The Ideal of Causing No Harm to Anything That Can Suffer Is

Environmentalist Stephanie Kaza invites us to consider how Buddhist principles can assist usa nurse the planet back to health.

Photograph by Petter Rudwall on Unsplash.

Sometimes it seems like Buddhism doesn't accept much relevance to environmental issues. Can Buddhist philosophy solve climatic change? Tin meditation bring dorsum lost species? I retrieve well-nigh these things much of the time, trying to find my manner in a world of plummeting ecosystem health. Every semester my students say, "But what can ane person do?" If I don't have some skilful answers, they won't exist able to move forrad with the of import work of saving the planet.

Then when they ask me, "Where should I begin?," I usually reply, "What do you care about the most?" Since the problems are countless, no one can possibly accost all of them. It is important to take a place to actually attain something, to exist grounded in the concrete, political, and economic realities of a specific situation. Considering most environmental work is incremental and cumulative, you lot need a lot of motivation to hang in in that location over the long haul. I recommend listening for what calls you lot to respond; this is a good way to place personally meaningful piece of work. And yes, that work can be Buddhist practice. Here I offer several approaches based in Buddhist principles that tin exist applied to any environmental piece of work.

Existence with the Suffering

If you lot look at the state of the world today, the suffering—of plants and animals, forests and rivers, and local and indigenous peoples—is enormous. Global agronomics, urban sprawl, and industrial development have caused wide-scale loss of habitat, many local-species extinctions, severe country and water degradation, and unstable climate. In the last century, the rate of loss has accelerated significantly, to the point of threatening ecosystem health and the continuity of life.

The kickoff noble truth begins with the suffering that arises from the inevitability of modify and loss. Facing this suffering and the delusions it generates is where Buddhist practice begins. In the precepts of the Club of Interbeing, Thich Nhat Hanh urges, "Practise non avoid contact with suffering or close your eyes before suffering." He directs students to be present with suffering to understand the nature of existence. This requires patience and equanimity in the face of disturbing realities—a articulate-cutting forest reduced to stumps, a once-lush river deadened by chemic waste product, a coral reef blasted by dynamite fishing. Information technology is non easy to gaze clear-eyed at these troubling results of human activeness.

Most of the time we would rather non remember about the suffering acquired by our actions. Even so from a Buddhist perspective, this is the best place to start, for it is grounded in reality, not idealized projection. Mindful awareness is all nigh direct feel of the actual state of things. The authenticity of such perception is freeing and motivating at the same fourth dimension. Practices that tranquillity and focus the listen can provide a stable mental base from which to observe the whole ending of man impact. To exist with environmental suffering means existence willing to be with the suffering produced by your own cultural conditioning toward other-than-human beings. Those of us in the Due west have been raised to run into forests and rivers as potential resources. Man-centered views are 1 of the greatest deterrents to beingness fully present with other living beings. If you see the environment every bit primarily for homo use—whether for food, shelter, recreation, or spiritual development—you may not see how others endure nether the thumb of man authorisation.

Being with suffering means learning about what is going on in a given environmental conflict. The four noble truths can be applied as a framework for diagnosis by posing four questions, each question corresponding to one of the truths: First, what is the environmental trouble or suffering? Second, what are the causes of the suffering? Third, what would put an end to the suffering? And fourth, what is the path to realize this goal?

This analysis is deceptively unproblematic, still information technology tin exist quite radical if yous include all forms of suffering—that of people, animals, copse, species, habitats, and ecosystems. This method of diagnosis provides straightforward guidelines for how to become informed, and therefore more able to show to the suffering involved. It also provides analytical residual to the emotions yous inevitably feel when yous glimpse another being's suffering.

Cultivating Systems Mind

Solving environmental problems almost always requires some understanding of ecological principles, or what I telephone call "systems thinking." The Buddhist principle of dependent co-arising provides an splendid foundation for systems thinking. According to this perspective, all events and beings are interdependent and mutually co-create each other. Thus the universe is seen as dynamic in all dimensions and scales of action, with every action affecting and generating others in turn.

