Reversing Global Warming - Prayers and Aspirations

Discuss the application of the Dharma to situations of social, political, environmental and economic suffering and injustice.
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Ayu
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Re: Reversing Global Warming

Post by Ayu »

kirtu wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 10:55 pm
Ayu wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 11:37 am The more political aspects of this discussion moved here: https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.p ... 11#p572211
Science is not politics.

Science and understanding science is also part of the result of effective prayer and study of the five sciences, and is not separate from Buddhadharma.

Good-bye Buddhadarma.com
I hope, you at least agree that the splitted posts were not at all referring to the OP's prayers recommendations.
I'll change the title of the new thread now and I'm waiting for your proposals, if you still dislike the new title.
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Re: Reversing Global Warming - Prayers and Aspirations

Post by Kim O'Hara »

Wow! This thread snoozed for a long time!

With COP26 under way right now I thought I should share HHDL's message:
Dalai Lama wrote:Message to COP26
I am pleased to know that the United Nations Climate Change Conference - COP26 - to address the climate emergency we are facing today will be taking place in Glasgow, Scotland.
Global warming is an urgent reality. None of us is able to change the past. But we are all in a position to contribute to a better future. Indeed, we have a responsibility to ourselves and to the more than seven billion human beings alive today to ensure that all of us can continue to live in peace and safety. With hope and determination, we must take care of both our own lives and those of all our neighbours.
Our ancestors viewed the earth as rich and bountiful, which it is, but what’s more it is our only home. We must protect it not only for ourselves, but also for future generations, and for the countless species with which we share the planet.
The Tibetan plateau, the largest reservoir of snow and ice outside the North and the South Poles, has often been called “the Third Pole.” Tibet is the source of some of the world’s major rivers, among them the Brahmaputra, the Ganges, the Indus, the Mekong, the Salween, the Yellow River and the Yangtze. These rivers are the source of life because they provide drinking water, irrigation for agriculture, and hydropower, for nearly two billion people across Asia. The melting of Tibet’s numerous glaciers, the damming and diversion of rivers, and widespread deforestation, exemplify how ecological neglect in one area can have consequences almost everywhere.
Today, we need to address the future not with prayers prompted by fear, but by taking realistic action founded on scientific understanding. The inhabitants of our planet are interdependent as never before. Everything we do affects our human companions, as well as innumerable animal and plant species.
We human beings are the only creatures with the power to destroy the earth, but we are also the species with the greatest capacity to protect it. We must confront issues of climate change on a cooperative global level for everyone’s benefit. But we must also do what we can on a personal level. Even small daily actions, such as how we use water and how we dispose of what we don’t need, have consequences. We must make taking care of our natural environment a part of our daily life, and learn what science has to teach us.
I am encouraged to see that our younger generations are demanding concrete action on climate change. This gives some hope for the future. The efforts of young activists such as Greta Thunberg to raise awareness of the need to listen to the science and act accordingly is crucial. Since their stance is realistic, we must encourage them.
I regularly emphasise the importance of maintaining a sense of the oneness of humanity, the idea that every human being is a part of us. The threat of global warming and climate change is not limited by national boundaries; it affects us all.
As we face this crisis together, it is imperative that we act in a spirit of solidarity and cooperation in order to limit its consequences. I hope and pray that our leaders will gather the strength to take collective action to address this emergency, and set a timetable for change. We have to act to make this a safer, greener, happier world.
With my prayers and good wishes,
Dalai Lama
31 October 2021
If you're on Facebook, this is the page - https://www.facebook.com/DalaiLama/

:namaste:
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Re: Reversing Global Warming - Prayers and Aspirations

Post by Könchok Thrinley »

Just to share one of the practices that can be done against global warming and its negative effects here is an event info taken from Tulku Sherdor's FB page.
Special online (Zoom) program announcement: Saturday January 8, 2022 at 9 a.m. New York (Daylight Savings) Time.

“The All-Pervasive Blessing of the Body Mandala of the Noble Sa’i Nyingpo,” from the Body Treasury of Vairocana, a treasure sadhana of Kṣitigarbha (Sa Yi Nyingpo; ས་ཡི་སྙིང་པོ).

