Table of Contents
- Re:
QUERY> Buddhism and Ecology for undergrads
- Re:
QUERY> Buddhism and Ecology for undergrads
- Re:
QUERY> Buddhism and Ecology for undergrads
Re:
QUERY> Buddhism and Ecology for undergrads
by Sue Darlington
Hi All,I teach an undergraduate course on Buddhism and Environment, which looks at the anthropological aspects of how Buddhists perceive and act towards the natural environment. I include a section on economics and consumption, as these are crucial issues related to the environment. I'm happy to share my syllabus with anyone who is interested (and will post it through the syllabus project in H-Buddhism soon). Besides a lot of shorter articles, I ask students to read two books - the first of which addresses Dan's initial query about consumerism:
Payne, Richard K. 2010. How Much Is Enough? Buddhism, Consumerism, and the Human Environment. Boston: Wisdom Publications.
Darlington, Susan M. 2012. The Ordination of a Tree: The Thai Buddhist Environmental Movement. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. (I have a short article with a similar title published in 1998 in Ethnology - the book is more nuanced and political and, of course, has more details.)
Hope this is helpful.
Sue Darlington
Hampshire College
Amherst, MA
Re:
QUERY> Buddhism and Ecology for undergrads
by Matt Zepelin
Dear Dan and all,For courses on Buddhism and ecology or Buddhism and consumerism, there are several great resources by Stephanie Kaza, Professor Emeritus in Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont. (Full disclosure: I'm her editor at Shambhala Publications.) Her edited anthology Hooked! Buddhist Writings on Greed, Desire, and the Urge to Consume (2005) has many good essays that are accessible to undergrads. Mindfully Green (2008) is a wonderful short monograph (150 pages), looking at Buddhism, systems theory and other Western perspectives, and practical approaches to sustainability.
Her forthcoming essay anthology Green Buddhism (March 2019) will be a fairly comprehensive overview of Buddhism, ecology, and environmental activism. It has essays ranging from short, lyrical pieces she's published across the years to longer, more academic pieces considering Green Buddhism from the vantages of Buddhist schools and history, contemporary activism, unique qualities of American Buddhism, ecofeminism, animals, profiles of prominent Buddhist environmentalists (Gary Snyder, Sulak Sivaraksa, Joanna Macy, John Daido Loori), and more.
A fun basis for an experiential and writing project for undergrads could also be Kaza's The Attentive Heart: Conversations with Trees (1996), wherein she weaves together scientific and spiritual perspectives with a more personal/phenomenological experience of individual trees. Shambhala is going to reissue this in a 25th anniversary edition as Conversations with Trees: An Intimate Ecology in April 2019.
On climate change in particular, I also recommend David Loy, John Stanley, and Gyurme Dorje's essay anthology from Wisdom Publications, A Buddhist Response to the Climate Emergency (2009).
Best,
Matt Zepelin
Re:
QUERY> Buddhism and Ecology for undergrads
by Ron Epstein
Press Release - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASETitle: Responsible Living: Explorations in Applied Buddhist Ethics
Contact: Joscelyne Kravitz (Eileen Hu, Angela Justice) at BTTS
UKIAH, California, March 15, 2018 - As Earth Day approaches, the Buddhist Text Translation Society and Dharma Realm Buddhist University are delighted to announce a new publication by Dharma Realm Buddhist University’s Chancellor Emeritus, Dr. Ron Epstein, Ph.D. Responsible Living: Explorations in Applied Buddhist Ethics - Animals, Environment, GMOs, Digital Media is a collection of exploratory essays which uses applied Buddhist ethics, with support from passages in classic Buddhist texts, to address a host of modern day issues related to the environment, animal rights, and digital media.
In Responsible Living, Dr. Epstein describes how outer environmental and social problems mirror humanity’s inner struggle with selfishness, greed, and desire. By connecting to Buddhist concepts such as compassion, causation, and moral precepts to these issues, this collection of essays provides guidance to Buddhists for ethical conduct in the modern world. In the early pages of the book, he shares that, “From being inspired by the Venerable Master, the writings contained in this volume also represent my own struggle to broaden my understanding of the Buddhadharma, trying to see how it can be practically applied to very real and concrete problems of contemporary life. The Buddhadharma is not restricted to the confines of Buddhist temples or monasteries, to a particular culture or cultures, or to ancient times, but is a relevant and useful tool for the understanding of our most important current issues and challenges, no matter when and where they occur. The essays contained in this volume and are intended as examples of this kind of use of the Buddhadharma.”
The new book begins with a foreword by Venerable Ajahn Pasanno, Abbot of Abhayagiri Monastery in Redwood Valley, California, and also one of the senior most Western monastic disciples of the Venerable Ajahn Chah of the Thai Forest tradition. He states that, “The consistent result of those who put the teachings of the Lord Buddha into practice is not indifference but a pro-active compassion that is concerned for the welfare of the world with all its beings. The internal wisdom that is cultivated provides the skill in acting externally in the world with both discernment and kindness...With increasing distance from our natural world and environment, we have to look to spiritual support to establish ourselves in clarity, as it is only clear view that can hold the ecological problems skillfully and respond in an appropriate way. It is my hope that these essays will help people look for and find solutions.”
Dr. Epstein began his study and practice of Buddhism at the age of 24 under the direction of the Venerable Master in the 1960s shortly after the Master arrived in San Francisco. Prior to this collection of essays, Dr. Epstein worked as one of the principal translators of the newly translated Shurangama Sutra in English. He has written extensively on the contemporary application of Buddhism and Buddhist ethics, and also co-sponsored legislation in northern California which banned for the first time the growing of GMO crops on a county-wide basis.
Responsible Living is available in paperback at the CTTB bookstore, and online at www.bttsonline.org, Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1601030991/ref=tmm_other_meta_bi...), Amazon UK, Amazon AU, Amazon BR, Amazon JP, and Amazon MX. Ebook versions are scheduled to be released in July.
