Sumeru News — Environmental Issues

This morning I saw an article in The New York Times, How High Tech Is Transforming One of the Oldest Jobs: Farming It reminded me of a section on farming from my new book, Bodhisattva 4.0: A Primer for Engaged Buddhists, the excerpt from which I include here. Hopefully you read them and find them both valuable. FARM "The real cause of hunger is the powerlessness of the poor to gain access to the resources they need to feed themselves." Frances Moore Lappé We have enough food for everybody, but they can’t get it. They are like hungry ghosts. There is no...

Ecology, Ethics, and Interdependence The Dalai Lama in Conversation with Leading Thinkers on Climate Change Edited by John Dunne and Daniel Goleman Wisdom Publications (October 2018), 344 pages, ISBN: 9781614294948 When I first heard about this book, I was excited to have the opportunity to read and review it. The topic of engaged Buddhism and sustainable development in the face of climate change is of great importance to all of us, and I wanted to know more about what insights, advice and examples might be discovered from His Holiness and the other Buddhist teachers assembled in Dharmsala for the 23rd...

Here’s what I’ve been working on... A PATH THROUGH RED MAPLES: The Harmonious Way of Tendai Buddhism, by Dosho Ray Parchelo (Innen) This is a collection of Dharma talks, presentations, and other material exploring the history and practice of the Tendai lineage in Canada. Planning for publication in mid-Autumn. THE STORY OF ZEN by Rick McDaniel This is Rick’s sixth book on the history and practice of Zen (and the fourth being published by Sumeru). When westerners begin to practice Theravada or Vajrayana Buddhism, they have a pretty good idea of the Buddhist context. However often when people in the...

I just started reading Ecology, Ethics and Interdependence: The Dalai Lama in Conversation with Leading Thinkers on Climate Change, edited by John Dunne and Daniel Goleman.  https://www.wisdompubs.org/book/ecology-ethics-and-interdependence Review will come along in a few weeks, but I can already tell you that the ideas presented are cogent and compelling. There is an excellent excerpt available at the above URL. Highly recommended.

Ecodharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis David Loy Wisdom Publications, 2019 ISBN 978-1-61429-382-8 ebook ISBN 978-1-61429-398-9 240 pages Buddhists: we have a problem! The transcendentalists see liberation as escape from this world of dukkha. The mindfulness proponents see liberation as adjusting our perspective to fit in better with this world, without the dukkha. Both views are dualistic mis-interpretations holding us back from engaged practice, because they are both based on an individualistic approach. My enlightenment. My liberation. My suffering. People all over the planet are waking up to the fact that our current “business as usual” approach to civilization is...