You may be familiar with the Chinese Buddhist metaphor known every bit the Gem Internet of Indra, which expresses this dynamic of interdependence. Imagine a fishnet-similar set of linked lines extending advertizing infinitum across horizontal and vertical dimensions of space. Then add more than nets criss-crossing on the diagonals. Imagine an countless number of these nets criss-crossing every plane of space. At each node in every net, in that location is a multifaceted jewel that reflects every other precious stone in the net. There is nothing exterior the net and nothing that does not reverberate its presence throughout the net.

From an ecological perspective, this metaphor makes obvious sense: ecological systems are exactly such complex sets of relations shaping and existence shaped over time past the members of the system. You exercise non have to study ecological science to sympathize this; you tin can easily notice crusade and effect in whatever system is close at hand—your family, your workplace, your backyard. Y'all develop systems-thinking through looking at patterns in fourth dimension and infinite, such equally seasonal cycles or brute paths. For an ecologist, this manner of looking is an essential tool. For a mindful citizen, pattern- or systems-thinking tin can help you raise useful questions in addressing ecology concerns. Yous tin ask about the history of the conflict, the pattern of policy decisions, the economical and social needs of those involved, and the ecological relations at stake.

Astute observers of systems can decipher the patterns of feedback that reflect the ascendant shaping forces. Also much heat, the cat seeks shade. Too much common cold, the true cat finds a warm machine hood to sleep on. Systems are shaped by self-regulating mechanisms, such as those that keep your trunk temperature constant, and by self-organizing patterns that allow the system to adapt when new opportunities arise. Self-regulating (which maintains the stability of the system) and self-organizing (which allows the system to evolve or "learn") are both happening all the time at all levels of activity. You tin practice observing this in your own trunk/mind to run across how such feedback works. How do y'all reply to rainy days? To sunny days? To being hungry? To eating too much? To getting enough sleep? To non getting enough sleep? You can reflect on which places nourish you and why. This is all good practise for developing a systems mind.

Then far I'm talking virtually fairly straightforward bio-geophysical reality. But the constabulary of interdependence also includes the part of human thought and mental workout. In Buddhist philosophy, intention and mental attitudes count; what people recall well-nigh the environment has a major effect on what they choose to practise. The Buddhist systems-thinker involved in environmental controversy would ask as much about the human actors and their attitudes as about the affected trees and wild fauna.

This leads to a key attribute of systems thinking, agency, or who is actually doing what? This means determining who is responsible for decisions or actions that impact the planet and the human community. It ways tracing the concatenation of cause and issue back to those who take generated the environmental damage and are in a position to change their form of action. The existent world of Indra'due south Cyberspace is not made up of equal players. Some agents definitely carry more weight than others, as is painfully obvious with the electric current U.S. administration. Identifying key actors and policy decisions is vital to choosing strategies that can re-orient the organisation to healthy goals.

Liberty Hyde Bailey, an American naturalist at the plow of the century, said, "The happiest life has the greatest number of points of contact with the globe, and information technology has the deepest feeling and sympathy with everything that is." He was describing the experience of a soulful systems-thinker, ane who brings sensation to everyday relations with all beings. A Buddhist might sense this every bit a deep understanding of the law of interdependence. My betoken is that such sensation is available to all and is foundational to doing constructive environmental work. If you acquire the shape of local rivers and mountains, if you meet the people who grow your food, if you assist the world go a more livable identify, you lot can begin to run into yourself not only as one who is shaped by simply also every bit one who shapes Indra'due south Net.

Taking the Path of Non-Harming

Non-harming, or ahimsa, is a fundamental principle in Buddhist ethics. This first precept informs all other upstanding commitments. Understanding how deeply life is conditioned by suffering, the Buddhist aims not to create further suffering and to reduce suffering wherever possible—in other words, to cause minimal impairment. In its deepest sense, ahimsa means the absence of fifty-fifty the urge to kill or damage. Such a compassionate response is said to arise naturally out of a broadly felt connexion to other beings.

