buddhism

BUDDHISM AND ECOLOGY

“But it is especially due to the destruction of the natural environment by human groups and by individual human beings that diseases have come into manifestation in our world. Humanity is not alone in this world. This planet earth, itself a living organism in its totality, is surrounded by and suffused throughout with an aura of energy that is like an atmosphere or ocean. Nature spirits live in this dimension of the energy of our planet, like fish living in the waters of the sea. Disturbed and offended by the thoughtless destructive actions of mankind, such as the ploughing up the earth, the cutting down of the forests, the damming of streams and rivers, the polluting of lakes, and so on, they inflict illness upon an erring mankind as a terrible retribution. Since these nature spirits are energy beings, they can directly effect the energy of the individual and that individual's immune system which is correlated with one's personal energy field. In such a case, it was then necessary to call in an expert healer or shaman in order to re-establish the primordial harmony existing between humanity and nature, thereby effecting a cure and a healing.”

John Myrdhin Reynolds / Lama Vajranatha

http://vajranatha.com/articles.html

Trungpa Rinpoche, The Inside Story of the Vajra Master, From: “The Tantric Path of Indestructible Wakefulness” pp. 722 - 723

“When we have the attitude and experience of vastness and goodness, we find that our world is sacred. It is not sacred because it is the domain of God or because it has been religiously blessed by somebody or other. We are talking of sacredness in slightly different terms than that. Here, sacredness means healthiness. When the sun rises, it dispels darkness on earth. We begin to see trees and grass, houses and landscapes, mountains and everything, precisely and clearly, and we can see each other as well. Therefore, the sun is sacred, but not because the sun is a religious thing. This nonreligious sacredness is fantastic because it is real sacredness rather than conventional sacredness, in which nobody knows what magic is going on behind the scenes, or what happens to the holy water if you dump your cigarette butt into it.

We could actually take that attitude of real sacredness all along. The question is, why haven’t we done this before? It seems to be so simple and good. That beats me.

I suppose the feeble answer for why we have not done this before is that we would like to crawl into our own little cocoons. We appreciate sleeping in our own shit; it smells good and homey and comfortable. When we crawl into our little holes, it feels like being at home. That is the only answer. We do not like crawling into our little hole, but we begin to like the not liking as well. We are burying ourselves, burrowing into our own pain, to which we are so accustomed and which is so familiar. If we are suddenly presented with any kind of pleasure, we begin to feel embarrassed and uncomfortable…

Taking the attitude that the phenomenal world is sacred is the first and last practice of all.

In that world of sacredness, if you drift off you always catch yourself, and therefore there is no haphazardness of neurosis happening. The instant you catch yourself is so good and open. It is as if you are lying on the lawn and looking up at the sky, and one little bird flies across. You catch yourself seeing the bird; therefore, you catch both the bird and yourself. It is very simple, nothing particularly mystical. There you have the inside story of the vajra master.”