As explained in the Sutras, Kṣitigarbha is the regent of Buddha Shakyamuni charged with protecting the beings and environment of this material world in the interim until the appearance of Buddha Maitreya.

By request from many individuals around the world who are interested in a practice to increase the merit and richness of the environment, I will be offering a detailed instruction on this treasure sadhana from His Holiness Orgyen Kusum Lingpa, which was among the texts for which I offered a reading transmission a few months ago.

His Holiness taught this practice only once in the West, exactly 20 years ago in New York, and I offered my service as his translator for the teaching and the sadhana at that time. This is the first time I am offering the complete instruction. This is a very rare and distinctive Vajrayana style practice of this deity.

There is only one way to register for this program: please send an email to [email protected] to receive information on the zoom meeting. This program is not restricted. There is no fee. An option to offer Dana will be available.
“Observing samaya involves to remain inseparable from the union of wisdom and compassion at all times, to sustain mindfulness, and to put into practice the guru’s instructions”. Garchen Rinpoche

For those who do virtuous actions,
goodness is what comes to pass.
For those who do non-virtuous actions,
that becomes suffering indeed.

- Arya Sanghata Sutra
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Re: Reversing Global Warming - Prayers and Aspirations

Post by Shinjin »

Reciting prayers to reverse global warming? Is this serious?
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Re: Reversing Global Warming - Prayers and Aspirations

Post by Könchok Thrinley »

Shinjin wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 7:00 pm Reciting prayers to reverse global warming? Is this serious?
Yes. Welcome to a religious forum, we recite prayers and believe in their effect.
“Observing samaya involves to remain inseparable from the union of wisdom and compassion at all times, to sustain mindfulness, and to put into practice the guru’s instructions”. Garchen Rinpoche

For those who do virtuous actions,
goodness is what comes to pass.
For those who do non-virtuous actions,
that becomes suffering indeed.

- Arya Sanghata Sutra
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Re: Reversing Global Warming - Prayers and Aspirations

Post by Shinjin »

Könchok Thrinley wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 7:11 pm
Shinjin wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 7:00 pm Reciting prayers to reverse global warming? Is this serious?
Yes. Welcome to a religious forum, we recite prayers and believe in their effect.
How would they work in this situation? I thought Buddhas/Bodhisattvas/Gods weren't omnipotent in Buddhism as they are in other religions such as Hinduism and Chrisitianity.
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Re: Reversing Global Warming - Prayers and Aspirations

Post by Könchok Thrinley »

Shinjin wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 8:07 pm How would they work in this situation? I thought Buddhas/Bodhisattvas/Gods weren't omnipotent in Buddhism as they are in other religions such as Hinduism and Chrisitianity.
Ofc they are not. However there are such things as interdependence of phenomena, not to mention that through such prayers you generate merit. And even if you are heavily materialistic the simple fact is that it directs your mind towards positive thoughts such as happines, prosperity and safety of others.

I am not the right person to explain the intricate details, however there are plenty examples of prayers working. Just last year Garchen Rinpoche's center in Arizona was in danger of fire spreading. Garchen Rinpoche prepared for evacuation but also asked his monks in Tibet to pray for the center and spin the big prayerwheel in the Gar monastery. Soon after that the fires stopped getting closer to the center and a ran started falling out of nowhere. There is a plethora of stories such as this one.

Ofcourse it can always be dismissed as coincidences or whatnot however where is the fun in that?
“Observing samaya involves to remain inseparable from the union of wisdom and compassion at all times, to sustain mindfulness, and to put into practice the guru’s instructions”. Garchen Rinpoche

For those who do virtuous actions,
goodness is what comes to pass.
For those who do non-virtuous actions,
that becomes suffering indeed.

- Arya Sanghata Sutra
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Re: Reversing Global Warming - Prayers and Aspirations

Post by Shinjin »

Könchok Thrinley wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 8:16 pm
Shinjin wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 8:07 pm How would they work in this situation? I thought Buddhas/Bodhisattvas/Gods weren't omnipotent in Buddhism as they are in other religions such as Hinduism and Chrisitianity.
Ofc they are not. However there are such things as interdependence of phenomena, not to mention that through such prayers you generate merit. And even if you are heavily materialistic the simple fact is that it directs your mind towards positive thoughts such as happines, prosperity and safety of others.

