A Buddhist Response to the Climate Emergency

by Stanley, John; Loy, David R.; Dorje, Gyurme

• ISBN13: 9780861716050
• ISBN10: 0861716051
• Edition: Original
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-08-01
• Publisher: Wisdom Publications

Summary

Never before have so many teachers from all Buddhist traditions - Zen, Vajrayana, Theravada, Vipassana; from the West and the East - come together to offer a unified response to a matter of utmost urgency. This watershed volume is at the same time a clarion call to action and a bright beacon of hope.

With contributions from: His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Seventeenth Karmapa, Sakya Trizin, Dudjom Rinpoche, Chatral Rinpoche, Ato Rinpoche, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, Thrangu Rinpoche, Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Robert Aitken, Joanna Macy, Bhikkhu Bodhi, Joseph Goldstein, Taigen Dan Leighton, Susan Murphy, Matthieu Ricard, Hozan Alan Senauke, Lin Jensen, and Thich Nhat Hanh.

Author Biography

John Stanley, PhD, is a biologist who has led research groups in Canada, Switzerland, and the UK. He has held both university and government positions. He is a member of the New York Academy of Sciences.

David R. Loy's previous books include the acclaimed Money, Sex, War, Karma, The Great Awakening: A Buddhist Social Theory, and The Dharma of Dragons and Daemons, a finalist for the 2006 Mythopoeic Scholarship Award. He was the Besl Professor of Ethics/Religion and Society at Cincinnati's Xavier University.

Gyurme Dorje holds a PhD in Tibetan Literature and an MA in Sanskrit with Oriental Studies. From 1991 to 1996 he held research fellowships at London University, where he worked on the Encyclopaedic Tibetan-English Dictionary. He has written, edited, translated and contributed to numerous books on Tibetan culture.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
The Buddhadharma and the Planetary Crisis	p. 3
Overview of the Book	p. 15
Mind, Heart, and Nature: The Fourteenth Dalai Lama	p. 19
Universal Responsibility and the Climate Emergency	p. 21
The Sheltering Tree of Interdependence: A Buddhist Monk's Reflections on Ecological Responsibility	p. 24
Global Warming Science: A Buddhist Approach	p. 33
Climate, Science, and Buddhism	p. 35
Our Own Geological Epoch: The Anthropocene	p. 37
"The celestial order disrupted loosens plague, famine, and war..."	p. 43
Climate Breakdown at the Third Pole: Tibet	p. 47
The Road from Denial to Agricultural Collapse	p. 53
The Peak Oil Factor	p. 57
Scientific Predictions of Ecological Karma	p. 59
The Sixth Great Extinction	p. 63
What Makes Us Do It?	p. 67
A Safe-Climate Future	p. 71
Asian Buddhist Perspectives	p. 75
Preface: The Meaning of Aspirational Prayer	p. 77
Pure Aspiration, Bodhisattva Activity, and a Safe-Climate Future	p. 81
The Global Ecological Crisis: An Aspirational Prayer	p. 87
The Mandala of the Four Energies in the Kaliyuga	p. 93
A Prayer to Protect the Earth	p. 96
A Prayer at a Time of Ecological Crisis	p. 101
When Snow Mountains Wear Black Hats	p. 105
An Aspirational Prayer to Avert Global Warming	p. 112
A Prayer to Protect the World's Environment	p. 115
Human Intelligence Without Wisdom Can Destroy Nature	p. 119
The Bodhisattva Path at a Time of Crisis	p. 127
Very Dangerous Territory	p. 137
A New Meaning of Chu ("Beings") and No ("Environment") Has Emerged	p. 141
Minimum Needs and Maximum Contentment	p. 147
Western Buddhist Perspectives	p. 155
The Voice of the Golden Goose	p. 157
Woe Unto Us!	p. 173
On Being with Our World	p. 177
"Except as we have loved, All news arrives as from a distant land"	p. 181
Now the Whole Planet Has Its Head on Fire	p. 187
The Untellable Nonstory of Global Warming	p. 195
The Future Doesn't Hurt... Yet	p. 203
The World Is What You Make It: A Zen View of Global Responsibility	p. 209
The Rising Temperature of Planet Earth	p. 217
Solutions	p. 223
Clarity, Acceptance, Altruism: Beyond the Climate of Denial	p. 225
A Renewable Future	p. 235
Five Transformative Powers	p. 241
The End of Energy Waste	p. 249
Goodbye to the Internal Combustion Engine	p. 251
Tradable Energy Quotas	p. 253
Drawing Down Carbon with Biochar	p. 255
Reducing the Carbon Footprint of the Meat Industry	p. 257
Ending Deforestation	p. 259
Reforesting the Earth	p. 261
The Bells of Mindfulness	p. 263
Afterword	p. 269
Endorsement of a Safe Level for Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide: The Dalai Lama	p. 271
What's Next?	p. 275
Notes on Translations	p. 279
References	p. 281
About the Editors	p. 291
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