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EXTRACTS FROM BOOKS/ESSAYS

Philip Kapleau, "Responsibility and Social Action", Dharma Rain
"A Middle Way alternates between the life of inward meditation and the life of action-in-the-world, the twin poles of nirvana and samsara that are ultimately one. What we take in through meditation we must give out in love and action on behalf of our fellows on this earth – humans and nonhumans." (p. 243)


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Stephen Batchelor, "Spaces in the sky"
"As long as this life is seen either as a brief moment in an infinite succession of lives or a mere prelude to eternal heaven or hell, in the end the fate of this world can become a matter of relative indifference. If Buddhism is to make a difference in this world today (as is the avowed aim of at least the 'Engaged Buddhist' movement), then it will need to consciously to switch its ultimate priorities from the hereafter to the now."


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Sulak Sivaraksa, "Buddhism with a small b", Dharma Rain 
"It is easy, particularly as we get older, to want softer lives and more recognition, to be on equal terms with those in power. But this is dangerous. Religion means a deep commitment to personal transformation. To be of help we must become more and more selfless. To do this, we have to take moral responsibility for our own being and our own society. This has been the essence of religion from ancient times right to the present." (p. 123)


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Rafe Martin, "Thoughts on the Jatakas", Dharma Rain
"Just prior to [the Buddha's] enlightenment, legend records that Mara, the tempter, appeared before the future Buddha and asked him if he was truly worthy of attaining so high a goal. In response, he touched the earth lightly with his right hand, asking the humble earth to witness for him. The earth replied, "He is worthy! There Is not a single spot on this globe where, through countless lifetimes, he has not offered his own life for the welfare of others!" (p.105)
"Besides revealing the character of the Buddha in his own Path to Buddhahood, the Jatakas simultaneously validate and give credence to our own natural feelings of compassion and our own spontaneous acts of selflessness. These tales ideally show us how to live in a suffering world, as well as offer us a noble and deeply spiritual vision of the nature of the universe." (p.106)

"Jatakas.. acknowledge our interrelation with all living things. And they remind us that, at some point, we too must act on our own deepest intuitions and experiences. Compassion, they seem to say, must ultimately express itself in action, must take form, if it is to be real." (p.108)


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Christopher Titmuss, The Green Buddha
"If we wish to find Truth and justice we must stop the escape into consumerism and self gratification. We must examine our values, and realize an ecological wisdom rooted in comprehensive understanding of interconnection. We must change from addiction to desire-action-result to upholding ethics-awareness-wisdom.
"It is not knowledge we are short of but the inspiration to transform our life, to break out of the mould of mechanical existence, and live on the edge of simplicity with others in a communal respect for the ordinary." (p.31)
"Spiritual practice never guarantees a transition from... meditation on love to active love... Warm pleasant feelings in meditation towards the wretched and unacceptable features of sentient existence are an inappropriate response to painful realities. Those who engage in loving kindness meditations may inadvertently use these feelings to obscure the awareness of the conditions of suffering going on all around them. The meditator has then confused metta with passive feelings of acceptance and the heart becomes entangled in spiritual delusion.
Unable to cope with the suffering world, an individual could withdraw into these meditations to feel comfortable. Loving kindness meditation does have a place, but those who practice this meditation must understand that loving kindness is the action not the "feel-good"sensation...Adopting a passive response allows the barbaric and cruel ways of humans to continue; just sitting on our backsides sending out loving thoughts is not the solution." (p.93)
"The insights of the Buddha encourage us to examine every feature of daily existence. Out of trust in the capacity for people's transformation through insight, the Buddha encouraged us to view and respond to daily events with a heart free from selfishness. He acknowledged the place of metta as a vehicle for social, political and environmental change. His teachings of loving kindness, compassion, spiritual joy and equanimity refute the position of the detached observer, who remains aloof from harsh realities" (p.94)
"Those who work for peace and justice must find peace within themselves and with each other as a direct contribution to peace on Earth. Otherwise we find ourselves caught up in anger and resentment, overprotecting those we cherish through blindness rather than wisdom." (p.94)
"The Buddha said that those who follow the way of the Dharma should think of themselves as warriors who wage war on greed, hate and fear." (p.99)
"Some Buddhists view concern for the world as entanglement in passing problems or attachment to the world – this "can inhibit a spontaneous predilection to end suffering" (pp. 103-104)


