā voropessanti.
With sharp weapons, they will deprive each other of life, saying, ‘This is an animal! This is an animal!’

‘‘atha kho tesaṃ, bhikkhave, sattānaṃ ekaccānaṃ evaṃ bhavissati – ‘mā ca mayaṃ kañci , mā ca amhe koci, yaṃnūna mayaṃ tiṇagahanaṃ vā vanagahanaṃ vā rukkhagahanaṃ vā nadīviduggaṃ vā pabbatavisamaṃ vā pavisitvā vanamūlaphalāhārā yāpeyyāmā’ti.
“Then, bhikkhus, it will occur to some of those beings: ‘Let us not harm anyone, and let no one harm us. What if we were to enter a thicket of grass or a thicket of forest or a thicket of trees or a river ravine or a mountain wilderness, and sustain ourselves on roots and fruits from the forest?’

te tiṇagahanaṃ vā vanagahanaṃ vā rukkhagahanaṃ vā nadīviduggaṃ vā pabbatavisamaṃ vā pavisitvā sattāhaṃ vanamūlaphalāhārā yāpessanti.
So they will enter a thicket of grass or a thicket of forest or a thicket of trees or a river ravine or a mountain wilderness, and sustain themselves on roots and fruits from the forest for seven days.

te tassa sattāhassa accayena tiṇagahanā vanagahanā rukkhagahanā nadīviduggā pabbatavisamā nikkhamitvā aññamaññaṃ āliṅgitvā sabhāgāyissanti samassāsissanti – ‘diṭṭhā, bho, sattā jīvasi, diṭṭhā, bho, sattā jīvasī’ti.
After those seven days, they will emerge from the thicket of grass, the thicket of forest, the thicket of trees, the river ravine, the mountain wilderness, and embracing one another, they will rejoice and be comforted, saying, ‘Friends, beings are seen! You are alive! Friends, beings are seen! You are alive!’

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Hello Venerable Sir, I was just wondering about how civilization will fall apart and what the state of the world will be in the future and then I saw your post. Is it possible for disciples to see the future of the world with Knowledge of the Future (Anāgatāmsa-ñāṇa) or is that limited to seeing the future of a single being and not the future of the human world itself?

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I found the answer. The power of Arahants are so sublime. They were able to see a future era and the future of the Sasana. This is from chapter 5 of the Mahavamsa:

At the time of the Second Council, the elders looked into the future and saw that during King Asoka’s reign a danger would arise for the Dispensation. Looking throughout the whole world for one who could remove that danger, they saw the Brahmā Tissa, whose remaining lifespan was short.

They approached that great being and requested him:

“Please be reborn among humans and remove this danger to the Dispensation.”

Wishing to illuminate the Dispensation, he gave them his promise.

Then the elders spoke to the young monks Siggava and Caṇḍavajji:

“More than one hundred and eighteen years from now, danger will arise for the Dispensation. We will not still be alive then. You two did not attend this legal matter of the Saṅgha, and therefore you are liable to a disciplinary penalty (daṇḍakamma). This shall be your penalty: for the purpose of illuminating the Dispensation, the great Brahmā Tissa will be conceived in the house of the brahmin Moggali. When the time comes, one of you must ordain that boy, and the other must teach him the Buddha’s word thoroughly.”

Phussattheragāthā also shows that an Arahant can see the future of the world through knowledge of the future (anāgataṃsa-ñāṇa)

Excerpt:

Then, using knowledge of the future (anāgataṃsa-ñāṇa), Phussa Thera saw the future conduct of monks and nuns exactly as it would occur and described it.

The verses beginning:

“They will be angry and resentful…”

and ending:

“Develop the Noble Eightfold Path and realize the Deathless”

are his prophetic description of the future decline of discipline and his exhortation to practice heedfulness (appamāda).