Help Protect The Environment By Burning Less

NEA (National Environment Agency) togther with KMSPKS (Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery) have a campaign to urge the public to “Help Protect The Environment By Burning Less”. Yearly during the seventh lunar month without fail, many Chinese buy paper-made replicas of ‘material’ stuff to burn for their beloved deceased ones, thinking that they will be able to ‘receive’ them in the nether world. As much as it’s a token of filial piety or even love for some, we should rethink about carrying on this custom. Or at least, come out with an alternative that won’t harm the environment that much.

With Green Power Comes Green Responsibilities

Just finished reading a great post by a fellow Buddhist at Moonpointer.com as quoted below:

… As such, environmentalism and vegetarianism are aspects of Right Action in the Noble Eightfold Path (especially on the Bodhsattva path) – to not harm sentient life, and thus naturally, by extension, to protect their living environment. Is this not the practice of compassion and wisdom? It is definitely not all of the practice of the duo, but it is undeniably part of it – to the extent that if you neglect environmentalism and vegetarianism, your Dharma practice is definitely incomplete. With room for improvement, why not be more green – by being more animal and Earth-friendly? No one is demanding those uncomfortable to be green overnight. But practice makes perfect. (For full article, click here)

Too many are giving lame excuses to not do the right thing due to lack of understanding on Buddhist teachings. It’s bizarre how people can be selective on what they wish to do and not do by missing the essence of the teachings. When Buddha taught love and compassion, did he refer only to humans and not the animals that we eat on our dinning tables? When the Buddha taught Right Action, did he mean only not to do the ten unwholesome actions? Does it mean it is okay to destroy or neglect the Earth with our ignorance?

Religion aside, how can anyone in the right state of mind not save the environment and its animals if they have the power to? If you can ignore all the signs of global warming and the sufferings of the animals, you are, sad to say, living in your own deluded world.

The Relevance of Vipassana for the Environmental Crisis

Environmental pollution is a great threat to the survival of humankind on this planet. If effective measures are not taken immediately, a catastrophe which is similar in destructive capacity to that caused by nuclear war is imminent as a result of environmental pollution and increased exposure to U.V. radiation through ozone depletion. The rate of pollution caused by human beings far exceeds nature’s ability to purify and rejuvenate its life-sustaining air and water. We understand the problem that we now face, hence the search for development with sustainability. But it is our contention that a radical solution has not yet been looked for, let alone found, and that man is only trying to grapple with this enormous global problem with patchwork technological remedies.

The Inner Ecology: Buddhist Ethics And Practice

By Ronald Epstein

AN ANALOGY: THE MIND AND ENVIRONMENTAL ECOLOGY
If ignorance, particularly ignorance of the illusory nature of the self, is the basic cause of our lack of enlightenment, why can’t we just do a little introspection and see clearly who we really are and become enlightened?

In theory we can, but when most of us do look within, we cannot fathom the depths of our own minds, because our minds are not clear and still. Instead we find them to be turbid and in constant flux; they are terribly polluted. It is our own mental pollution that keeps us from enlightenment. We try to plumb our minds, but it is more like trying to see to the bottom of a badly polluted pond used as a factory sewer than gazing to the bottom of a clean, clear, still mountain pool.

Buddhism & Environmental Protection

By Ven. Sheng-yen

Buddhism is a religion that places great emphasis on environmental protection. Sakyamuni Buddha was born at Lumbini Garden. He engaged in spiritual practice in the forest, attained Buddhahood under a tree, and first began preaching at Deer Park. The major monasteries where he taught his disciples were all gardens or woods, such as Jeta Grove, Bamboo Grove, Amravana Garden, and he passed into pari-nirvana between two Sal trees near Kusinagara. He exhorted his monastic disciples, when spending the night under a tree, to regard that place as his home and take loving care of it.

The Buddha told us in the sutras and precepts that we should take loving care of animals, and that we should not harm the grass and trees, but regard them as the home where sentient beings lead their lives. In the stories of the Buddha’s past lives, when he was following the Bodhisattva path, he was once reborn as a bird. During a forest fire, he tried fearlessly to put out the fire, disregarding his own safety by bringing water with his feathers. In the Avatamsaka Sutra it is said that mountains, waters, grass, and trees are all the manifestation of the great bodhisattvas. So, Buddhists believe that both sentient beings and non-sentient things are all the Dharma-body of the buddhas. Not only do the yellow flowers and green bamboo preach Buddhist teachings, but rocks can also understand Buddhist doctrines. Therefore, Buddhists regard our living environment as their own bodies. The Buddhists’ life of spiritual practice is by all means very simple, frugal, and pure.

Story on Recycling: The Generous Queen & The Selfish King

What would you do if you suddenly had a bag full of gold? What would you do with it? Would you keep it, spend it or share it? Here is a story of how a disciple of the Buddha called Ananda taught a King a lesson on the importance of mindful sharing – not only with one’s personal wealth, but also of the wealth of the Earth’s resources. This is also the classic Buddhist story of “recycling” our blessings in life, of treasuring whatever we have.

Let’s Protect Our Trees

Monk Protecting the Trees
Vasan Sitthiket 1957, Thailand
Mixed media on canvas
79 x 61cm
Singapore Art Museum

Axing Singapore’s Oldest Bodhi Tree?

As reported on the SaveOurRoots’ website, “On 20th January 2003, URA issued a compulsory land acquisition order to acquire the plot of land belonging to JLS as part of URA’s redevelopment plan for Circle Line Stage 3 construction. If nothing is done, both JLS and the Bodhi tree will have to make way for redevelopment in 2007.”