Buddhism, the Environment, and You

community home

futuredharma

community home triratna news highlights features projects & groups donate

FutureDharma

sangha

our website

contact

Buddhism, the Environment, and You

On Wed, 22 September, 2021 - 15:32

Liz_Bassett

Buddhism, the Environment and You

Sunday October 3rd 10.30am to 12.30pm

It’s a crucial time in the relationship of humans with our environment. How to live? What to do? Come and join some of the most thoughtful members of our Order as they reflect on the issues, and how they can be addressed in our Buddhist practice.

You are invited to take part in this event hosted by North London Buddhist Centre, FutureDharma and Windhorse Publications.

[You can attend in person at North London Buddhist Centre or via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81911582128?pwd=OHZGU3hsM0ZwckdEeXd6UUE4Q296UT09]

There’s a fantastic panel, hosted by Dhammamegha, the director of Windhorse Publications.

Vajragupta published Wild Awake: Alone, Offline and Aware in Nature with Windhorse Publications. In it he talks about solitude, sensitivity, and being alive to the natural world of animals, plants, and weather as an integral part of Buddhist practice.

Maitridevi is the chair of Taraloka women’s retreat centre, and has been leading retreats and developing a meditation practice to connect with more life. During lockdown she recorded a series of meditations on Awakening with trees.

Shantigarbha has just released his second book with Windhorse Publications: The Burning House: A Buddhist Response to the Climate and Ecological Emergency. He is an activist, and non-violent communications trainer.

Join us to explore such questions as: What does it mean to be human in the environment? Which views and actions condition separation and which connection? How do we become more sensitive? What is the nature of wisdom in the context of the natural world?

This is a fundraising event by the FutureDharma Fund for Windhorse Publications. The event is free, but please consider responding to a call for donations to support Windhorse Publications to keep publishing life changing dharma books.

Attend in person at North London Buddhist Centre or via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81911582128?pwd=OHZGU3hsM0ZwckdEeXd6UUE4Q296UT09

Tags:

#futuredharma, #windhorsepublications, #environment

view our community guidelines for promoting good conversation

Community Guidelines

Here are key excerpts from our community content guidelines, which are designed to help create a positive environment for everyone:

1. Please be courteous at all times. If you’re engaged in any kind of discussion, be as prepared to listen as you are to express yourself. Remember that there’s always a real person behind a computer/device screen, and they are likely quite different from you.

2. Think twice before posting anything that’s likely to give offence or be inflammatory. That doesn’t promote good conversation. If you’re upset at something you see here, perhaps let a little time pass before responding. Bear in mind this isn’t a space to vent our views, it’s about exploring respectfully with others what it means to be a Buddhist within our community and in the modern world generally.

3. We may remove posts or comments that are considered off-topic.

4. Everyone has off-moments, and we’ll always try to be in friendly dialogue with you if a problem arises with one of your contributions. But we reserve the right to remove posts and comments (or even suspend user accounts) when we feel these guidelines are not observed.

5. Our current editorial policy around Safeguarding is aligned with the advice given by those tasked with developing Triratna’s approach to this important area of ethical life. If anyone breaches current policy by posting in ways that mean The Buddhist Centre Online potentially break the law by hosting the material, then we will have to remove their posts or comments. We respectfully request that all users bear this in mind when posting. If in doubt, please feel free to ask first before posting. It will save time, energy, and lead to less potential polarisation in these spaces, even if there is disagreement.

Whatever you contribute we very much encourage you to think about it in the light of the Buddhist ethical precepts around 'Right Speech'. These encourage communication that is: truthful, kindly and gracious, helpful and harmonious. We look forward to all you have to bring to the site!

Moderation

We try to keep things light when it comes to moderation of posts and comments within this shared space. And we ask the community itself to lead with this. If you have seen something that concerns you, please feel free to contact us. However, we do ask that you bear in mind the following guidelines, which will help preserve a harmonious atmosphere throughout the site:

Remember there is always a person behind the post or comment you’re objecting to. They may just be having a bad day… If you’re upset, perhaps let a little time pass before responding to them or us. Try contacting the person first in a spirit of open, courteous engagement to see if hearing their perspective changes your own view of things, or if hearing yours changes theirs. Take care to make sure what you are asking us to look at is actually against the spirit of the group or the site itself, rather than simply a difference of view or of personal taste. If in doubt, ask a friend and/or the administrator of the group.

The most important things about this is the first bit: we ask the community to lead with this. That means you! Thanks for helping us promote good conversations on The Buddhist Centre Online.

Read the full set of Community Guidelines

Responses

Shantiketu — Thu, 23 Sep, 2021 - 18:02

I won’t be able to attend this event as all being well, on October 3rd I’ll be with one of my grandchildren who hopes to become a marine biologist and who for a 12th birthday ‘experience’ has said he’d like to dive with sharks at Deep Sea World in the shadow of the Forth Rail Bridge.

Maybe the panel and participants in Buddhism, the Environment and You could consider taking a bit of time to consider the fact that conflict and militarism are among the biggest contributors to climate change. In particular, any nuclear conflict would cause climate catastrophe overnight: changing weather patterns, plunging billions into famine, and devastating the Earth’s ecosystems. No climate justice is possible until all nuclear weapons are disarmed. But the catastrophe isn’t just waiting to happen sometime in the future. The military is one of the biggest contributors to carbon emissions, in the UK and in other countries. Government promises on climate change - for whatever they’re worth - barely even acknowledge the military problem.

This Sunday (September 26th) there’s a marine / wildlife themed ‘die-in’ for peace and climate justice at the North Gate of HM Naval Base Faslane to draw attention to the links between military activities and the degradation of the environment. If you’re interested and/or able to take part, you’ll find the details at

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/disarm-for-our-planet-tickets-164178902517