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BUDDHA GAIA’S
Noble Eightfold Path for Sustainable Living
First and foremost, I will do no harm in thought, word, or deed.
This
is Buddha Gaia’s Eightfold Path for Sustainable Living that practically integrates
the Buddhist teachings and environmental sustainability. This is a condensed and adapted version of the original Noble Eightfold
Path first taught by the historical Buddha Shakyamuni over 2, 600 years ago. This 21st century version integrates
the traditional Mahayana Buddhist teachings with modern eco-Buddhist sensibilities.
It
is divided into three major sections: wisdom, morality and meditation teachings and practices. The wisdom teachings include
Right Understanding and Right Thought. The morality teachings are Right Speech, Right Action and Right Livelihood. The meditation
practices are Right Effort, Right Awareness and Right Concentration.
A Sacred Circle Rather Than Steps
Walking
this Noble Eco-Path is not a chronological one-way journey, in which the practitioner takes one step at a time, mastering
each step and then moving on. On the contrary, it is a spiritual path that is more akin to a circle or better yet, a sacred
circle, in which you can join any point and time. By doing so you will immediately begin to practice the entirety of
the Way. Each step on the Buddha’s Eightfold Path is integrated with all
of the other steps. Taking one step on the Buddha Gaia’s Eightfold Path for Sustainable
Living will immediate start your journey to total spiritual transformation by awakening your endowed Buddha and Gaia natures.
A Cure of Spiritual and Environmental
Illness
Practicing
Buddha Gaia’s Eightfold Path for Sustainable Living comfortably ties together
the Buddha’s practical spiritual teachings with environmental sustainability and ecological wisdom. It is a Way or map to cure the spiritual dis-ease and environmental illness caused by human ignorance, greed and hate.
Take up the Path and make a difference with your life, in lives of your loved ones, in society and for our suffering Mother
Earth.
1. Right Understanding
- I will trust in the Great Compassion of the universe that is beyond human comprehension
and endeavor. In Mahayana Buddhism, this inconceivability is known as the dharmakaya
personified as Vairochana and Amida Buddhas, and the other great Bodhisattvas.
· I will understand and embody interdependence and non-self, and
take heed to the reality of individual and collective karma.
· I will understand that I am a child of the Earth and that this
living planet is my mother, my home, my nation and my responsibility.
· I will embody the Four Noble Truths knowing that life is at times
a bumpy road but that life is fundamentally good.
First Noble Truth:
life is dukkha (dis-ease, suffering)
Second Noble Truth:
the cause is ego-centeredness and craving.
Third Noble Truth: life is hopeful
and good; nirvana transcends dukkha.
Fourth Noble Truth:
the spiritual path of liberation (Eightfold Path)
2. Right Thought
- Realizing that my thoughts shape my reality, I will develop positive habits of mind
and eliminate negative patterns of thinking.
- I will cultivate renunciation: I abandon ill-will to others and myself. I refrain
from mindless consumption.
3. Right Speech
· I will speak words of kindness and simple truth. I will avoid
speaking about others when they are not present.
· I will listen deeply
to what other say so as to transform conflict into harmony.
· I will lovingly share the practices of environmental sustainability
with others.
· My words will correspond to my actions. I wil not
just speak of eco-Buddhism, I will live it.
4. Right Action
· I will minimize my consumption.
·
I will forgo using products
and services that unduly harm
animals, plants, humans and non-sentient life.
· I will recycle and reuse whenever possible.
· I will support community-based and local businesses.
· I will practice the Buddha’s Five Ethical Precepts as guidelines to wholesome and joyful living. Buddhist ethics are based on non-harm and
well-being to all beings and ourselves.
The Five Precepts are:
a. I will practice love, I refrain
from killing.
b. I will practice generosity, I refrain from stealing.
c. I will practice contentment, I refrain from sexual misconduct.
d. I will practice mindful speech, I refrain from harmful speech.
e. I will practice
mindful consumption; I refrain from intoxicants &
harmful substances that harm myself, society & the
environment.
5. Right
Livelihood
·
I will avoid professions and
jobs that defile me and harm others or the environment.
·
I will dedicate each work shift
to the health and vitality of the workplace and the Earth. During the course
of my work day, I will consider whether my words and actions uplift or harm others and my environment.
·
My work is not divorced from
my spiritual practice. I will strive to practice this Noble Path in my profession, job, schooling or career.