I am not the right person to explain the intricate details, however there are plenty examples of prayers working. Just last year Garchen Rinpoche's center in Arizona was in danger of fire spreading. Garchen Rinpoche prepared for evacuation but also asked his monks in Tibet to pray for the center and spin the big prayerwheel in the Gar monastery. Soon after that the fires stopped getting closer to the center and a ran started falling out of nowhere. There is a plethora of stories such as this one.

Ofcourse it can always be dismissed as coincidences or whatnot however where is the fun in that?
Hopefully it works out for you all. Good luck.
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Re: Reversing Global Warming - Prayers and Aspirations

Post by Kim O'Hara »

Shinjin wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 7:00 pm Reciting prayers to reverse global warming? Is this serious?
Hi, Shinjin,
You may have missed the fact that this thread has a 'secular' twin - https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=36334 - where we talk about the science and politics of global warming. You may be happier with that one. :smile:
It's more active, too - it's now 18 pages long although it started at the same time as this one.

:namaste:
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Re: Reversing Global Warming - Prayers and Aspirations

Post by Ayu »

[Mod note: I moved the science-related posts to the thread Kim O Hara linked above.]
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Re: Reversing Global Warming - Prayers and Aspirations

Post by Kim O'Hara »

forest-buddha.jpg
forest-buddha.jpg (94.73 KiB) Viewed 2158 times
~ Realize You are the Earth, by Thich Nhat Hanh ~

“You carry Mother Earth within you. She is not outside of you. Mother Earth is not just your environment. In that insight of inter-being, it is possible to have real communication with the Earth, which is the highest form of prayer. In that kind of relationship you have enough love, strength and awakening in order to change your life.

Fear, separation, hate and anger come from the wrong view that you and the Earth are two separate entities, that the Earth is only the environment. That is a dualistic way of seeing.

So to breathe in and be aware of your body and look deeply into it, realise you are the Earth and your consciousness is also the consciousness of the Earth. Not to cut the tree not to pollute the water, that is not enough.

We need a real awakening, enlightenment, to change our way of thinking and seeing things. When we recognise the virtues, the talent, the beauty of Mother Earth, something is born in us, some kind of connection, love is born. That is the meaning of love, to be at one."
This, both words and image, comes from the Ecological Consciousness facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064821395990. There are a lot more similar memes and messages there, so if you liked this and you are on fb, trot right over.

:namaste:
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Re: Reversing Global Warming - Prayers and Aspirations

Post by Könchok Thrinley »

Garchen Rinpoche's teaching on aspirations.
Actually, everything comes from aspiration. Everything good and bad comes from aspiration. For example, now in this world, there is so many difficulties and hardships. The suffering that people experience is caused by certain individuals with evil aspirations and intentions. There are certain individuals who are full of hatred and wish to harm others and then they die with that state of mind – an angry mind. They die with this corrupt aspiration of wanting to harm, wanting to hurt others. Because that is an aspiration too, even though it is negative, it also will mature. Now we can see, the outcome of such aspirations is now ripening in the world. Also, there is something I saw on TV, a real story that happened in America, there was this really powerful person who set himself on fire and immediately you could see from the flames of the fire, a shape emerged. This is something that science can show. This also happens. This is due to hatred and something emerges from that.

So basically, whatever aspiration we make, whether it is beneficial or harmful, it is very powerful. However, an evil aspiration is less powerful than a beneficial aspiration, because a beneficial aspiration is connected to Bodhichitta which makes it stronger and more powerful. So, this is how the qualities of a Buddha arise — out of aspirations. So, any aspiration is extremely significant, especially at times when you experience illness and suffering, aspiration prayers can be very powerful. Nowadays, I always encourage people to recite this verse from the Shantideva’s Bodhicaryavatara dedication.
Source: https://bodhiactivity.wordpress.com/202 ... pirations/
“Observing samaya involves to remain inseparable from the union of wisdom and compassion at all times, to sustain mindfulness, and to put into practice the guru’s instructions”. Garchen Rinpoche

For those who do virtuous actions,
goodness is what comes to pass.
For those who do non-virtuous actions,
that becomes suffering indeed.

