Buddhism and Ecology: The Interconnection of Dharma and Deeds

Buddhism and Ecology: The Interconnection of Dharma and Deeds

ISBN-10:
0945454147
ISBN-13:
9780945454144
Pub. Date:
01/15/1998
Publisher:
Harvard University Press
ISBN-10:
0945454147
ISBN-13:
9780945454144
Pub. Date:
01/15/1998
Publisher:
Harvard University Press
Buddhism and Ecology: The Interconnection of Dharma and Deeds

Buddhism and Ecology: The Interconnection of Dharma and Deeds

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Overview

Given the challenges of the environmental crisis, Buddhism's teaching of the interrelatedness of all life forms may be critical to the recovery of human reciprocity with nature. In this new work, twenty religionists and environmentalists examine Buddhism's understanding of the intricate web of life. In noting the cultural diversity of Buddhism, they highlight aspects of the tradition which may help formulate an effective environmental ethics, citing examples from both Asia and the United States of socially engaged Buddhist projects to protect the environment. The authors explore theoretical and methodological issues and analyze the prospects and problems of using Buddhism as an environmental resource in both theory and practice. This groundbreaking volume inaugurates a larger series examining the religions of the world and their ecological implications which will shape a new field of study involving religious issues, contemporary environmental ethics, and public policy concerns.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780945454144
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Publication date: 01/15/1998
Series: Religions of the World and Ecology , #1
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 518
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.25(d)

About the Author

Mary Evelyn Tucker is Senior Lecturer, Yale Divinity School.

An ordained Buddhist priest in the Soto Zen tradition, Duncan Ryūken Williams has spent years piecing together the story of the Japanese American community during World War II. A renowned scholar of Buddhism, he has taught at the University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Irvine, and Trinity College, and is now the Director of the Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Culture at the University of Southern California. He has published five other books, including The Other Side of Zen.

Christopher Key Chapple is Navin and Pratima Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology, Loyola Marymount University.

Malcolm David Eckel is Associate Professor of Religion at Boston University.

Donald K. Swearer is Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Harvard Divinity School’s Center for the Study of World Religions and Professor of Religion, Emeritus, at Swarthmore College.

Table of Contents

  • Preface Lawrence E. Sullivan
  • Series Foreword Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim
  • Introduction Duncan Ryuken Williams


Overview: Framing the Issues
  • Buddhism and Ecology: Collective Cultural Perceptions Lewis Lancaster


Theravada Buddhism and Ecology: The Case of Thailand
  • The Hermeneutics of Buddhist Ecology in Contemporary Thailand: Buddhadasa and Dhammapitaka Donald K. Swearer
  • A Theoretical Analysis of the Potential Contribution of the Monastic Community in Promoting a Green Society in Thailand Leslie E. Sponsel and Poranee Natadecha-Sponsel


Mahayana Buddhism and Ecology: The Case of Japan
  • The Jeweled Net of Nature Paul O. Ingram
  • The Japanese Concept of Nature in Relation to the Environmental Ethics and Conservation Aesthetics of Aldo Leopold Steve Odin
  • Voices of Mountains, Trees, and Rivers: Kukai Dogen, and a Deeper Ecology Graham Parkes


Buddhism and Animals: India and Japan
  • Animals and Environment in the Buddhist Birth Stories Christopher Key Chapple
  • Animal Liberation, Death, and the State: Rites to Release Animals in Medieval Japan Duncan Ryuken Williams


Zen Buddhism: Problems and Prospects
  • Mountains and Rivers and the Great Earth: Zen and Ecology Ruben L. F. Habito
  • The Precepts and the Environment John Daido Loori


American Buddhism: Creating Ecological Communities
  • Great Earth Sangha: Gary Snyder's View of Nature as Community David Landis Barnhill
  • American Buddhist Response to the Land: Ecological Practice at Two West Coast Retreat Centers Stephanie Kaza
  • The Greening of Zen Mountain Center: A Case Study Jeff Yamauchi


Applications of Buddhist Ecological Worldviews
  • Nuclear Ecology and Engaged Buddhism Kenneth Kraft
  • Buddhist Resources for Issues of Population, Consumption, and the Environment Rita M. Gross
  • Buddhism, Global Ethics, and the Earth Charter Steven C. Rockefeller


Theoretical and Methodological Issues in Buddhism and Ecology
  • Is There a Buddhist Philosophy of Nature? Malcolm David Eckel
  • Green Buddhism and the Hierarchy of Compassion Alan Sponberg
  • Buddhism and the Discourse of Environmental Concern: Some Methodological Problems Considered Ian Harris

  • Bibliography on Buddhism and Ecology Duncan Ryuken Williams
  • Notes on Contributors
  • Index

What People are Saying About This

What a significant advance these articles represent for the study of religion and ecology. The potential contribution to the new field of J religious ecology is immense. These papers will help to create a coherent field for the study of Buddhism and ecology. What is even more important, though this is not the precise task of scholarship, these papers will help define the modern Buddhist response to ecological ethics.

John Berthrong

What a significant advance these articles represent for the study of religion and ecology. The potential contribution to the new field of J religious ecology is immense. These papers will help to create a coherent field for the study of Buddhism and ecology. What is even more important, though this is not the precise task of scholarship, these papers will help define the modern Buddhist response to ecological ethics.
— Boston University School of Theology, and Director, Institute for Dialogue among Religions
John Berthrong, Associate Dean for Academic and Administrative Affairs

Rodney L. Taylor Professor of Religious Studies an School

A volume of this kind is an important step in engaging scholarship to address critical issues of our time. The potential of religious traditions offering resources for rethinking our relation to the earth is one of the most exciting themes to emerge from scholarship in many years. This volume will be a first important step to the full understanding of the contribution humankind's perceptions of the sacred can make to the way we care for our earth.
— University of Colorado

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