"There is no safety in the threefold world;
it is like a burning house."
The Lotus Sutra

Dozens killed in a suicide bombing, and scores more injured. Lives shattered and nothing gained but death and suffering. In the realm of karma, one thing is absolutely sure: suicide bombers don't go to heaven.

There is no paradise waiting for the terrorist martyr. Buddhist cause and effect teaches that there is no heaven or hell beyond the here and now; this moment and this life contain infinite potential for both suffering and joy. When one uses one's life to inflict suffering on others, there is only hell -- a hellish life-condition that one has created through hellish actions which will result in hellish rebirths -- this is cause and effect.

Karmic cause and effect can be summarized as: What we created in the past is what we are at the moment; what we create now is what we will become. Our individual karma is always ready to emerge and transmute according to our response to stimuli in our environment. The resultant thought forms, projections, and our inevitable actions constitute the culmination and cause of individual and group karma.

In terms of collective karma, hate, prejudice, murder, ethnic cleansing, genocide, war, and acts of violence have been on our résumé since 7000 BCE. Our supposed common ancestor Homo habilis was an able killer and carnivore. Since 3000 BCE there have been more than 14,000 wars and 3 billion people killed as a result of our warlike proclivities. Far more than 20 million were killed in the twentieth century alone. Religious differences and the "three poisons" in human consciousness have been at the root of many of those conflicts.

Although war seems to be waged with weapons, the origin of war is in our hearts and minds. It is a war of thought forms, thought projections and selfish cravings.

Buddhism describes the three poisons of greed, anger, and stupidity as the actual source of our individual and national problems; war is the pinnacle of greed, anger and stupidity. Eradicating the three poisons or at least recognizing them is the first step to the solution of raising our ignoble, violent behavior, and transforming us from cruel marauders to enlightened beings able to construct a peaceful realm. Our very survival as a species depends on making this transformation now that terrorists with weapons of mass destruction seek to hold the world hostage for their religious and political causes.

Transforming inner lives through cultivating happiness and value is much slower than smart bombs, tactical nuclear weapons, embargoes, occupation, counter-revolution, assassination, subjugation, or annihilation, but it is the surest way. Real world peace is not found in a singular philosophy. Planetary harmony is the perfect blending of divergent belief systems that rediscover the true message of their scriptural and oral mythologies. Vengeful tribal gods, the literal teaching of scripture and chosen people are at the root of the problem.

This transformation from a mind of delusion to one that is awakened is accomplished by education. For real change to occur, a worldwide change in curriculum is required. As yet, there is no mechanism to make this re-education a reality, nor is there any mass recognition that the old systems of the West have failed us, requiring an adjustment to their mythology.

There are some powerful Christians in America who want everyone to worship their God as the only God. A monument of the Ten Commandments in a courthouse has become their "graven image" rallying point. But it is not the thundering admonitions of the Ten Commandments that need to be taught.

Children, young adults and people of all spiritual disciplines need new information. It seems obvious that all people should be taught three things: karmic cause and effect, the Four Noble Truths, and the Eightfold Path. It appears that the world needs some universal moral and ethical guidelines. These non-sectarian principles can then be applied to our daily life and our personal tradition, no matter what our personal religion is.

The Four Noble Truths are:

The Eightfold Path is:

When applied properly to any religion or spirituality, the Eightfold Path brings out the highest practical good and behavior. Beauty, gain, and good -- the essence of value creation is the tangible result of people working for self-improvement based on the schematic of the Eightfold Path.

The spiritual traditions that shape human consciousness have used symbolic language, images, metaphors, and lessons to pass down and preserve their legends. These teachings include the genesis of creation, the ark and flood, virgin births, angry anthropomorphic tribal gods with their chosen people -- intolerant of all other gods, resurrection, reliance on saviors, prophecy,
and heavenly paradise or hell beyond this world and our daily life. These archetypal images are not the exclusive province of Christianity, Judaism or Islam, but also include Buddhism, Hinduism, Shamanism, and most other ancient traditions.

As the late professor Joseph Campbell taught, when religious imagery that should be regarded as metaphorical is taken literally, the true meaning of the text is obscured and in some cases lost. Mistaking symbolic myths for facts is the cause for delusion and spawns a great many injustices. Fundamentalist elements can seize advantage, moving individuals to bluster with righteous indignation at the non-believers. "Our God can kick your God's ass." In may cases people believe that their God is real and other Gods are false. When one God is believed to be true and others false, people often lose their lives.

A solution for this problem is found in the Mahayana idea of the middle way, derived from an idea known as the Three Truths, or Santai, comprising the material aspect of life is known as Ke, the non-substantial Ku, and the spiritual element of Chu -- or the middle way. When one walks the path of the middle way based upon the real truth of their belief system -- whether monotheistic, polytheistic or Buddhist -- they do so with wisdom, tolerance, perseverance, inclusion, and respect for life and the planet.

It might seem impossible to change the minds of people trained to hate, wage a holy war and kill in the name of God, but it must be done. After all, even the brutal serial killer Angulimala became a saint after accepting the Buddha dharma.