This guideline is not meant to be an impossible platonic but rather a barometer for making choices virtually how to act. I believe information technology applies well as a principle for environmental decisions. The U.Southward. National Ecology Protection Act was written with this intention; environmental impact statements were mandated to measure how much suffering would be acquired by a federal project and to propose mitigation measures to reduce the impact. Reducing suffering might hateful changing harvest methods, for example, or it could mean providing protection for species close to extinction.

The do of non-harming is idealized in the Mahayana archetype of the bodhisattva, the enlightened being who returns lifetime afterward lifetime to help all who are suffering. The bodhisattva's vow is extensive, requiring endless compassion. Green Buddhists have coined the term "ecosattva" to conjure a bodhisattva pledged to ending environmental suffering. Ecosattvas tin can take their work into any field of environmental business concern—agriculture, water pollution, climate stabilization, wilderness protection. The opportunities are endless. Their piece of work carries the force of the bodhisattva vow to help all who are suffering. Having such a vow equally a reference point can relieve our usual anxious pursuit of quick results. Many environmental problems, in fact, are quite intractable and will take lifetimes, maybe even generations, to turn around. A steady intention can provide a grounding point in the midst of what may exist a very long battle for environmental stability.

Two places where I hear a lot of discussion about reducing harm are in relation to food and free energy. The suffering of mod meat production for animals, workers, and the country has been well documented (see Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, or The Omnivore'southward Dilemma by Michael Pollan). Too, industrial agriculture has been exposed for its chemical assaults on soil and human wellness. Many people are choosing ethical principles for eating that reduce impairment to animals, plants, soils, and the human being body. For some, this means eating food produced organically and, if possible, grown past local farmers, thereby decreasing the energy expense of long-distance shipping. For others, this means choosing off-white trade products that reduce the price on field laborers and producers in a competitive global system. Some reduce the lone anonymity of food shopping past participating in community-supported agriculture food shares.

I discover myself particularly concerned almost energy choices for the hereafter. My students know that oil production will meridian in their lifetimes and that alternative sources of free energy must be developed. Biodiesel fuel is quite popular, since it offers a way to recycle used vegetable oil. Wind and solar energy both cause comparatively little impairment to the environment, especially compared to coal and oil production. Many people would love to ain a hybrid electric vehicle that would allow them to be less dependent on the petroleum economy. While "non-harming" may not be a central word in this conversation, the direction seems clear: why crusade any more harm to the environment? Hasn't there already been enough? Plenty Chernobyl meltdowns and Exxon Valdez oil spills? Getting "off-grid" could be seen every bit a moral ideal, a way to reduce your ecological footprint and be a ameliorate neighbor to the rest of the world.

Getting to Peace

In his new book, Getting to Peace, William Ury, an internationally recognized leader in conflict negotiation, has laid out a number of principles for finding solutions that work to stabilize political conflicts at many levels. It seems to me that his work on "getting to peace" applies well to environmental bug, which often involve conflict between different parties and unlike points of view. Some people have said that we are now fighting World War 3—not the war confronting terrorism, but the set on against the environment. Pesticides, nuclear waste, toxic chemicals, clear-cutting—all these and more are direct attacks on living beings of many kinds.

In his book, Ury lays out a role for what he calls "the tertiary side," a party outside the immediate conflict but with a vested interest in a peaceful outcome. This suggests a useful function for Buddhists concerned almost the surround. The third side party can clarify differences, provide protection to threatened parties, and educate where cognition is needed. Someone with Buddhist sensibilities tin can draw on the practices I've suggested—being with the suffering, cultivating systems heed, practicing non-harming—and help to stabilize an ongoing conflict. The third side plays an active part, engaging conflict but not taking sides. Ury describes ten specific tertiary-side roles, all of which apply to environmental situations. I'd like to highlight three that seem particularly well suited for a Buddhist approach.