6. Right
Effort
·
By guarding the mind, I will
nourish the wholesome and abandon the unwholesome in my mind, actions, speech and environment. The unwholesome is such mental
states like greed, hatred, cruelty, gossip, harsh speech, stealing, laziness etc. The wholesome is non greed, non-hatred,
non-delusion, devotion and balance.
·
I will regularly take refuge
in the Three Jewels and always practice mindfulness as the means to cultivate positive intention and energy while developing
and stabilizing the wholesome.
The Three Jewels are:
I take
Refuge in the Buddha: the living source of wisdom, faith & compassion.
I take
Refuge in the Dharma: the truth, teachings and the Way.
I take
Refuge in the Sangha: the community of practitioners and all beings.
7. Right Mindfulness
· I will practice uncritical awareness of my surroundings. I will not dwell in personal story telling and regret or anxiety and fear but I will inhabit the present
moment where true life is available to me and my loved ones.
·
I will tend to my thoughts, speech
and actions to nourish the positive seeds of love, compassion and wisdom for myself, my society and the environment.
8. Right Concentration
·
I will meditate on a regular
basis in order to cultivate insight and mindfulness. Learning to clearly see things as-they-are will help me to do the right
things that create a happier life and help make our world a better place to live for all of its inhabitants.
·
I will fully commit myself to
making a positive difference in the world. I will practice not just for myself but for all sentient and non-sentient beings
and my Mother Earth.
Practice and Be the Solution
Become
part of the solution. Make a positive difference and noble impact with your own life. We do not have to follow the herd of
mindless consumption, greed and fear. Each one of us can begin to turn the tide by transforming ourselves, the nation and
the world. We can cure our modern-day spiritual and ecological crisis. Each of us needs to have the courage and resolve to
transform our personal suffering and our over-consuming lifestyles before the problems we experience today will become catastrophic
to all living beings.
We
urge you to practice. If you have questions on how to practice the Eightfold Path for
Sustainable Living, just call or e-mail us. If you live near a local Buddha Gaia chapter, better yet, attend a meeting
and begin to learn how to make real difference for the sake of all sentient and non-sentient beings. If there are not any Buddha Gaia chapters in your area, please look at our Get involved! web page to learn how to start up your own local Buddha Gaia chapter.
“May all beings know happiness and the causes of happiness.
May all be free from sorrow and the causes of sorrow.
May all never be separated from the sacred happiness, which is sorrowless.
May all live in equanimity without too much attraction or too much aversion.”
---A Buddhist Prayer
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| Green Tara is the Bodhisattva of the Earth. |
BODHISATTVA VOWS
A good beginning
point of practice is the daily recitation of the Bodhisattva Vows. They are the core and energy of Mahayana Buddhist spiritual
life. They serve to illuminate the direction and meaning of our lives, allowing us to embody our highest religious aspirations.
Through the Vows, we commit ourselves to deeper understanding, practice, love and selfless service. This, of course, includes
our quest for peace and environmental sustainability.
"Sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save them all;
Greed, hatred, and ignorance rise endlessly, I vow to end
them all;
Dharmas are
boundless, I vow to learn them all;
The Buddha's way is unsurpassable, I vow to embody it."
UNIVERSAL LOVE PRAYER
(from the Metta Sutta)
Next is one
of the most ancient of Buddhist prayers. Following the instructions of Shinran Shonin to “be a prayer for the world,”
we can practice the essence of true love that encompasses all beings. By integrating this practice of love and peace into
our daily lives. If you can deeply practice this prayer everyday, then you can certainly transform our suffering world into
a Pure
Land. Please recite this prayer regularly and incorporate its teachings
into your daily life. Then, you will surely bring Heaven to Earth.
“May
all beings be filled with joy and peace.
May all beings everywhere,
The strong and the weak,
The great and the
small,
The mean and the powerful,
The short and the long,
the subtle and the gross:
May all beings everywhere,
Seen and unseen,
Dwelling far off or nearby,
Being or waiting to become:
May all be filled with lasting joy.
Let no one deceive another,
Let no one anywhere despise another,
Let no one out of anger or resentment
Wish
suffering on anyone at all.
Just as a mother with her own life
Protects her child, her only child, from harm,
So within yourself let grow
A boundless love for all creatures.
Let your love flow outward through the universe,
To its height, its depth, its broad extent,
A limitless love, without hatred or enmity.
Then as you stand
or walk,
Sit or lie down,
As long as you are awake,
Strive for this with a one-pointed mind;
Your life will
bring heaven to earth.”
"May
all live believing in the sanctity of all that lives."
--- a Buddhist Prayer
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