Le Duc - Theravada Buddhist Environmental Spirituality: Relational and Developmental Dimensions in Promoting Environmental Well-Being

Abstract

Buddhism is often seen as a religion or worldview offering an important ethical grounding for a positive approach to ecology. The author explains some fundamental convictions in Theravada Buddhism with regard to the self-understanding of the human person and its relationships to other levels of being and to nature. He presents the Buddhist analysis of the present-day environmental crisis in our world as well as the motivation for action and the tools to bring about a different attitude. There, he shows that the horizontal dimension of relations to other humans, animals and nature in general cannot be separated from a vertical dimension. Thus, he treats Theravada Buddhism in a spiritual perspective, beyond the ethical one. That shows Buddhism with its option for human action here and now, even if the permanent happiness of nibbāna remains an ultimate vision which nevertheless takes shape in today’s demands for personal and social change and caring relationships