Earth Dharma
In Buddhist philosophy, “Dharma” refers to “the way things are,” the laws of nature and also refers to the collection of Buddhist teachings. Our “Earth Dharma” collection will offer Buddhist teachings on our fundamental relationship to the earth and each other, the Dharma of climate change and new ways to tell our own, collective story.
We begin with the fundamental principle of unbiased loving-kindness, described here in the Metta Sutta:
May all beings be at ease. Whatever living beings there may be,
Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none, the great or the mighty, medium, short or small,
The seen and the unseen,those living near and far away, those born to-be-born–
May all beings be at ease! Let none deceive another, 0r despise any being in any state.
Let none through anger or ill-will wish harm upon another.
Even as a mother protects with her life her child, her only child,
So with a boundless heart should one cherish all living beings;
Radiating kindness over the entire world.
Break the Trance:Declare Climate Emergency Now
An invitation to all who love our beautiful planet and her myriad beings.
Go DeeperExtending Our EcoSattva Roots
For many of us in 2018, to track the state of equity, justice, and ecological health has been to feel a trembling resonance with collective suffering. We share here our reflections on 2018 and our ideas for EcoSattva practice in 2019 and beyond.
Go DeeperComes the Night: Gifts and Risks of the Winter Dark
One Earth Sangha’s director takes a moment to reflect on the precious unique gifts offered by our particular orientation within the cosmos.
Go DeeperOf Endings and Risings
In this intensely personal piece, Thanissara reflects on the events of 2018 and the unprecedented challenges to humanity they represent. She invites us to perceive their deep roots in the domination mindset and how we can, out of sheer necessity, respond with a fierce clarity of heart.
Go DeeperFive Practices for Working with the Immense Challenge of Climate Change
“The Bodhisattva precepts….extend from the idea that bodhicitta, or wise compassion, is the ground of ethical action and speech. We too can ground our activism, social engagement, and resistance in wise compassion.” Lama Willa Miller offers five practices that can help us face the immense challenge of climate change.
Go DeeperA Plea For the Animals
In writing about the ecodharma of not eating meat, Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard says, “The most striking quality that humans and animals have in common is the capacity to experience suffering.”
Go DeeperThriving Like Gorse: The Ulex Project
The new Ulex Project is one of three strands of training offered by the EcoDharma Centre — training to thrive in, and bring healing to, damaged terrain.
Go DeeperWhen the Tree Stops Bearing Fruit
Buddhism emphasizes that our individual actions affect the world around us, and it follows that caring for the natural world begins with each of us.
Go DeeperClimate Change is Making us Crazy: Interview with Norman Fischer
Norman Fisher notes that because the challenge of climate change is a matter of “…human beings thinking and behaving in a way that’s guaranteed to compound our problems,” Zen practices have something vital to offer.
Go DeeperGreen Vesak: Ebullience and Emergence
On the annual occasion of Vesak, Amelia Willaims uses poetry to explore our relationship with nature and our own Buddha nature.
Go Deeper