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Robert Aitken, "Right Livelihood for the Western Buddhist", Dharma Gaia
"There can be something very passive in [the conventional Buddhist declaration that] "this very body is the Buddha". It is Shakyamuni simply accepting himself under the Bodhi tree. He is completely enlightened, but nothing is happening. It was not until he arose and sought out his former disciples that he began to turn the Wheel of the Dharma. This is the process that Buddhism itself has followed over the centuries and millennia. It has, for the most part, sat under the Bodhi tree appreciating itself and only gradually come to remember its myriad, faithful disciples.
Yet all those disciples - ordinary people as well as monks and nuns; birds and trees as well as people; so-called inanimate beings as well as birds and trees - are clearly the responsibility of the Mahayana Buddhist, who vows every day to save them. This faith of ours, the great vehicle transporting all beings to the other shore, emerged two thousand years ago; but strangely enough, so far as I know no teacher has commented on the vows and said in so many words, "You yourself are the Mahayana. You yourself with your modest limitations are responsible for ferrying people, animals, oceans and forests across." Surely, with the entire Earth in grave danger, it is time that such things be said.
Regrettably, social responsibility has been framed negatively in Buddhism so far. In setting forth Right Livelihood, for example, the Buddha was explicit about wrong livelihood, such as butchering, bartending, manufacturing arms, guarding prisoners, and pimping. Yet the pursuit of such harmful occupations is surely just the most basic kind of transgression. It seems to me that the Western Buddhist might be asking what is Right Livelihood? after all! What is Right Lifestyle? What is the great endeavor that fulfills our Bodhisattva vows, not just in the monastery but in daily life?" (pp.228-29)


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Joan Halifax,  "The Third Body", Dharma Gaia
"One of the strongest places to learn about [anicca] is in nature. Yet our fear of impermanence has driven us to attempt to fix that which always transforms, whether it is our mind or the Earth. Our homes are architectural statements about our aversion to the change of seasons. Our automobiles are mechanical statements about our relationship with time, which we are fearful of losing. Our cosmetics and clothing attempt to hide our age. Our newspapers, radios and televisions tell us about the weather, when we could know as much simply by stepping outside and looking up and around at how the sun, wind and rain shape the day.
But even as we struggle and strive to create a still-life of our world and our lives, we create immeasurable suffering for Earth and her creatures. Homes, schools, churches and offices are built at the expense of forests, while our automobiles destroy the atmosphere. Cosmetics designed to cloak our aging are tested in animals, often torturing them in the process. The media distorts our imaginations and sensibilities, while our materialism and greed create hunger and want for millions of humans. And all this because we cannot accept the simple fact of change.
We struggle against anicca. But our inner storms are no match for the outer storm of typhoon, tornado, flood and fire. The trembling Earth cannot be held still by our fears." (p.31)


Thich Nhat Hanh in above
"A human being is an animal, a part of nature. But we single ourselves out from the rest of nature. We classify other animals and living beings as nature, acting as if we ourselves are not part of it. Then we pose the question, "How should we deal with nature?"..
...We should deal with nature the way we deal with ourselves! We should not harm ourselves; we should not harm nature. Harming nature is harming ourselves, and vice versa. If we knew how to deal with our self and with our fellow human beings, we would know how to deal with nature. Human beings are inseparable. Therefore, by not caring properly for any one of these, we harm them all." (pp.35-36)


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Stephen Batchelor,  "Buddhist Economics Reconsidered", Dharma Gaia
"Given its view of the power of greed to dominate and corrupt the human mind, Buddhism is certainly not optimistic about a sane ordering of the world and has for the most part resisted positing a utopian vision. Traditionally, this view has led to a reluctance by Buddhists to involve themselves too closely with social and political change. But now it is no longer a question of trying to create a utopia on Earth but simply one of trying to save the Earth from the disastrous consequences of greed run amok. Today Buddhism is confronted with an unprecedented challenge - to make its wisdom accessible not just for monks and nuns but for the world as a whole. In Schumacher's words: "it is a question of finding the right path of development, the Middle Way between materialist heedlessness and traditionalist immobility, in short, of finding Right Livelihood." (p.182)