The bridge-builder works to forestall disharmonize past strengthening weak relationships in the human and ecological web. Very often environmental problems arise from user conflicts over a resources or a particular surface area. Circular-table discussions that bring all the parties together tin assist coordinate and regulate user activities.

Where conflicts have escalated and relations are damaged, a Buddhist practitioner might be fatigued to the function of healer. A 3rd-side party with a delivery to compassionate action tin can exist a valuable asset in moving a situation forrad to resolution. The Buddhist practitioner skilled in relational thinking tin can clarify the causes and weather of the conflict and piece of work to heal brokenness and impairment. This may take diplomacy, backbone, and patience, depending on the caste of the injury. I tin can imagine bringing this healer role to your own neighborhood if people are aroused over bird-hunting cats or chemical spraying. The healer helps conflicting parties understand each others' positions and observe a meliorate solution to the problems at hand.

When environmental conflict has become entrenched and resolution is not in sight, taking a third-side peacekeeping office requires more courage. I think of the massive gold mining operations in Indonesia, for case, where the military is well paid by the mining company to squelch local disharmonize. The history of assault on the land and people is and then securely ingrained that it will not exist easy to resolve. Here a Buddhist practitioner might serve in the role of witness, making the public enlightened of what is happening to the plants and animals under assault. Bringing attention to the problem exposes harmful beliefs, which can so generate public pressure for modify. A Buddhist approach is not necessarily more effective than other approaches, but it may add together less antagonism to the state of affairs. Rather than further polarizing an already tense situation, the Buddhist can act compassionately toward all parties, bearing witness without allegation, reporting facts without condemnation.

To carry out such challenging environmental piece of work, information technology is crucial to remember of yourself as an active agent in Indra's Cyberspace. This is a vitally important part of the peacekeeping effort. Thich Nhat Hanh refers to this as "planting seeds of joy and peace." You actively choose to take up environmental piece of work with a clear intention and joyful heart. Sensory contact with the natural world or tranquillity meditative practices renew the heart and establish an internal reference indicate of joy that is contained of changing circumstances. With this stabilized intention, the spiritually grounded environmentalist tin be prepared for the long haul. In the ancient tradition of gathas, or meditation poems, the late Zen teacher Robert Aitken modeled such intention:

Hearing the crickets at night
I vow with all beings
to detect my place in the harmony
crickets savour with the stars.

If you recite your ain vow of intention, information technology can be an actual strength of renewal in the universe, opening upwards new possibilities for peaceful relations.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama advocates a policy of kindness no matter how troubling the state of affairs. This is practicing Buddhism with a small "b," taking up the everyday challenge of getting along peacefully with the environment. A policy of kindness toward trees, rivers, sky, and mountains means paying caring attention to all the relations that brand up Indra'south Internet. Every bit the Dalai Lama says, "When we talk about preservation of the environment, information technology is related to many other things. Ultimately, the determination must come from the human heart. The key signal is to have a genuine sense of universal responsibility, based on beloved and compassion, and clear awareness."

Engaging environmental problems is non easy piece of work. But if you work with these Buddhist principles—being with the suffering, cultivating systems thinking, reducing damage, and generating peace—the chore seems more possible.

I haven't told y'all whether to get involved with climate protection or waste material reduction. I oasis't said whether population or consumption is causing more impairment to the world. There are many fine resources in print and online that take upwardly just these questions. What I hope is that anyone working at any level, as a citizen or professional, equally a parent or student, can take up these Buddhist approaches and put them to good apply. The Buddha felt the true test of his teachings was whether they were actually helpful in everyday life. Those I've offered hither are core to my ecology piece of work. I hope they may be of skillful utilise to you in whatever slice of the caregiving you take on.

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Source: https://www.lionsroar.com/first-do-no-harm/

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