Ecodharma is a relatively new word, & its meaning is by no means fixed. The term combines the teachings of Buddhism & related spiritual traditions (dharma) with ecological concerns (eco). More specifically, ecodharma can be understood as a new development in contemporary Buddhism that responds to the ecological crisis threatening civilization as we know it.
That is still quite general, of course. So let me say a few words about my understanding of ecodharma & why it is increasingly important to practice.
Three components of ecodharma stand out for me: practicing in nature, clarifying the ecological implications of Buddhism, & using that understanding to engage in the ecoactivism that the survival of our species calls for.
After the future Buddha left home, he lived in the forest, meditated in nature, & awakened under a tree. When Mara (the Buddhist devil) questioned his enlightenment, he touched the earth as witness to his realization. After that, the Buddha mostly lived & taught in the natural world, & when he eventually died, that, too, happened beneath trees.
Today we have largely lost our connection with nature, living & practicing in four-cornered buildings. But there is something special & precious about meditating outside & rediscovering our deep connection with the natural world. When we do, it becomes more evident to us that the world is not a collection of separate things but a confluence of natural processes that include us.
“We are here to overcome the illusion of our separation,” Vietnamese Zen master & poet Thich Nhat Hanh has said. Traditional Buddhist teachings help us to wake up individually & realize that we are not separate from other people & the rest of the world. And while the ecological crisis is a new challenge, many of those classic teachings are relevant to our situation. There seem to be important parallels, for example, between our usual individual predicament—our sense of separation from others—& our collective sense of separation from the natural world today. Is our ecological situation a larger version of the same problem? In both cases the separation between a self “inside” & the world “outside” is uncomfortable: a self that doesn’t really exist can never secure itself. Yet we keep trying, often in ways that just make things worse. We don’t need to “return to nature” but to realize that we’ve always been a part of it, & what that means for how we live. Eihei Dogen, who founded the Soto Zen school in the 13th century, described his own enlightenment as clearly realizing the “mind is nothing other than rivers & mountains & the great wide earth, the sun & the moon & the stars.”
Today we are called upon to live as bodhisattvas (or “ecosattvas”) who realize that activism in defense of the earth is an essential part of the spiritual path. Our now-global civilization has institutionalized greed & exploitation of the natural world, deferring the environmental costs of fossil fuels & unrestrained consumption to the future—a future that is now upon us. We need to plan & work together in order to promote what Joanna Macy & others call “the Great Turning”—a way forward that emphasizes a “life-sustaining civilization” in the wake of industrial, economic, & political destruction.
At different times practitioners may emphasize some of these components of ecodharma more than others, but all three are important. Then we can ask & plan together: what does it mean to be a bodhisattva today? How can we contribute to the healing of the earth, including the healing of our collective relationship with the earth?
David R. Loy is a professor, writer & Zen teacher in the Sanbo Zen tradition of Japanese Buddhism. (www.davidloy.org) He is also co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Center near Boulder, CO.
So here I am this spring considering FAITH. What is it? Where does it come from? How does it work? What is its role in relationship to the teachings & practices as taught by the Buddha? Is there a difference between FAITH & BELIEF… & if so, what is the difference? FAITH in what… in who?
evolves towards the blossoming of deepening concentration, clear mindful awareness & understanding/insight, we begin to touch an unfettered FAITH in the incredibly vast potential of understanding that is available via our spiritual path. Unshakable Faith is rooted in staying open & connected in the experience of the moment… open to the mystery/the truth beyond the realm of our often tightly clung to conditioned habituated ideas, opinions, beliefs, interpretations & feelings.
‘waking up‘ out of ongoing dissatisfaction, out of feeling incomplete, separate & disappointed… ‘waking up‘ from delusion & craving. Saddha moves us towards learning to live our life grounded in an open & kindhearted mindful presence. FAITH affords us the possibility of ‘waking up‘ into the spaciousness of openhearted presence & ease of being with things as they are, however they are inside us & outside us & being able to respond appropriately with the great vitality of wisdom & compassion.
