Mod note: I moved this post into this thread from here https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.p ... 11#p572211
Ayu
I know the title of this thread is "Reversing Global Warming - Science and Politics," but this is Dharmawheel, a specifically Mahayana Buddhist site. While I totally agree with Kim that we each individually need to be changing our lifestyle and behavior as much and as quickly as possible, I also think we Mahayana Buddhists, and especially Vajrayana Buddhists, need to be using the Dharmic tools at our disposal to also help in this endeavor.
IMO, climate change is simply one manifestation of this "dark, degenerate age." And, according to many great Lamas (Chatral Rinpoche, H.H. Sakya Trichen, the late Dudjom Rinpoche, the late Thrangu Rinpoche, and others), the root cause of this dark, degenerate age is nothing other than an increase in our collective kleshas and the demeritorious behavior those kleshas result in. As Vajrayana practitioners, our practice of Bodhicitta, mantra, mudra, samadhi, and pranidhana (aspiration prayers) can purify our own and other's karma and kleshas (lay dang nyong mong) and thus change our and others' experience of appearances and existence (nang sid). Chatral Rinpoche's "Prayer at the Time of Ecological Practice" below nicely diagnoses the cause of our current climate predicament and its Dharmic cure.
Prayer at the Time of Ecological Crisis
by Chatral Sangay Dorje
Sugatas and Bodhisatvas of the 10 directions,
Turn Your Enlightened intent on us!
May all sentient beings tormented by this present age
Of the five virulent degenerations,
Know that they possess a treasure that can alleviate
The various portents of decay in the physical world and its inhabitants
Due to the ripening of their wrong intentions and actions –
A treasure grounded in the renunciation of harmful actions
And the cultivation of altruistic actions –
Granting all the spiritual and temporal well-being one could desire.
This is the supreme, wish-fulfilling gem of Bodhicitta
Associated with all supreme spiritual practices.
Endowed with this,
May all beings cultivate love and compassion for one another
Without hatred and without fighting or quarreling.
May they enjoy the glorious resources of happiness –
All they could desire –
And swiftly attain the level of conclusive omniscience!
As Chatral Rinpoche says above, our Vajrayana practices ("supreme spiritual practices") combined with Bodhiictta "can alleviate/ The various portents of decay in the physical world and its inhabitants." We should never doubt the incredible power of even a single mantra, a single mudra, a single offering, a single prayer, or a single moment of sincere Bodhicitta. We do have, as a worldwide sangha, stupendous power to affect change in this Saha world, and I think more sanghas need to focus their practices on this looming catastrophe. There are a number of excellent aspiration prayers written by high Lamas addressing climate change, but I seldom hear them taught or chanted in our temples. There are a number of Deities Whose special abilities can address climate change, such as Guru Rinpoche, Kshitigarbha, and Vasudhara to name just three. There are a number of practices that can restore the degeneration in the five elements, such as naga puja, sang chod in general and nol sang in particular, lung ta, tshe drub (accomplishing longevity), making sa tsas, making statues and stupas, large or small, and making mani stones and walls. The Vajrayana is replete with extraordinarily powerful skillful means. We just need to believe these practices can actually change our experience of the world in which we live and then have the will to put them into practice while we also reduce, reuse, and recycle.
Prayer to Prithvi Devi, Goddess of the Earth,
To End Global Warming
Prithvi Devi, Goddess of the Earth,
You are known by many names –
Womb of the World, Fertile One, Birthplace, Source of Everything,
Producer of Everything, Nurturing Mother,
All-nourishing Mother of Plants,
Womb of Forest Trees and Herbs,
Stable One, Steady One, Patient One, and Vast.
You it was Who bore witness for the World-conqueror
When challenged by Mara and His hosts under the Bodhi Tree.
You it is Who supports the feet of all who teach the Golden Light Sutra
And have promised to greatly enrich the essential nutrients of the earth.
Your throne is located in the navel of the earth, seat of wisdom.
Homage to You and Your retinue of hundreds of thousands of Earth Goddesses.
Although You replenish the earth and increase its abundance,
Non-virtuous actions and the proliferation of kleshas
Cause You and Your retinue to decline and withdraw.
