A Buddhist response to the pope's encyclical on the environment
Jason
God EmperorArrakis Moderator
Bhikkhu Bodhi wrote a response to the pope's recently-released encyclical on the environment, echoing the pope's call for everyone to take climate change seriously and take action:
Climate Change is a Moral Issue
It adds a moral/ethical dynamic to a threat that faces all of us, one that urges all of us to recognize our interconnectedness and responsibility to one another and our home. I don't think Bhikkhu Bodhi is exaggerating when he says that, "Pope Francis reminds us that climate change poses not only a policy challenge but also a call to the moral conscience. If we continue to burn fossil fuels to empower unbridled economic growth, the biosphere will be destabilized, resulting in unimaginable devastation, the deaths of many millions, failed states, and social chaos."
Climate change is something that affects all of us; and I think a collective response to it is imperative; and I applaud spiritual leaders like Pope Francis and Bhikkhu Bodhi in their efforts to highlight this issue and inspire us to action sooner rather than later.
Comments
"If you would change the world, begin with a small garden".
I can't hope, personally and on my own, to change what the Big Hitters do... But in my own small way, I do everything possible to live responsibly and deal with things thoughtfully.
However, collectively, it's amazing what people can do when they get together with one objective.
A stick on its own just floats downstream; but give it to a beaver, and together with other sticks, he can build a really effective dam.....
I've said this before here plenty, but i'll say it again... Our times are not normal, never before has humanity been faced with the severity of issues as we are faced now. Nuclear war, environmental disaster, gross inequality, international terrorism... the questions each generation are faced with are different, and the wisdom and solutions of previous generations doesn't necessarily apply. We have to do something... have to. And, if the Buddha were here now, I am certain that he would be leading the way in confronting these issues because, well, that's what compassion does. If we don't start speaking up and acting up then we truly face the possibility of a hell on Earth, and one way or another, directly or indirectly, we will all be responsible.
Here is a Buddhist monastic talking in part about the areas of convergence between Catholicism and Buddhist internal and external ecology ...
I love Ajahn Sona. The Thai Forest tradition of Ajahn Chah produces some pretty amazing contemplatives and teachers.