David Loy's call for ecological engagement

[kirtu]

David Loy's call on Lions Roar for Buddhist engagement in the ecological crisis ... or as I would put it, Buddhists have to start helping to save the world.

Loy has a tendency to make claims from the unsubstantiated position that Buddhists are not already doing something but he has a point here even though most people I know have been engaged at least in raising consciousness about our looming ecological disasters.

Kirt

[Malcolm]

David Loy's call on Lions Roar for Buddhist engagement in the ecological crisis ... or as I would put it, Buddhists have to start helping to save the world.

Loy has a tendency to make claims from the unsubstantiated position that Buddhists are not already doing something but he has a point here even though most people I know have been engaged at least in raising consciousness about our looming ecological disasters.

Kirt

Sour grapes on Loy's part. I don't know anyone who fits the description he is painting.

[kirtu]

Judith Leif's report from the Paris Climate Conference

[Kim O'Hara]

David Loy's call on Lions Roar for Buddhist engagement in the ecological crisis ... or as I would put it, Buddhists have to start helping to save the world.

Loy has a tendency to make claims from the unsubstantiated position that Buddhists are not already doing something but he has a point here even though most people I know have been engaged at least in raising consciousness about our looming ecological disasters.

Kirt

I encourage any and all consciousness-raising articles such as this. I agree that the beginning of the article is a bit unfair but I think he does have a point when he says ...

... there is a difficulty if one believes that all problems are due to the way the mind works; the solution, then, is simply to change the mind rather than change the system.

While much of traditional Buddhism is concerned about transcending (in one way or another) this unsatisfactory world, much of modern Buddhism is about adapting to it better. In the first case, this world is the problem because it is a place of suffering, while in the other, one’s mind is the problem. These are differing perspectives on the path, but they can both have the effect of devaluing social and ecological engagement. In different ways, each is resigned to the way this world is—or seems to be—and therefore is not concerned about reforming it.

This bit rings a few bells, too:

Nonattachment is essential in the face of the inevitable setbacks and frustrations that activism involves, but it does not mean that one is unconcerned about the results of one’s efforts. Given the urgency of the challenges, we work as hard as we can. When our efforts do not bear fruit in the ways that we hoped, we naturally feel some disappointment, but we do not remain stuck there. Nonattachment lets us move forward in the face of despair.

Kim