- Arya Sanghata Sutra
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Re: Reversing Global Warming - Prayers and Aspirations

Post by pemachophel »

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.
Pema Chophel པདྨ་ཆོས་འཕེལ
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Re: Reversing Global Warming - Prayers and Aspirations

Post by Virgo »

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.
This is great advice lama-la. Keep beating that drum!

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Re: Reversing Global Warming - Prayers and Aspirations

Post by Virgo »

pemachophel wrote: Sun Aug 20, 2023 6:02 pm
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
Our kleshas are so strong these days that the oxymoronic term 'technological progress' isn't even seen as an oxymoron.

How long after the greatest discovery of modern physics was made was it that we used it to drop bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing 10's or 100's of thousands of innocents?

In conjunction with the five degenerations, our intelligence is very low these days.

And yes, I use technology, I am writing this on a smartphone etc. That is the world we live in now. That doesn't mean that such things are really progress for humanity.

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Re: Reversing Global Warming - Prayers and Aspirations

Post by Queequeg »

pemachophel wrote: Sun Aug 20, 2023 6:02 pm 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.
...

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.
Thank you. This perspective has rarely appeared in this thread, which is a little disappointing since, as you poignantly indicate - this is a Mahayana discussion board. [Mod note: Initially pemachopel posted here https://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.p ... 11#p572211
, the thread that is focused on politics and science.]


I would only add, we can't rely on the protectors and bodhisattvas to do all the heavy lifting. People need to learn of the tools to purify the mind. That is incumbent upon us to make these teachings and methods known and teach people how to put them into practice. Passively waiting for Dharma to spread relying on the karmic inclinations of people is going to mean very few will be born with those karmic inclinations to actively seek Dharma on their own. On the other hand, beings will appear in response to our efforts. There are those born with little dust in the eyes who will waste away for not learning Dharma.
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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Re: Reversing Global Warming - Prayers and Aspirations

Post by kirtu »

Virgo wrote: Mon Aug 21, 2023 4:59 am
pemachophel wrote: Sun Aug 20, 2023 6:02 pm
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
...
How long after the greatest discovery of modern physics was made was it that we used it to drop bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing 10's or 100's of thousands of innocents?
...
It depends on how you look at this: de Broglie , Heisenberg & Born develop quantum physics: 1924,1925 so 21,20 years. Or Cockcroft & Walton split the atom in 1932, 13 years. But the really big one, the one that prompted the Einstein Szilard letter, Hahn & Strassmann split the uranium atom in December 1938 but Meitner & Frisch in, exile from the Nazis, make sense of it: 7 years.
Kirt's Tibetan Translation Notes

"Even if you practice only for an hour a day with faith and inspiration, good qualities will steadily increase. Regular practice makes it easy to transform your mind. From seeing only relative truth, you will eventually reach a profound certainty in the meaning of absolute truth."
Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

"Only you can make your mind beautiful."
HH Chetsang Rinpoche

"Most all-knowing Mañjuśrī, ...
Please illuminate the radiant wisdom spirit
Of my precious Buddha nature."
HH Thinley Norbu Rinpoche
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Kim O'Hara
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Re: Reversing Global Warming - Prayers and Aspirations

Post by Kim O'Hara »

Queequeg wrote: Mon Aug 21, 2023 4:11 pm ... I would only add, we can't rely on the protectors and bodhisattvas to do all the heavy lifting. ...
A Christian perspective ( :emb: sorry, but I need to describe it so that we can look at Buddhist parallels) on this is that God does act in the world but acts through ourselves, uses our hands and minds. That is, he doesn't actually do anything like make it miraculously rain on the Canadian wildfires or send jaguars rampaging through the Amazonian jungle to stop people cutting it down, but inspires us to act to protect (His) creation.

