| Specifications |
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Publisher: Tibet House, New Delhi |
| Author: Julia Martin | |
| Language: English | |
| Pages: 209 | |
| Cover: PAPERBACK | |
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9.0x5.5 Inch |
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Weight 300 gm |
| Edition: 1997 | |
| ISBN: 9788170305292 | |
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HBW175 |
| Delivery and Return Policies |
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Ships in 1-3 days |
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Returns and Exchanges accepted within 7 days |
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Free Delivery |
What do Buddhism and Ecology have to say to one another?
This book is the result of a recent conference which met in New Delhi to
explore this question. It was Gandhi's birthday, a day of national celebration,
and a reminder of how spiritual practice may work together with social activism
for justice and peace. In the morning, people from 22 countries had gathered to
witness the consecration of a golden statue of the Earth-touching Buddha, and
its presentation to the people of India, by His Holiness the Dalai Lama on
behalf of the Tibetan Community. In the afternoon, when the solemn, joyful,
beautiful ritual was complete, we went on, to the opening of an international
conference, "Ecological Responsibility: A Dialogue with Buddhism."
The presentations collected here interpret this focus on dialogue by asking
questions about mutual reciprocity: how can Buddhist teaching and practice
enable people to work towards healing the environment, and how, at the same
time is the global environmental crisis shaping and redefining people's
understanding of "Buddhism." On In raising these questions, we who
have contributed to this book enter the growing conversation around the world
between the theory and practice of ecology, and the theory and practice of
spiritual traditions including Buddhism. Listening and learning, real dialogue
inevitably changes our language, as well as our understanding. So you'll notice
in reading this collection that people are beginning to use words in new ways.
For example, someone may use an environmental understanding of a term like
"pollution" to explain a state of body-mind, or describe and
environmental situation using a Buddhist concept of "defilement."
This transformation of the language is probably the main common feature of the
contributions to this book. Another feature is diversity: although situating
the conference in New Delhi meant that our discussions share to some extent
local priorities and terms of reference (Asia, India, Gandhi, for example),
there is clearly no single "ecology," no "Buddhism" and no
"eco-Buddhism that says it all. Having recognised this, one can identify
recurrent concerns, and enough similarity to group the texts loosely under two
main categories. Part One deals largely with analyses of our eco-social-spiritual
predicament, and Part Two offers proposals for what to do about it. The
contributors come from North and South, from the so- called developed and
developing worlds, from cities and rural areas, from religious orders and lay
practice, from theoretical study and grassroots activism, from different
spiritual traditions and political affiliations. Arising within diverse social,
ecological, economic and cultural environments, our view of "the present
crisis" is inevitably shaped by these environments. A Buddhist term for
this is pratityasamutpada, dependent co-origination: all phenomena arise
interdependently; there is no "self" that can be extracted from the
envirorument in which it takes shape. Many people have recognised the useful
correspondence between this realisation and ecosystems thinking, which
describes living systems as patterns of interconnectedness. This aspect of
Buddhist teaching also enables us to see that there can be no single vantage
point for eco-Buddhism: people see different ecologies, different Buddhas,
arising from different situations. This approach, which liberates us from the
tyranny of the "one truth" is also at home in ecological work. Here
people may speak of "bioregional truth" or "situated kriowledge"
to describe a point of view which is true to a particular place and time, but
does not claim universal or absolute status. This perspective on truth is being
adopted by many people as a creative way of resisting the inmperialist
arrogance which treats "other" people and "other"
ecosystems as resources to be exploited. For similar reasons, ecologists affirm
diversity as a basic principle: although it may bring profit to a few,
monoculture depletes the land, and is ultimately unsustainable.
eco-Buddhism. Having said this, one can generalise and
oversimplify somewhat in order to identify areas of common focus and
conserisus. I have called Part One of the collection "Desire and
Development in a Suffering World," and Part Two "Compassionate
Engagement." What do Buddhism and Ecology have to say to one another?.
This book is the result of the conference "Ecological Responsibility: A
Dialogue with Buddhism", which was held in New Delhi to explore this
question. The essays collected here interpret this focus on dialogue by asking
questions about mutual reciprocity: how can Buddhist teaching and practice
enable people to work towards healing the environment, and how, at the same
time is the global environmental crisis shaping and redefining people's understanding
of "Buddhism". Ven. The contributors to the volume are H.H.the Dalai
Lama: Ramachandra Gandhi: Radha Burnier: Samdhong Rinpoche; H.H. Kyabgon Sakya
Trizin: Noritoshi Aramaki: H.E. Neville Kanakaratne: Robert A.F. Thurman:
Kamburupitiye Ariyasena: Kamla Chowdhry: Jose A.Lutzenberger: Allan Hunt
Badiner Sunderlal Bahuguna: Ramachandra Guha: Lily de Silva: Henryk
Skolimowski: Chatsumarn Kabilsingh: Julia Martin: Ravindra Varma: Stanislav
Menshikov: John B. Taylor: Christopher Titmuss.
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