The fourth precept is to refrain from false, harmful & reckless speech. Speech is a primary way in which we relate to & communicate with each other. It can enhance connection, or be the agent of disconnection. In expressing our intentions & aspirations, our words, mindfully spoken, can remind us of what we hold most dear.
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related to the way you sit or stand, the way you gesticulate or articulate throughout the day. Whether you want it or not, the inner state of your being gets expressed in your behaviour…” Vimala Thakar 
is a way of living that introduces us to that other part of our life. The silence, the motionlessness, it introduces us to our pure ISNESS which have never been conditioned & shall never be conditioned. […]
Dook’o’oos?ííd in Diné are just two native names for these mountains held sacred by thirteen different native tribes. Each tribe has its own history & stories interwoven into culture & language. More recent history & narrative of these peaks, however, also include names given by non-native settlers & remind me how far we still have to go to truly taste that vast & beautiful freedom.
These echoes surround me, not only in the political discourse of this country, but in the institutions & societal systems within which I find myself. And they echo even closer, residing within my own heart & mind. This mind of mine has been shaped by this society & culture. This mind’s thoughts & perceptions often unknowingly see the world through the clouded lens of racism & colonization.
Today I woke at 4:30 a.m. to attend our annual Solstice Tea Ceremony. We begin in the darkness of early morning with candle-light to help us find our way. Our Solstice celebration ended today, as it does each year, with clear morning light filling the room & our hearts. Sitting this evening, I experience a clear visceral sense that time is absolutely fluid & circular. Years, months, weeks, days, hours, moments, dark & light just keep rolling on no matter what.
It’s deeply beneficial to recognize, accept & trust what shows up & not waste our energy looking for something else, something better, preferable, more satisfying. What shows up is just what we need for our practice. We take what’s offered & then without manipulation or editorial commentary, but with a heartfelt interest & care for our well-being, we intimately, mindfully notice, ‘What is my relationship in this very moment to this or that reflected experience?’
For almost a year now, I’ve noticed an underlying anxiety, a feeling of being off balance, craving to read the news more than I ever did before. There is a thread of fear stitched into our country, and I feel it, for we aren’t separate from our surroundings. In the midst of summer, there’s a chill in my heart. I’m grateful for the teachings & practice of mindfulness, calm, and equanimity.
can see: wavering is both as real & ephemeral as trusting. Like all experiences, they appear & disappear. The skill is being willing to step back & observe the heart’s inevitable movement back & forth, in & out of fear & faltering, with as much kind, understanding awareness as we can summon.
e into a deep & sometimes even a profound aspect of my Dhamma practice. One piece of this has been my decision to grow two crops for my ‘old age‘…. planting two crops that will return on their own year after year. Now I will have asparagus & strawberries to eat, even when I’m not up to the work of planting food each year. So yes, acknowledging & accepting in a deep way that I’m getting to be an old woman, and responding to this inevitability by planting a part of my garden for my nurturance in old age.
experience in the presence of great beauty. I found myself observing each of the mammoth red poppies many times during the day or two that it offered up its vibrant & amazing beauty. For soon this fleeting beauty would be followed by that flower losing its brilliant color, its shape slowly collapsing & crumbling into itself & then falling petal by petal to the ground.
It is difficult to fully comprehend great environmental changes like global warming. We know that carbon dioxide levels are rising dangerously in the atmosphere leading to unprecedented increases in the average temperature of the planet… Human activity everywhere is hastening to destroy key elements of the natural ecosystems all living beings depend on. These threatening developments are drastic & shocking. It is hard to imagine all this actually happening in our lifetime, and in the lives of our children. We must deal with the prospect of global suffering & environmental degradation unlike anything in human history.
climate. On close examination, the human mind, the human heart & the human environment are inseparably linked together. We must recognize we have brought about a climate emergency in order to generate the understanding & higher purpose we need now. On this basis we can create a viable future – sustainable, lasting, peaceful co-existence.
helpless. Unless we all work together, no solution can be found. Our Mother Earth is now teaching us a critical evolutionary lesson – a lesson in universal responsibility. On it depends the survival of millions of species, even our own.
