Buddhism and Ecology: The Interconnection of Dharma and Deeds (Religions of the World and Ecology) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0945454147 ISBN 13: 9780945454144

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1998

Synopsis

Given the challenges of the environmental crisis, Buddhism's teaching of the interrelatedness of all life forms may be critical to the recovery of human reciprocity with nature. In this new work, twenty religionists and environmentalists examine Buddhism's understanding of the intricate web of life. In noting the cultural diversity of Buddhism, they highlight aspects of the tradition which may help formulate an effective environmental ethics, citing examples from both Asia and the United States of socially engaged Buddhist projects to protect the environment. The authors explore theoretical and methodological issues and analyze the prospects and problems of using Buddhism as an environmental resource in both theory and practice. This groundbreaking volume inaugurates a larger series examining the religions of the world and their ecological implications which will shape a new field of study involving religious issues, contemporary environmental ethics, and public policy concerns.

About this title

About the Author:

Mary Evelyn Tucker is Senior Lecturer, Yale Divinity School.

An ordained Buddhist priest in the Soto Zen tradition, Duncan Ryūken Williams has spent years piecing together the story of the Japanese American community during World War II. A renowned scholar of Buddhism, he has taught at the University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Irvine, and Trinity College, and is now the Director of the Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Culture at the University of Southern California. He has published five other books, including The Other Side of Zen.

Christopher Key Chapple is Navin and Pratima Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology, Loyola Marymount University.

Malcolm David Eckel is Associate Professor of Religion at Boston University.

Donald K. Swearer is Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Harvard Divinity School’s Center for the Study of World Religions and Professor of Religion, Emeritus, at Swarthmore College.

Review:

“A volume of this kind is an important step in engaging scholarship to address critical issues of our time. The potential of religious traditions offering resources for rethinking our relation to the earth is one of the most exciting themes to emerge from scholarship in many years. This volume will be a first important step to the full understanding of the contribution humankind's perceptions of the sacred can make to the way we care for our earth.”―Rodney L. Taylor Professor of Religious Studies and Associate Dean
of the Graduate School, University of Colorado

“What a significant advance these articles represent for the study of religion and ecology. The potential contribution to the new field of J religious ecology is immense. These papers will help to create a coherent field for the study of Buddhism and ecology. What is even more important, though this is not the precise task of scholarship, these papers will help define the modern Buddhist response to ecological ethics.”―John Berthrong, Associate Dean for Academic and Administrative Affairs, Boston University School of Theology, and Director, Institute for Dialogue among Religions

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0945454147
• ISBN 13: 9780945454144
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 467
• Editor: Tucker Mary Evelyn, Williams Duncan Ryūken