In Mahayana terms, I think the same applies. Prayers and aspirations are the seeds of compassionate action, but the action has to be ours.
We save the spider from drowning in the tub by picking it up and taking it outside. Similarly, we save the lives of countless small animals in a patch of forest by organising a community grpup or petition convinging the council to leave it as wilderness, and we reduce the horrific impact of climate change by reducing our own environmental footprints and voting for governments who will take similar actions on a larger scale.

Sure, it starts with the dharma. But dharma that doesn't leave the cushion is ... I don't know; I would have to be rude about it, and I don't want to offend anyone so I will leave you to fill in the gap for yourselves.

:namaste:
Kim
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Re: Reversing Global Warming - Prayers and Aspirations

Post by Virgo »

kirtu wrote: Mon Aug 21, 2023 10:24 pm
Virgo wrote: Mon Aug 21, 2023 4:59 am
pemachophel wrote: Sun Aug 20, 2023 6:02 pm
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
...
How long after the greatest discovery of modern physics was made was it that we used it to drop bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing 10's or 100's of thousands of innocents?
...
It depends on how you look at this: de Broglie , Heisenberg & Born develop quantum physics: 1924,1925 so 21,20 years. Or Cockcroft & Walton split the atom in 1932, 13 years. But the really big one, the one that prompted the Einstein Szilard letter, Hahn & Strassmann split the uranium atom in December 1938 but Meitner & Frisch in, exile from the Nazis, make sense of it: 7 years.
Thank you for the precise timeline Kirt.

We can see that no matter how you look at it, it is a short period of time. 7 years is also what I had in mind as that is the amount of time between the splitting of the atom and when the bo.bs were dropped.

Of course, we see this with many things though. It wasn't long after the first automobile was created that tanks were rolling around. It wasn't long after the first aircraft was created that we had military aircraft. And there are so many other examples.

Technology does have plus sides, but for every good use there is a bad use. And that is not to mention all of the pollution it has caused, all of the destruction of the earth, and all of the climate change it has caused, which is now making the earth nearly uninhabitable for the very beings it was supposed to benefit.

Without technology, humans still have kleshas. But tech is really derived from our kleshas. That is it's source. It also increases and inflames them, makes them far-reaching, and allows them to impact our world in hugely significant ways.


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Re: Reversing Global Warming - Prayers and Aspirations

Post by Queequeg »

Kim O'Hara wrote: Tue Aug 22, 2023 3:46 am
Queequeg wrote: Mon Aug 21, 2023 4:11 pm ... I would only add, we can't rely on the protectors and bodhisattvas to do all the heavy lifting. ...
A Christian perspective ( :emb: sorry, but I need to describe it so that we can look at Buddhist parallels) on this is that God does act in the world but acts through ourselves, uses our hands and minds. That is, he doesn't actually do anything like make it miraculously rain on the Canadian wildfires or send jaguars rampaging through the Amazonian jungle to stop people cutting it down, but inspires us to act to protect (His) creation.

In Mahayana terms, I think the same applies. Prayers and aspirations are the seeds of compassionate action, but the action has to be ours.
We save the spider from drowning in the tub by picking it up and taking it outside. Similarly, we save the lives of countless small animals in a patch of forest by organising a community grpup or petition convinging the council to leave it as wilderness, and we reduce the horrific impact of climate change by reducing our own environmental footprints and voting for governments who will take similar actions on a larger scale.

Sure, it starts with the dharma. But dharma that doesn't leave the cushion is ... I don't know; I would have to be rude about it, and I don't want to offend anyone so I will leave you to fill in the gap for yourselves.

:namaste:
Kim
I've been thinking about a "Buddhist" paradigm of practice that goes from the cushion to installing renewable energy, etc. Arguably many people are already doing that but not quite as part of an integrated view of practice. I'd like to see a teaching for modern people in the developed world, like the ones we find in sutras that relate Dharma practice to being a merchant or farmer or sovereign. I've ad hoc included what I suppose are shinto inspired animism in my daily life as a way to relate to the world around me, but something broader is needed I think. Something that would relate solar panel installation and the like to merit making.
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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