Is Buddhism environmental friendly

Answer 1

Buddhism sees all life as interrelated and interdependent. As such, Buddhists revere the natural world "as the living web that interconnects individual beings, both sentient and non-sentient." Protecting life and the living environment is considered to be one of the main, basic laws set out by the Buddha some 2500 years ago.

In an article titled, "A Buddhist Concept of Nature," http://www.dalailama.com/messages/environment/buddhist-concept-of-nature the Dalai Lama, who is widely perceived to be the head of the Buddhist faith worldwide, says, "I deeply believe that...the human attitude towards our environment should be gentle...I think morally speaking we should all be concerned for our environment."

He goes on to add, "It is not a question of morality or ethics (but) a question of our own survival. Not only this generation, but for other generations, the environment is something very important. If we exploit the natural environment in an extreme way, today we might get some other benefit but in the long run we ourselves will suffer and other generations will suffer.

"So when the environment changes, climatic conditions also change. When it changes dramatically, economic structures and many other things also change, even our physical body...

"Therefore, in order to achieve more effective results and in order to succeed in the protection, conservation and preservation of the natural environment...it is important to bring about internal balance within human beings...Negligence of the environment - which has resulted in lots of harm to the human community - came about by ignorance of the very special importance of the environment. I think it is very important to instill this knowledge within human beings."

Buddhists generally believe in cherishing life, protecting our Natural Resources, and reducing waste. That sounds "environmentally friendly" to me!