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.
Green 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 DeeperChanging Directions
“On April 29th …I will be marching not only on behalf of people here in the U.S. but on behalf of people all around the world… especially those whose voices will never reach our leaders.” Join Bhikkhu Bodhi and hundreds of ecosattvas at the People’s Climate Mobilization. Here’s why this mobilization is crucial.
Go DeeperThe Path of the Spiritual Warriorship
What does it mean to follow the path of spiritual warriorship or to be an ecosattva? The leadership council of the Shambhala Community has issued a statement exploring the role of the spiritual warrior that resonates for all Buddhist traditions.
Go DeeperBeyond “Small is Beautiful:” Buddhism and the Economics of Climate Change
If economies have no essential nature, could one path forward into our climate change reality be a kind of softening—to accept the economy as a koan that helps us focus on what is right in front of us right now.
Go DeeperWalking the Boddhisatva Path: Soto Zen Climate Statement
In anticipation of our live, webinar featuring Hozan Senauke on Sunday, April 2, to open our “Month of Deepening Engagement,” we bring you the Western Soto Zen Buddhist Association’s statement on the climate crisis.
Go DeeperA Living Prayer
“What one is bequeathed through the gift of Standing Rock is a clarified, strong, heart, burning with a light of commitment and hope in the face of incalculable odds.”
Go DeeperPractices for Challenging Times
Amidst the still-shaking landscape after the US Presidential election, we might be searching for elusive solid ground. How might we cultivate a true steadiness without running the risk of indifference to suffering?
Go DeeperSteady at the Face of the Inferno
Donald Trump will soon hold significant power in the US and indeed around the world and for many of us, that is truly ominous. But his is only a certain kind of power and, from the perspective of the Dharma, not the most important.
Go DeeperBuddhism and the Sacred Feminine: An Interview with Thanissara – Part 2
“The sacred feminine” is a convenient term, yet “all distinctions are transcended in our own minds and hearts.” We may draw on the “collaborative energy of the feminine,” to transform our current environmental crisis.
Go DeeperBuddhism and the Sacred Feminine: An Interview with Thanissara – Part 1
“A direct knowing of our inter-connection initiates us into the sacred feminine.” Thanissara explores how the sacred feminine is linked to the dharma and how, through body-focused practices, it can provide one channel for our earth-caring efforts to affect climate change.
Go DeeperBeing Content to Live With Less
“We need to recognize that what society presents as real is more like a lie and take another way” Earlier this summer, His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa spoke frankly on renunciation, contentment and the climate crisis.
Go DeeperThe Buddha and the Sacred Earth
All views are poetic. All understandings of reality, including “Nature,” are interpretive. In this article, Gaia House teacher, Rob Burbea, explores how Western culture’s views of “Nature” contribute to ecological crises and our opportunity to move beyond those limitations.
Go DeeperVerses for Environmental Practice
In a pure blessing of practice, contemplation and science, the late Zen teacher Robert Aitken offers these daily practices to inform a deeply grounded being. Happy Earth Day.
Go DeeperLifting the Moral Voice for Climate Action
We invite you to join and share the call to governments from faith communities around the world for a decisive, wise and compassionate response.
Go DeeperContemplative Environmental Practice: Retreat for Academicians and Activists
One of the emerging voices in EcoDharm, Kritee Kanko, wants you to join her this summer in the high dessert for contemplation practice and an exploration of appropriate response.
Go DeeperAwakening to Our Nature, in Nature
What can an immersion in the wild reveal? David Loy and Johann Robbins offer their perspective on a powerful avenue for investigating the nature of mind.
Go DeeperSecular Activism and the Sacred: a Common Ground
Kritee (Kanko) and Lou Leonard explore what it means to be climate activist in secular civil society while walking the Buddhist wisdom path
Go DeeperA Crisis for Buddhism?
Watch or listen to our online webinar featuring David Loy on the challenge that the contemporary ecological crises present to Buddhism.
Go DeeperPracticing Appreciation
A historic agreement on climate has been signed. What does it mean for our practice?
Go DeeperClimate Change as a Moral Call to Social Transformation
In advance of the UN climate negotiations, the renowned Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi argues that climate change demands of us a re-imagining of social systems and a new paradigm of the good life.
Go DeeperSacred Activism – Basic Goodness in Action
According to Shambhala tradition “windhorse” is the self-existing energy of basic goodness in action. Acharya Marty Janowitz’s final article in this three-part series explores the practice and benefits of “raising windhorse,” the Path of engagement.
Go DeeperFreedom, Groundlessness, and Meditation in Action
Marty Janowitz continues his exploration of the Dharma of climate change. He suggests that we cannot substantively work to alter the societal paradigm if we are not simultaneously altering our own internal paradigm.
Go DeeperTransforming Reality – Climate Activism and Buddhist Practice
Acharya Marty Janowitz from the Shambhala tradition suggests that the ecological crises call for simultaneous practice in inner peace and consistent bravery.
Go DeeperThe Time to Act is Now
The Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change. On November 28th in Paris, this statement will be presented to UN climate negotiators with other faith statements around the world. Add your signature here.
Go DeeperTime to Stand Up
Dharma teacher and activist Thanissara urges us to move “beyond a personal introversion and quietism” and apply the Buddha’s radical teachings to the catastrophe of climate change and its underlying causes.
Go DeeperCalling All Eco-Sattvas: Buddhism and Climate Change
Vipassana Dharma Teacher James Baraz, co-founder of Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California and one of the guiding teachers here at One Earth Sangha, invites us to engage in climate action as “joyful responsibility.”
Go DeeperTowards a Social Dharma – Caring for Our Common Home, Our True Body
Soto Zen priest Hozan Alan Senauke is calling for the development of a “Social Dharma” that would galvanize a global community response committed to maximizing justice and safety for all beings in the context of ecological crisis.
Go DeeperTipping Points – A View on Global Climate Policy
All around us, all the time, change happens. But some moments feel bigger than others. 2015 is shaping up to be filled with those kinds of moments. One Earth Sangha’s Lou Leonard offers an update on the big changes underway, as well as how the Dharma helps him stay balanced through it all.
Go DeeperEquanimity and Denial
One of the most useful contributions Buddhism can offer social action is the quality of equanimity. Yet indifference can masquerade as equanimity, providing a kind of “spiritual bypass” that whisks us away from the difficult encounter. How can we know true equanimity wherein we retain our connection to ourselves and the world?
Go DeeperAnswering the Call
Come, let’s face this together. Join One Earth Sangha, the amazing Joanna Macy, rev angel Kyodo williams and a powerful collection of other leaders for our online, interactive EcoSattva Training. This is our crisis and our opportunity for transformation.
Go Deeper