Thus the interdependence of inner causes and outer conditions,
The container and its contents.
Although Your power is beyond conception,
It corresponds to the moral behavior of we sentient beings.
Mother Earth, You are free from deceit.
You are founded on truth and sustained by great truth.
You cannot bear lies, false witness, and betrayal of friends,
Those who betray confidences,
Those who do not perform their duties,
Those who do not support their parents, children, and teachers.
Goddess of the Earth, You cannot be deceived.
Yet we degenerate human beings at this sorry end of time
Have raped and plundered our environment, our only home,
This beautiful blue ball floating in space.
For short-sighted, short-lived pleasure and play,
We have lied to ourselves and others in the chase of material wealth.
We have consumed more than our fair share of the earth’s resources
Without heed for the generations of our children to come.
We have fouled our own nests with toxins, pollution, and trash.
Please have mercy on us ignorant, greedy human beings.
We beseech You –
Do not turn Your back on us arrogant despoilers.
We fully confess our wanton plundering of the bounty of the world,
And, from this time on, we promise to
Refuse, reuse, recycle, and reduce to the best of our ability.
More importantly, however, we vow to abandon the 10 non-virtuous acts,
The true causes of the degeneration of this Kali Yuga.
Instead we vow to practice the 10 virtuous acts as diligently as possible
And thus resuscitate the real mechanisms of benefit and ease in the world.
Dridha, Sustainer, in the presence of the Tathagata,
You have sworn to uphold and increase
The purity and abundance of the natural environment.
There can be no more perilous time than now.
Vasundhara, Bearer of Treasure, we call on You.
Now is the time to come to the aid of the world and its beings.
We do not have the power to control the elements,
But You and Your retinue do.
By the power of the truth of the Buddha,
By the power of the truth of the Dharma
By the power of the truth of the Sangha,
And by the power of the truth of the truth itself,
We invoke You here and now,
At this very moment, in this very place. Please listen!
For the sake of all sentient beings in this Jambudvipa,
Turn back global warming in all its manifestations.
Turn back the warming of the oceans and flooding of the coasts.
Turn back the melting of glaciers and ice-caps.
Turn back the exhaustion of aquifers.
Turn back the desertification of the environment.
Turn back the deforestation of forests and jungles.
Turn back the extinction of plants and animals.
Turn back animal agriculture and the eating of meat.
Turn back the use of poisonous fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides.
Turn back the emission of carbon dioxide.
Turn back the release of methane.
Turn back the ever-worsening of natural disasters.
Turn back irregularities in the seasons and weather.
Turn back the arising of new diseases and resistance to medicines.
Turn back famine and drought, pestilence and epidemics,
Warfare and invasions over dwindling resources,
And turn back the breakdown of society these incur.
Sequester carbon dioxide within the earth.
Bestow great richness and fertility on the soil.
Transform all deserts into fertile fields.
Purify the air of noxious pollutants.
Insure the purity of all waters.
Remove all plastics from the oceans.
Restore the ozone layer and prevent radiation.
Grow back forests and jungles, the lungs of the world.
Bestow riches and abundance on all people and nations of the world
So they do not have to migrate or invade their neighbors.
Make all plants, shrubs, trees, herbs, fruits, and vegetables flourish and grow.
Make the great earth glow with radiance and luster.
Vishvadharini, All-supporting, listen.
If we do not do our part in practicing both virtue and environmentalism,
Then we are deceivers who do not deserve Your help.
But if we practice the 10 virtuous actions the best we can
And work for the environment in every possible way,
We pray You help us with Your great power
To avert world-wide catastrophe
And the inconceivable suffering it will bring.
For the sake of all sentient beings, Bodhi Svaha!
Sitting above the central channel of the Land of A, Shrimati Saraswati, Goddess of Speech, inspired me, the lazy Lama mistakenly named Perfection of Qualities, to write these words during the 4th month of the Earth Pig year. May it be auspicious.
Sorry if I've banged this drum before on Dharmawheel, but I strongly believe that, if we don't address the root cause of this ecological crisis, no amount of trying to fix the externals is going to work.