Most of us in the Tibetan Buddhist Community have heard the Dalai Lama express his concerns about the environment in the last 20 years and the latest recomendations and directives given by the Karmapa to monastics and laypeople in his manual for the environment. Karmapa Environmental Guidelines
Mother Earth is in pain and is letting us know. Environmental disasters are happening much faster than predicted only 15 years ago. Scientific calculations of environmental changes are predicting catastrophic events in a near future: rising sea levels, increasing cancer rates, vast population growth, depletion of resources, and extinction of species are on the radar. Human activity everywhere is destroying key elements of the natural eco-systems of which all living beings depend on. It is hard to visualize the future life of humans in the planet.
We all know that buddhism sees ignorance as a source of all suffering. Humans thought the Earth was inexhaustibly sustainable, now we know the extent of our ignorance, and because of that all sentient beings are suffering. The good news is that all cultures and civilizations will have to come together to resolve the problem; however for that to happen, we have to overcome ignorance, wrong views, wrong actions, and afflictive emotions, the very issues that Buddhism is set up to tackle.
When I engaged in working at the UN with other fellow NGOs, for the creation of an Earth Charter, a declaration of principles to guide our relationship to the planet, I had in mind a Buddhist world view. As we well know, the doctrine of pratītyasamutpāda (Doctrine of "dependent origination)" is at the core of Buddhist philosophy. "Dependent arising" states that phenomena arise together in a mutually interdependent web of cause and effect. This is the understanding that any phenomenon exists only because of the existence of other phenomena in an incredibly complex web of cause and effect covering time past, time present and time future.
To say it in another way, everything depends on everything else, or yet in other words: when this is, that is. From the arising of this comes the arising of that. From the cessation of this comes the cessation of that. A human being's existence in any given moment is dependent on the condition of everything else in the world at that moment, but in an equally significant way, the condition of everything in the world in that moment depends conversely on the character and condition of that human being.
If we were professional ecologists we could say that this concept is the definition of ecology today, which is the science that studies the relationship between living beings. It is ecology that is telling us that we are very quickly killing the planet and all its life. Ecology now sees the universe and our world as a living system of systems, where everything is interconnected and interdependent. Well, that sounds like a budhist world view and karma, doesn't it?
Because of the acceptance of this new scientific concept at the UN it was felt the need for a new worldview and a declaration of principles on how to live accordingly, so people everywhere could understand how their local actions could affect the global environment. Hence the slogan: think globally and act locally. Also a new ethics was necessary. In the ethics of karma and the of the Bodhisatvas, no one has an individual ethical destiny, separate from the destiny of humanity. Karma, as we know means action. Those concepts have been embraced into the body of what is now known as Environmental Ethics.
The effort to create a Charter to reflect principles to guide people's behavior that could help to save the Earth was long overdo within the UN environmental agencies, and among NGOs all over the globe. This effort finally culminated with the finalization of the Earth Charter in 1997. As people, we are as responsible for the planet as anybody else, but as Buddhists we are infinitely more responsible because we know, we know about interdependent origination and we know about karma, and we have known for thousands of years. The question is, what can we do beyond living with great compassion and responsibility? Although Buddhism has a long history of protecting the environment and all sentient beings, the call today is for a more engaged karmic action, we must work together and fast if we are going to help stop and revert the process of destruction of the planet. In this endevour we can find some guidance from the Earth Charter and the Karmapa's Environmental Guidelines. The Earth Charter
The Earth Charter as it stands today, has been the object of a process of global partnership and discussion, and it contains a preamble in which it includes a view of life as an interdependence ecosystem and sixteen principles to guide our actions.
Principle 7 calls for us to Adopt patterns of production, consumption, and reproduction that safeguard Earth's regenerative capacities, human rights, and community well-being. It is a call that seems overwhelming and a task for governments.
What can we do as monastic communities and as individuals?
First as communities, we can immediately review how we run our temples, monasteries and meditations centers. Are we energy efficient? How do we conserve water? Do our temples, monasteries, and meditation centers recycle? Do we use biodegradeble material, such as detergents, plates and cups? What we do with all the plastic we use everyday? How can we protect the ecosystem of the places where we live? Do we burn or cut wood for the winter and cooking? Do we plant trees? Are we prepared to educate the lay community for specific actions that can be taken, and to help them to understand their responsibility and their participation in local communities?
Our monasteries, temples, and communities can promote efficient methods of waste management and prevent pollution, for example. We can use the Earth Charter to educate children and parents about the importance of their actions for the environment. We can look for partnerships with local, national, and international Non Governmental Organizations to apply energy efficiency to our monasteries, temples and Centers, to properly manage waste, and to prepare educational material for our communities. We must talk about the environment to all people and encourage them to engage in sustainable activities in their homes and their communities. The need today is not just for conservation and protection. We need to change and to promote change. We must take active responsibility for our views and beliefs.
Principle 14 call us to Integrate into formal education and life-long learning the knowledge, values, and skills needed for a sustainable way of life. We Buddhists are in a privileged position to bring to life this principle.
Buddhist philosophy provides a rational basis for ecological conservation and engaged activism. Buddhists from all determinations have come forward to work in this global common problem, which affects the very survival of the planet, and their voices have been heard everywhere. Many books were published, conferences were promoted and talks were given, but we are still further away from greening our temples, monasteries and meditation centers, and from resolving the problem. Now that we are engulfed in an economical crisis there is the danger that immediate human interests will again blind our consciousness from the right perception of things and misguide our choices and actions.
The Dalai Lama said that in the past we were ignorant of the environmental implications, despite the fact that Buddhist precepts protects all life, but today we have no excuse, the Earth, He says, is the home of billions and billions of sentient beings. "We must act before it is too late." Dalai Lama's articles on the Environment
"Our ancestors viewed the earth as rich and bountiful, which it is. Many people in the past also saw nature as inexhaustibly sustainable, which we now know is the case only if we care for it. It is not difficult to forgive destruction in the past that resulted from ignorance. Today however, we have access to more information, and it is essential that we re-examine ethically what we have inherited, what we are responsible for, and what we will pass on to coming generations."
For Shakyamuni Buddha, (Gautama the Buddha) the environment was his home. Although he was born in a palace, he found enlightenment under a tree, and when the paranirvana moment came, he placed himself outside to die. The environment is our home and our mother. Peace and survival of life on Earth as we know it are threatened by humans that lack the commitment to humanitarian values. Destruction of nature and natural resources result from ignorance, greed, and lack of respect for life, above all from lack of a daily life awareness. We are ignoring the consequences of what we do with all the material we use in our daily lifes.
Because of our tenets and principles, we Buddhist, more than any other religion, have an inherent responsibility to engage in compassionate environmental activism to save the planet for all sentient beings. Let us remember that Buddhism is not anthropocentric, it advocates that all sentient beings pursue happiness, and that the Buddha nature exists in all sentient beings (Buddhism & Anthopocentism). We can educate, produce material, spread the word, promote workshops, and create community projects for the monastic and the lay community to work together and to bring about change. If it seems like a too big of a task, we can start at home--from our kitchens and trash, comes the most damage to the ecosystems that surrounds us and even the much larger ecosystems.
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