Abstract
Economic growth is massively idolized in our modern world. Nothing is too much for the achievement of this goal, and its long-term effects are frequently ignored. The paper explores the Buddhist spiritual orientation to nature and interprets sustainability from the Buddhist point of view. It describes Buddhist virtues that could be helpful in solving environmental problems via the promotion of frugal livelihoods.
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Notes
- 1.
The growth-oriented, globalized economy also results in many negative social consequences: ever-increasing levels of inequality and social insecurity, massive poverty and the centralization of economic and political power, for example.
- 2.
Greed is strengthened by sophisticated marketing tools which are designed to maximize consumption, but the operation of these forces is the subject of another paper.
- 3.
The Noble Eightfold Path is comprised of eight parts (in three groups). These are: (i) Right View and (ii) Right Decision (the ‘wisdom’ group); (iii) Right Speech, (iv) Right Action, (v) Right Livelihood (the ‘virtue’ group); (vi) Right Effort, (vii) Right Mindfulness and (viii) Right Concentration (‘spiritual practice’)
- 4.
Human beings have the utmost importance according their ability to become enlightened—the final aim of Buddhism –, in contrast to the other planes of existence in the Buddhist cosmology: (i) the realm of hells, (ii) animals, (iii) hungry ghosts, (iv) human beings, (v) semi-gods, and (vi) gods.
- 5.
The Buddhist distinction is very similar to that used by Peter Singer, who defined ‘sentience’ as the criterion for moral relevance, the key quality of ethical ‘sentientism’.
- 6.
Nowadays Hinayana Buddhism is a living tradition in the countries of South-East Asia—Thailand, Vietnam, Mianmar, etc.—and in Ceylon.
- 7.
Significant differences exist between Buddhist practices in Hinayana countries and, for example, Japan, where the native tradition of Shintoism, an ancient animism, had a remarkable impact on the interpretation of the role of nature in Buddhism.
- 8.
Although calm forest groves are the best places for Buddhist meditation practice, they may be substituted for by other locations. The Buddha himself, inter alia, advocated meditation in cemeteries, where people can contemplate death and the impermanence of the human body (DN 22, MN 13). Modern Hinayana-teachers also draw attention to the ever-increasing distractions of our age, and confirm that Buddhist meditation can be practiced anywhere regardless of the place. Success does not depend on circumstances (Sumedho 1991).
- 9.
There are numerous cases in the Buddhist scriptures which tell of how the Buddha himself occasionally dealt with some cases related to environmental preservation. He promulgated a rule against going on journeys during the rainy season because of possible injury to worms and insects that would come to the surface (Vin I 137). He prevented monks from digging the ground and drinking unfiltered water for the same reasons (Vin IV 125). There are monastic rules which prevent monks from injuring plant life or felling trees (Vin IV 34), destroying growing crops and grasses by trampling (Vin I 137), and polluting green grass and water with saliva, urine and faeces (Vin IV 205–206).
- 10.
On a special occasion the Buddha exhorted that planting trees and groves is a virtuous act (SN 1.33), and confirmed that destroying a tree is similar to betraying a friend (P 259).
- 11.
In the later tradition Buddhist followers started to venerate the Bodhi-tree under which Gautama Siddhartha attained his enlightenment. The tree became a place of pilgrimage.
- 12.
Let us see the importance of forests in the ecological chain. According to dependent origination, if forests are cut down, drought and erosion will result as forests provide humidity, store water and fix the topsoil. Unsustainable forestry leads to environmental degradation, which leads to poverty and other social malaises.
- 13.
The concept of eternal impermanence has also been articulated in western philosophy and modern science. William James, Bertrand Russell, Alfred North Whitehead, Edmund Husserl, Karl Jaspers and Martin Heidegger have all contributed to the development of this notion, and Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity and modern field theory have had significant influence on the development of the western concept of impermanence.
- 14.
Early Buddhism had this ability at its birth as it had to compete with other Indian sects and other teachings for its own survival. This is why the practicing of wisdom and keeping of precepts were so important to monks – they had to show their virtuous livelihood to secular people to assure their material support.
- 15.
A summary of the early scriptures that deals with economics has been written by Venerable Payutto (1994).
- 16.
Furthermore, Buddhist texts include one of the most ancient pieces of advice about ‘recycling’. This is Buddha’s pronouncement about the right use of clothing: when monks receive new robes, the old ones are not to be discarded, but be used as coverlets; when the coverlets are old, they are to be converted into mattress covers; the old mattress covers are again to be converted to rugs and old rugs into dusters (Vin II 291).
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Acknowledgement
The research work reported on in this paper was supported by the “TÁMOP 4.2.2/B-10/1-2010-0023” project undertaken at the Corvinus University of Budapest.
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References from the Pali Canon
References from the Pali Canon
The paper refers to Buddhist texts by their numbers, except for Vinaya texts which are referred to by their page numbers.
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DN: Digha Nikaya
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MN: Majjhima Nikaya
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SN: Samyutta Nikaya
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AN: Anguttara Nikaya
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Vin: Vinaya
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P: Petavatthu
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Dh: Dhammapada
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Kovacs, G. (2015). Buddhist Spiritual Orientation to Nature and Sustainability. In: Zsolnai, L. (eds) The Spiritual Dimension of Business Ethics and Sustainability Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11677-8_6
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