Meditation on Ecodharma and Buddhist Ecology  

1. Sit calmly and begin to breathe in and out deeply and slowly.
2. Open your eyes to see and appreciate the natural environment you are in.
3. Close your eyes now if you wish to do so.
4. Know that this nature – the sky, clouds, stars, father sun, mother moon, especially the trees – is your natural environment of being in this life.
5. This biosphere is our sacred ground, from which we all arise and to which we all fall at our end.
6. Mother earth and the surrounding universe deserve our deepest respect.
7. In Asia, forest monks have ordained old, wise trees to spare them from the wrath of consumerism.
8. Know that ecodharma is an activist Buddhist program aimed at protecting nature and the earth.
9. We are living and dying in a vast ecological man made disaster, escape from which requires that our species survives AND that the earth survives as well.
10. Our survival depends upon a healthy, breathing, cleansing earth and atmosphere.
11. Now take a few minutes in your own silent solitude to contemplate deeply what has been noted above. Pause.
12. Recall that The Buddha was confronted by the devil-like Mara. This was an attack on his hard-won enlightenment. The Buddha touched the ground with his fingers and hand to re-establish his connection to mother earth, and his enlightenment survived all challenges.
13. So today, we should all touch the earth gently with respect – we can touch earth with our fingers, hands, feet, heart, soul, and self.  We may even wish to prostrate ourselves on mother earth to show our deep love and respect.
14. The Buddha was born, lived, became enlightened , and died (parinibbana) in the gracious company of trees.
15. Thich Nhat Hanh noted that our caring for and being with the earth is a way of reconnecting with interbeing of all living things.  This great teacher also advised us that to walk and live on Pure Land requires that we love the earth.
16. Soto Zen founder Eihei Dogen noted that rivers, mountains, and “the great wide earth” as well as “the sun and the moon and the stars” are all part of our personal enlightenment in our minds.
17. Take a few more minutes to contemplate these teaching. Pause.
18. Today’s bodhisattva have become an ecosattva to help save the world and humankind – the greatest and most noble act of active compassion and love.
19. We must be fearless as we confront the extremes of “conspicuous consumption” and its destruction of the earth and all living things. This deadly competition may kill all of us in the future.
20. Contemplate on this: What will you do very soon to join this battle to save mother earth and the human race as we know it? Pause.

For more information refer to https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/growing-buddhist movement… https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/trees-meditation-teaching... https://tricycle.org/magazine/100-best-climate-solutions… https://tricycle.org/magazine/love-letter-earth… Retrieved 4-21-18

Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont and the Home of The Monkton Sangha

Author of Mindful Happiness  

New Edition of Mindful Happiness in Production…Coming soon!