Environment & Ecology
Buddhism and Nature | Leslie E. Sponsel
LA 55 |
|
| The life of Buddha has been intimately associated with nature with his teachings in Buddhism depicting the acknowledgement of a monistic world view with all life, including humans, being subject to the laws of nature. Buddhism, inherently, advocates respect and reverence to nature. It is environmental in principle and is important in environmental conservation, landscape architecture and other allied fields. |
|
 |
|
Natural Wisdom
Dhamma refers to the teachings of the Buddha. Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, a famous Thai scholar and forest monk, writes: 'Everything arising out of Dhamma, everything born from Dhamma, is what we mean by "nature." This is what is absolute and has the highest power in itself. Nature has at least four aspects: nature itself; the law of nature; the duty that human beings must carry out toward nature; and the result that comes with performing this duty according to the law of nature.' Bhikkhu Bodi elaborates on the mutual relevance of Buddhism and nature: 'With its philosophical insight into the interconnectedness and thoroughgoing interdependence of all conditioned things, with its thesis that happiness is to be found through the restraint of desire in a life of contentment rather than through the proliferation of desire, with its goal of enlightenment through renunciation and contemplation and its ethic of non-injury and boundless loving-kindness for all beings, Buddhism provides all the essential elements for a relationship to the natural world characterized by respect, care, and compassion.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
