Environmental philosophy and ethics in Buddhism

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This work introduces the reader to the central issues and theories in western environmental ethics, and against this background develops a Buddhist environmental philosophy and code of ethics. It contains a lucid exposition of Buddhist environmentalism, its ethics, economics and Buddhist perspectives for environmental education. The work is focused on a diagnosis of the contemporary environmental crisis and a Buddhist contribution to positive solutions. Replete with stories and illustrations from original Buddhist sources, it is both informative and engaging.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Though he takes note in passing of other Buddhist traditions (e.g., Zen) and shows himself to be well grounded in monastic sources, de Silva (Monash Univ.) writes, evidently as a lay person, primarily from a Theravadan perspective. The work is about environmentalism as a pedagogical problem. De Silva asks what methods or techniques should be used to educate people, especially Buddhists, in an environmentalism that is "life based," ethically constituted, and practicable. His response consists of the following three focuses: 1) diagnosis of the human domination of nature in terms of such central Buddhist doctrines as disharmony (dukkha), compassion, dependent origination, etc.; 2) construction of a Buddhist orientation toward a nonhuman world in terms found in the discourses of the Buddha; and 3) appraisal of a Buddhist ethic of sustainability. De Silva's stated thesis is that ". . . the human domination of nature in a contemporary context may be seen as a disorientation and a disconnection of humans in relation to both society and nature." Full bibliography, sufficient index of names, and a lean index of subjects. Accessible to graduate students and faculty/researchers, and to the rare upper-division undergraduate. C. MacCormick emeritus, Wells College