Tue, 15 Jul 2003
Akuppa (John Wigham), Touching the earth: a Buddhist guide to saving the planet
Buddhism is sometimes seen as particularly suited to the environmental movement. But what does Buddhism have to offer? Is a Buddhist environmentalist any more than a Buddhist who is also an environmentalist?
What does Buddhism have to offer the environmental movement?
John Wigham was active in the environmental movement for many years, before joining the Western Buddhist Order under the name of Akuppa.
Akuppa includes brief introductions to environmental concerns and to Buddhism, and provides references and readings. He encourages the reader to learn meditation, but advises the reader to seek out a competent instructor.
What interested me the most was in the interaction between the two, where environmental and Buddhist practice inform each other. Akuppa offers advice on dealing with anxiety, anger and hatred, and replacing them with clarity of mind and kindness.
Akuppa does not consider the reverse question, what does the environmental movement have to offer Buddhism? However, he tries to rethink the traditional Buddhist practices and to integrate environmental practices with them, so in some ways this provides a new and contemporary way of doing Buddhism.
The book is readable by practitioners of all traditions of Buddhism, and does not rely on the particular approach of the Western Buddhist Order.
Akuppa (John Wigham). Touching the earth: a Buddhist guide to saving the planet. 2002, Windhorse, Birmingham. paperback . 112 pages.
ISBN ISBN 1-899579-48-6 .
