Beyond environment: falling back in love with Mother Earth

[ellisonz]

Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh explains why mindfulness and a spiritual revolution rather than economics is needed to protect nature and limit climate change
Jo Confino for the Guardian Professional Network
guardian.co.uk, Monday 20 February 2012 06.53 EST

Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh has been practising meditation and mindfulness for 70 years and radiates an extraordinary sense of calm and peace. This is a man who on a fundamental level walks his talk, and whom Buddhists revere as a Bodhisattva; seeking the highest level of being in order to help others.

Ever since being caught up in the horrors of the Vietnam war, the 86-year-old monk has committed his life to reconciling conflict and in 1967 Martin Luther King nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize, saying "his ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity."

-------

"We have created a society in which the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, and in which we are so caught up in our own immediate problems that we cannot afford to be aware of what is going on with the rest of the human family or our planet Earth.

"In my mind I see a group of chickens in a cage disputing over a few seeds of grain, unaware that in a few hours they will all be killed."

More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/zen-thich-naht-hanh-buddhidm-business-values

For your consideration in this time of "energy crisis." I would ask, is not environmentalism the most progressive of values?

Is there a problem with the environment? Yes, there is. And we will not pretend there is not. We will address it in a way that’s both sensitive to jobs and sensitive to the needs of Americans to live without a rising rate of asthma in the inner cities; the needs of Americans to have national park systems that work, and the needs of Americans to cooperate with other nations around the globe to reduce greenhouse gases -- which, in fact, are a real, scientific phenomenon.
Howard Dean, Take Back America Conference , Jun 2, 2005

[flvegan]

1. Thank you for this post.

Unfortunately, mindfulness and damn near everything Thich Nhat Hanh teaches (read: Buddhism) is not tolerated here, especially in these days) is what it is, I apologize for the feedback you might very well get.

As an economist *AND* a Bodhisattva, I thank you for this post.

[ellisonz]

2. You are welcome.

I am familiar with the intolerance that you have witnessed and find it best combated in the puzzling proofs of reason that undoubtedly puzzle those that seek to deny that we share a basic common humanity worthy of dignity and our best efforts over destructive enmity.

I posted this (it was carried to me by others) in the hope that someone such as yourself might come upon it and find it to be of use!

Aloha to you, I have long admired your posts. I would encourage you and others interested in his concerns to visit the new Buddhism Group

[JDPriestly]

3. I just love this post. (I am not a Buddhist.)

Since I retired, I have been able to enjoy gardening in my small yard. I'm not really very good at it, but the inner peace I feel when doing what I can to assist nature and to enjoy it is wonderful.

Sometimes the best thing we can do for the environment or our gardens is to let nature find its own way, just harmonize with it, just let it be as it wants to be and feel one with it. I believe that is consciousness, feeling ourselves in harmony with the natural world around us.

Thanks for this post.

[ellisonz]

4. You are welcome!

I love gardening too. In fact, I think I'll subscribe to the gardening group. I would add though that I have no love for harmony with invasive species!