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Thich Nhat Hanh, Dharma Rain
"We have to remember that our body is not limited to what lies within the boundary of our skin. Our body is much more immense. We know that if our heart stops beating, the flow of life will stop, but we do not take the time to notice the many things outside of our bodies that are equally essential for our survival. If the ozone layer around our Earth were to disappear for even an instant, we would die. If the sun were to stop shining, the flow of our life would stop." (p. 84)
"Life is one. We do not need to slice it into pieces and call this or that piece a "self". What we call a self is made only of non-self elements. When we look at a flower, for example, we may think that it is different from "nonflower" things. But when we look more deeply, we see that everything in the cosmos is in that flower. Without all of the nonflower elements - sunshine, clouds, earth, minerals, heat, rivers and consciousness - a flower cannot be." (p. 87)


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Dr. Kamla Chowdhry, Buddhism and Environmental Activism

(Example of Agenda 21):
"There is a wide gap between the goals sought and the means and mechanisms relied on to achieve them. The gap is an ethical one... although monitoring and raising ethical issues in such inter-governmental forums is important, the first step... is to change one's own personal behaviour, one's own lifestyle and values. Faced with a crisis, Buddha chose renunciation - exchanged riches for poverty, comfort for alms, home for homelessness. When faced with the environmental crisis, how many in the rich countries are willing to forego goods, to promote equity, act in compassion so as to promote sustainable development and thus safeguard the Earth?"

"It seems that we have lost our moral fibre. The questioning of consumerism, of lifestyles, of wanting more and more, is not an agenda for discussion in international forums. Ethical and moral issues are pushed under the carpet. Economic growth and new technologies are expected to solve environmental and poverty issues, and safeguard the Earth."
"People are not prepared to give up what Gandhiji called the "toys of civilisation." Some inner conversion is needed. Buddhism directed humankind's search inwards, to the potentiality hidden within. This is why the life and teachings of Buddha have acquired a new relevance. The practice of non-possession, renunciation, non-violence, of living in harmony with nature has to acquire a new significance if the Earth is to be protected and preserved."


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Kenneth Kraft, The Greening of Buddhist Practice
"Meditation can serve as a vehicle for advancing several ends prized by environmentalists: it is supposed to reduce egoism, deepen appreciation of one's surroundings, foster empathy with other beings, clarify intention, prevent what is now called burnout, and ultimately lead to a profound sense of oneness with the entire universe. "I came to realize clearly," said a Japanese Zen master upon attaining enlightenment, "that Mind is not other than mountains and rivers and the great wide earth, the sun and the moon and the stars."
"It is clear that an ecologically sensitive Buddhism exhibits significant continuities with traditional Buddhism, continuities that can be demonstrated textually, doctrinally, historically, and by other means."
"In several contexts we have seen eco buddhists struggling to think and act globally; that breadth of commitment is itself a trait that distinguishes today's activists from most of their Buddhist predecessors. Just as current environmental problems are planetary as well as local, present-day Buddhism has become international as well as regional. For centuries, classic Buddhist texts have depicted the universe as one interdependent whole, and elegant doctrines have laid the conceptual foundation for a "cosmic ecology." Contemporary Buddhist environmentalists are seeking to actualize that vision with a concreteness that seems unprecedented in the history of Buddhism."
"The increased awareness of the sociopolitical implications of spiritual practice is another feature that might qualify as a departure from earlier forms of Buddhism... Green Buddhists no longer assume that spiritual practice can take place in a social or environmental vacuum. Moreover, they believe that an overly individualistic model of practice may actually impede cooperative efforts to improve social conditions."
"The importance of women and of women's perspectives is another characteristic of eco buddhism that distinguishes it from more traditional forms of Buddhism. Today's environmentally sensitive Buddhists want to free themselves and others from sexist patterns of thought, behavior, and language. Women, no less than men, are the leaders, creative thinkers, and grassroots activists of green Buddhism. The influence of women also manifests itself in an aversion to hierarchy, an appreciation of the full range of experience, and an emphasis on the richness of relationships (human and nonhuman). Out of this milieu, the notion of the world "as lover" has emerged as a model for a new bond between humanity and nature. The ancient Greek goddess Gaia, who has been reclaimed by many people as a symbol of the earth, is also embraced by Buddhist environmentalists, men and women alike. Even the Buddha is sometimes feminized, as in the following gatha by Thich Nhat Hanh:
I entrust myself to Earth;
Earth entrusts herself to me.
I entrust myself to Buddha;
Buddha entrusts herself to me."


