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.
Equanimity 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“Praised Be!” – Affirming Pope Francis’ Message to the World
People of faith around the world are joining with Pope Francis in his message to all people of the world: the time to act swiftly and decisively on climate change is now.
Go DeeperA Call to the Moral Conscience
In support of Pope Francis’ letter to the Catholic church regarding the climate crisis, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi clarifies that the time for denial, skepticism, and delay is over.
Go DeeperThe Problem of Passivity
The path of liberation is a call to boldness, to purposeful discomfort. In this article, Alex Swain from the EcoDharma Centre explores the temptation to use meditation as escape.
Go DeeperHealing Ecology: Discovering Our Collective Place in the World
“We cannot return to nature because we have never left it. ” In this article, Buddhist scholar and Zen teacher David Loy explores the parallels in our individual and collective predicaments and the parallel paths that might heal.
Go DeeperWe Are Planetary
We are planetary. The truth of our interconnection to each other and Earth is beautifully explored in this new film by three Dharma practitioners featuring some of the leading wisdom teachers of our time. Make Planetary part of your Earth Day celebration!
Go DeeperBeyond Hope and Hopelessness
We face challenges of an unprecedented scale. To meet them we need a training that roots our engagement more deeply than we’ve known before. In this article, Guhyapati from the EcoDharma Centre clarifies how we can respond with energy and patience to what the mind frames as “do or die” situations.
Go DeeperMessages from Earth
“Things are getting worse and worse and better and better, faster and faster.” At no time has this climate koan felt more apt than now. One Earth Sangha’s Lou Leonard offers this update on climate science and policy. What a great invitation to be with uncertainty.
Go DeeperSeeing Pattern
What does climate change have to do with Ferguson? We invite you here to look with us at the shared roots, the common patterns and bring compassion to the racially-conditioned mind, even your own.
Go DeeperOur Awakening Planet
The entire system of life around us is acting on the truth of climate change, even sooner than watchful scientists expected. Now it’s our turn.
Go DeeperWise Urgency
Fear over climate disruption often spurs denial and ends in panic or mental paralysis. Yet it may equally well give rise to samvega, a sense of urgency leading to wise action. In this essay, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi argues that everything depends on how we metabolize our fear.
Go DeeperContemplate Externally, Contemplate Internally
In honor of Earth Care Week beginning today we host the first of 5 online, free conversations on “Mindfulness and Climate Action.” Get all the details here. We hope you can join us!
Go DeeperMindfulness and Climate Action
Register now for this series of online event starting Oct 5! Join Tara Brach, Jack Kornfield and many other wonderful Dharma teachers are offering a series of conversations exploring climate change impacts, its underlying causes, and how Dharma practice can inform our personal and collective response.
Go DeeperIn Love with the Earth
When we realize the Earth is not merely the “environment,” we are moved to care for the Earth as we would ourselves. In his tender, “Love Letter to the Earth,” Zen master Thích Nhất Hạnh implores us all to love and protect the great mother of all beings.
Go DeeperWhat Would Love Do?
In the face of deforestation and cultural annihilation, the Dayak Benuaq of Borneo are engaged in an ancient ceremony that confronts violence and threat with the power of a peaceful, non-dualistic view. Dharma teacher Jane Brunette invites us into solidarity with indigenous guardians of Earth’s eastern lung.
Go DeeperA Jewel of Awakening
Is there a gift of our present ecological crisis? By seeing things as they are, Dharma teacher Chas DiCapua reveals that we have the opportunity to awaken from the nightmare of separation. We can come to embody our deepest nature, compassionate wisdom.
Go DeeperAre We Willing to Look?
The haunting photography of J. Henry Fair asks us to hold a steady gaze as we view vast landscapes transformed by industry. In this interview with the artist, we explore the paradoxical beauty of his work and what it might awaken in our hearts.
Go DeeperFacing the Heat: The Suffering that Leads to the End of Suffering
The U.S. Government and media may be breaking the silence on climate change. How is it that we live our lives with only intermittent awareness of the truth of global warming? Is responding as difficult as we might think? Joseph Goldstein, cofounder of Insight Meditation Society, explores the teachings that shed light on these questions.
Go DeeperAccessing Natural Wisdom: The Work that Reconnects
How can we uncover and sustain our own power to respond to a challenge as ominous as global climate change? In honor of Earth Day on April 22nd, we offer an introduction to the skillful means of Buddhist scholar and renowned activist, Joanna Macy and the Work that Reconnects.
Go DeeperInterrupting the Trance of Disconnection
Can we harm the earth without harming ourselves? The teaching of interdependence clarifies that we cannot. In this 3rd of our 4-part series, Chas Dicapua looks at how we can begin to shift our relationship to the earth by simply looking closely at cause and effect.
Go DeeperThe Heart Of The Bitter Almond Hedge Sutra
Inspired by the traditional Buddhist text of the Heart Sutra, renowned Dharma teacher Thanissara offers this new and epic poem about the origins and consequences of disconnection and our collective journey home.
Go DeeperHow Did We Come to This?
Our focus on sense-pleasures comes at a price. How we view our relationship with the Earth determines how we care for it … or not. In this 2nd in our 4-part series, Chas Dicapua explores the roots of global climate change.
Go DeeperInspiration and Joy Amidst Suffering and Loss
Dharma teacher James Baraz describes how being with what is difficult, on any level from deeply personal loss to the immensity of climate change, can lead us to surprising freedom.
Go DeeperThe Earth as Witness: International Dharma Teachers’ Statement on Climate Change
The global sangha of Buddhist and mindfulness teachers and practitioners is invited to join Dharma teachers from around the world in signing this new statement on climate change.
Go DeeperAttending to Suffering
Why pay attention to climate change? Because it is happening. In this first of a four-part series of posts transcribed from a July 2013 talk “The Dharma of Climate Change,” Dharma teacher Chas DiCapua invites us to attend, as part of our practice, to what is present and causing suffering.
Go DeeperA Calling for Our Time: Feedback on Teachers’ Statement
Dharma teachers from around the globe have been working since June on a statement that clarifies the relationship between the Dharma and climate disruption and the responsibility Buddhists have to meaningfully engage in the issue. Now they want your feedback.
Go Deeper16 Core Dharma Principles to Address Ecological Crises
What are the Dharma principles that can motivate and inform our response to climate change? A group of more than 30 teachers from various Buddhist traditions offer this list and now they want your feedback.
Go DeeperIt Is Here We Awaken
Practicing the first foundation of mindfulness, knowing body internally and externally, we can come to know we are of this earth. And it is here, on this earth, that we take our place as human beings.
Go DeeperSpiritual Ecology – The Cry of the Earth
The Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh was asked what we need to do to save our world. “What we most need to do,” he replied, “is to hear within us the sound of the earth crying.”
Go Deeper
