The Dalai Lama and the Green Buddha

 

Recently the Dalai Lama was interviewed about his soon-to-be released book in which he claims that if the Buddha was alive today he would be "green", that is committed to care and balance for all living creatures on the planet. The book is called Our Only Home: A Climate Appeal To The World, and was co-authored by German journalist Franz Alt.There is a similarity to the title of Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si: Care for our Common Home. 

It's not surprising that this Nobel prize-winning Buddhist leader would be writing about this, even at the venerable age of 84. Hey if David Suzuki can be an environmental activist at the same age, why not the Dalai Lama. 

This got me thinking. To be honest everyone on the planet was relatively green in the 5th century BCE, which was when the Buddha lived. There were approximately 100 million humans spread across the planet in that era, so between the low global population and the minimal carbon footprint people had relatively little detrimental environmental impact. By the time of Jesus there were more like 170 million people, so the same argument could be made for him. Today there are roughly 77 of us for every human who lived in the Buddha's era and 45 or so compared to the time of Jesus. It seems that most of us in the 21st century want to live beyond our ecological means, and in North America we are reckless spendthrifts. The way we live is simply unsustainable. 

Of course, what the Dalai Lama is saying is that if Buddha was with us today he would take up the cause of addressing and reversing the systems which are so destructive to our planetary home .In the book he offers:

 “I... have lived through many of the upheavals of the 20th century: the destruction and suffering brought by war, as well as unprecedented damage to the natural environment. Over-exploitation of our natural resources results from ignorance and greed, and a lack of respect for life on Earth. Saving the world from the climate crisis is our common responsibility.”

In an interview with Channel 4 News in Britain he speaks of how essential it is to find that common ground throughout the human family:“ We need the concept of oneness of 7 billion human beings There is too much emphasis of ‘my nation, their nation,’ and ‘my religion, their religion;’ that really causes all these problems.”

I realize that Pope Francis is also 84 -- what is it with this age? Maybe what they have in common is that they all admire green teen Greta Thunberg!