“Clearly it is a vitally important bodhisattva activity to prevent a universal disaster like the collapse of our living world.” ~ Ringu Tulku, pg 128.
This book was published in 2009, by the creators of the EcoBuddhism website: www.ecobuddhism.org.
Useful links for further reading about the realities of Climate Change:
http://www.climatecodered.org/
http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/
There is an overview of the book itself on the website at: http://www.ecobuddhism.org/bcp/all_content/book_contents_overview_excerpts/
So, my own overview of the book here will be extremely brief, and I will confine myself to my impressions of it.
This book brings together personal responses to the global emergency of Climate Change from 22 Asian and Western Buddhist teachers. These are framed by an introductory part - which sets out the Science of Climate Change, including a summary of the most recent scientific predictions as to what the climate future holds – and a concluding overview of the main significant responses which humanity has available to us, in order to avert the impending catastrophe of runaway global warming.
All but one of the Asian teachers are of Tibetan origin, and the authors acknowledge this as a shortcoming which they would have addressed had they been prepared to delay publication. The Western teachers are mainly but American, with the Zen tradition most strongly represented. The inclusion of so many teachers of Tibetan origin does lead to valuable emphasis being placed on the rapid melting of the Himalayan glaciers. These glaciers are the main source of fresh water for about one third of the people of Asia, and scientific predictions suggest their possible disappearance by 2030.
I was immediately struck and attracted by the use of the word, Emergency in the title of this book, and the book is indeed refreshingly straightforward about how urgent and desperate the situation is. The various authors address themselves to many aspects of how this emergency intersects with Buddhism, and one of these aspects is the great unwillingness we all have – as a society and as individuals – to face up to the reality of this situation: a classic case of ‘Denial’ on a global scale.
Other common themes include: the need to replace a culture of craving and greed with a culture of sufficiency and contentment, the irresponsible and deluded nature of current human economic activity, and the importance - for Buddhist practitioners - of facing this challenge in accordance with our basic vows to refrain from harming beings and to bring them benefit instead.
On this last issue, the reader’s attention is drawn to predictions that up to half of all species on Earth could be driven to extinction this century, by the combination of Global Warming and habitat loss due to human activities. One is invited to consider the appropriate response to this prediction, especially for those who have received – or hold in their own hearts – the Bodhisattva Vow: the vow to save all beings.
I am considerably impressed at the way in which at least two of the authors – Bikkhu Bodhi, an American Theravadan monk, and Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, an incarnate Tibetan lama living in the USA – do tackle issues of politics and economics head-on. As a would-be Buddhist practitioner with strong and radical political views, I am often troubled by the difficulty of bringing these together. Entering into the realm of political and economic discourse can be very divisive and confrontational and it seems hard to do this with an open heart and without attachment to one’s own opinions. Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, in particular, seems to have no such difficulty, and sets up clear Buddhist values against the prevailing values of modern Western lifestyles. The title of his chapter, “Minimal Needs and Maximum Contentment,” gives some sense of his overall theme.
It seems the editors and many of the authors do consider that Buddhism and Buddhist communities have something in particular to offer in addressing the underlying issues. “What Buddhist teachers and practitioners can do now is demonstrate how we can break away from this culture of addiction.” (Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche). That is to say, it is a culture of consumerism and greed which underlies the economic and political causes of Climate Change and other severe ecological problems, and this is founded on the belief that happiness is found through the acquisition and use of external objects. Buddhism, in contrast, says that ultimate happiness can never be found in this way, and that happiness is found within one’s own being.
What this book can never do is what I so wanted it to, when I saw the title: to tell me exactly what my response, as a Buddhist, to the Climate Emergency ought to be: what I need to do to save the planet from disaster. Rather, I think it hopes mainly to impress upon Buddhists, in particular, how vital it is that we address this issue wholeheartedly and urgently, and looks at how Buddhist values and practise can enable us to lead the way in embodying a different kind of economy and society: one which does not destroy the environment it relies on.
“ Each of us must take complete responsibility for the world, as If the world’s fate depended on our words and actions. Whether we know it or not, it does.” Hozan Alan Sanauke, pg 213
As I write this review for the newsletter of Dancing Mountains Sangha, I am left with the question, “what can we do?”. Is there anything significant we can do as a Sangha to address this most vital issue? How can we come together with other Buddhist groups to build a common response? Perhaps we could discuss this in our Facebook group. (https://www.facebook.com/groups/140347182677950/)
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