"The extinction of a species, each one a pilgrim of four billion years of evolution, is an irreversible loss. The ending of the lines of so many creatures with whom we have traveled this far is an occasion for profound sorrow and grief. . . Some quote a Buddhist teaching back at us: "all is impermanent." Indeed. All the more reason to move gently and cause less harm."


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Barb Clayton, Reflections on "Environmental Buddhism"
"The idea that the various elements of an ecosystem interact, and that changes in one part of the system can have effects throughout, seems to parallel the Buddhist view of reality as interdependent. The word "interdependent" is a rather loose translation of a term that was used by the Buddha to describe the way the world works. This is the term, pratitya-samutpada, which more literally means "conditioned co-arising.&3148; On the night when the Buddha is said to have become enlightened while sitting under the Bodhi tree, he discerned that all phenomena are conditioned: "this being, that becomes; from the arising of this, that occurs; this not being, that becomes not; from the ceasing of this, that ceases," (Samyutta Nikaya II.28, 65). The idea here is that nothing - no person, no event, no thing - arises totally independently, in isolation. Everything conditions and is conditioned by other things... The world exists as an interactive web of mutually conditioning processes."
"One of the reasons these [ahimsa, karuna and maitri] moral principles are considered important for environmental ethics is that they indicate that the moral sphere extends beyond the realm of just humans. A major intellectual obstacles to deriving an environmental ethic in the west (i.e. Europe and North America) has been the fact that western-based ethical traditions, for various reasons, have not traditionally considered non-human beings to be worthy of moral consideration. Western moral thought, generally speaking, is anthropocentric. It is in this light that the Buddhist view is significant because it is an example of a moral perspective which takes into consideration non-human entities."
"While the notion of interdependence and the ethic of compassion for sentient beings are the features of Buddhist thought most often cited in the environmental context, probably equally rich in environmental potential is the value placed in the Buddhism on simplicity and restraint... If we can agree that one of the major causes of the world's environmental problems lies in over consumption, and an economy based on cultivating false needs, then the Buddhist analysis might help provide a powerful antidote to this greed-fed system... The fact that Buddhism has a highly developed system of practices to help us understand and limit our desires may be the single most important thing it can contribute to an environmental ethic."
**Bill Devall: "Ecocentric Sangha", in Dharma Gaia, (pp.155-164)


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Earth Sangha website:
Buddhism and environmentalism might appear to address two very different types of problems. You could say that the point of environmental work is to repair our relationship with the natural world. And the point of Buddhism, in a sense, is to repair our relationship with ourselves. But the more you look at it, the clearer it becomes that these two fields overlap in all kinds of ways.
If you are already involved in Buddhism, you would probably agree with the proposition that Buddhism is essentially practical. The focus is on a kind of personal transformation--your transformation--and the time frame is now. So if you're drawn to Buddhism, you undertake a meditation technique, or you study Buddhist logic, or you develop some other form of practice. If all goes well, your mind begins to clear, and you begin to have some sense of how the Dharma fits within your own life. Perhaps you find that your interest in material things is not as strong as it once was. Perhaps it becomes easier to feel sympathy for people (even obnoxious people) who are less fortunate than you. Perhaps you become involved with a particular sangha, where you can be encouraged in your practice and offer encouragement in return. Life seems somewhat more satisfying than it once was. But is that as far as you're willing to go?
That's obviously a question that only you can answer. But there are grounds for thinking that you're likely to get more out of your practice if you make a consistent effort to extend it beyond yourself--assuming you do this in ways that are congruent with the practice itself. The Earth Sangha was founded in part on this premise, as it applies to environmental work specifically. It's our belief that careful, technically sound environmentalism can be an effective expression of the Buddhist view of life. We invite you to consider five connections between your practice and the well-being of life in general.


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REFERENCES
Badiner, A. H. (1990), Dharma Gaia: A Harvest of Essays in Buddhism and Ecology
Kaza, S. (1996), The Attentive Heart: Conversations with Trees
Kaza, S. and Kraft, K. (2000), Dharma Rain: Sources of Buddhist Environmentalism
Kotler, A. (1996), Engaged Buddhist Reader
Macy, J. (1998), Coming Back to Life
Ryan, P. D. (1998), Buddhism and the Natural World
Titmuss, C. (1992), The Green Buddha