Living in Harmony with Nature: Environmental Wisdom from the Pali Canon

A Buddhist Perspective on Environmental Stewardship for Modern Times

By Bhante Sumitta

Summary

This article explores how the ancient wisdom of the Pali Canon provides profound guidance for contemporary environmental challenges. Drawing from authentic Buddhist sources including the Vinaya rules on pollution, the Aggañña Sutta's account of environmental degradation, and the Five Natural Laws framework, we discover that Buddhist teachings offer a unique approach to environmental ethics rooted in the understanding that human moral conduct and environmental health are intimately interconnected. The Buddha's famous analogy of living like a bee among flowers—taking only what is needed while contributing to natural flourishing—emerges as a practical model for sustainable living. Through examination of key suttas and doctrines such as dependent origination, loving-kindness, and the Middle Way, this exploration reveals how Buddhist environmental wisdom integrates individual spiritual transformation with collective responsibility for the natural world. The article demonstrates that environmental protection in Buddhist understanding flows not from external regulations alone but from the cultivation of wisdom, compassion, and moderation that naturally generates reverent stewardship of our shared planetary home.

Introduction

In an era marked by unprecedented environmental challenges—climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and resource depletion—humanity urgently seeks wisdom traditions that can guide us toward sustainable relationships with the natural world. While the Buddha's teachings twenty-five centuries ago did not address environmental issues as we understand them today, the Pali Canon contains profound insights about humanity's proper relationship with nature that remain remarkably relevant for contemporary environmental ethics.¹

As Buddhist scholar Lily de Silva observes, "Buddhism strictly limits itself to the delineation of a way of life designed to eradicate human suffering. The Buddha refused to answer questions which did not directly or indirectly bear on the central problem of human suffering and its ending."² Yet within this framework focused on liberation from suffering, we find teachings that illuminate a path toward environmental harmony—one that recognizes the intimate connection between human moral conduct and the health of the natural world.

This exploration of Buddhist environmental wisdom draws directly from the Pali Canon to demonstrate how ancient teachings on interdependence, moderation, and compassionate action provide a foundation for contemporary environmental stewardship. Rather than imposing modern ecological concepts onto ancient texts, we will examine what the original Buddhist teachings actually say about nature, human responsibility, and the ethical principles that govern our relationship with the environment.

The Buddha and Nature: A Life Lived in Natural Settings

The Buddha's own life exemplifies a deep connection with natural environments. As recorded in the Pali texts, significant moments in the Buddha's journey occurred in natural settings: "He was born in a park at the foot of a tree in Kapilavatthu; he attained Enlightenment in the open air at the foot of the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya; he inaugurated his missionary activity in the open air in the sala grove of the Malas in Pava."³

This pattern was intentional rather than coincidental. The Buddha consistently advised his disciples "to resort to natural habitats such as forest groves and glades. There, undisturbed by human activity, they could zealously engage themselves in meditation."⁴ This preference for natural settings reflected not merely practical considerations but a recognition that natural environments support the spiritual development that leads to wisdom and compassion.

The early Buddhist monastic community maintained this connection with nature. Buddhist monastics spent extensive time in forests, recognizing these environments as ideal for contemplative practice.⁵ This tradition continues today in communities like the Thai Forest Tradition, where monks and nuns live in direct relationship with natural ecosystems, understanding firsthand the interdependence between human wellbeing and environmental health.

The Buddha and his disciples also "regarded natural beauty as a source of great joy and aesthetic satisfaction."⁶ This appreciation for nature's inherent beauty reflects an understanding that humans are not separate from nature but intimately connected with it. Such recognition forms the foundation for environmental ethics based on reverence rather than exploitation.

Foundational Principles: The Five Natural Laws (Pañca Niyamadhamma)

One of the most significant contributions of Buddhist philosophy to environmental understanding is the framework of the Five Natural Laws (pañca niyamadhamma). According to this teaching found in the Pali commentaries but rooted in canonical principles, "in the cosmos there are five natural laws or forces at work, namely utuniyama (lit. 'season-law'), bijaniyama (lit. 'seed-law'), cittaniyama, kammaniyama, and dhammaniyama. They can be translated as physical laws, biological laws, psychological laws, moral laws, and causal laws, respectively."⁷

This framework reveals profound insight: "While the first four laws operate within their respective spheres, the last-mentioned law of causality operates within each of them as well as among them. This means that the physical environment of any given area conditions the growth and development of its biological component" and vice versa.⁸ In other words, environmental conditions directly influence biological systems, which affect psychological states, which in turn influence moral behavior—and moral behavior affects environmental conditions.

This teaching anticipates modern ecological understanding while providing a uniquely Buddhist perspective: human moral conduct and environmental health are not separate concerns but different aspects of a single interconnected reality. The quality of our environment reflects the quality of our collective moral behavior, while environmental conditions influence our capacity for ethical conduct.

Several suttas in the Pali Canon illustrate this principle. The Cakkavattisihanada Sutta of the Digha Nikaya describes how moral degeneration leads to environmental deterioration: "Gradually man's health will deteriorate so much that life expectancy will diminish until at last the average human life-span is reduced to ten years and marriageable age to five years. At that time all delicacies such as ghee, butter, honey, etc. will have disappeared from the earth."⁹

Similarly, the Anguttara Nikaya explains that "when profligate lust, wanton greed, and wrong values grip the heart of man and immorality becomes widespread in society, timely rain does not fall. When timely rain does not fall crops get adversely affected with various kinds of pests and plant diseases. Through lack of nourishing food the human mortality rate rises."¹⁰

These passages should not be read as primitive superstition but as profound insight into the relationship between human behavior and environmental consequences. Contemporary environmental science confirms that human moral choices—about consumption, production, and resource use—directly determine environmental outcomes.

The Aggañña Sutta: Origins and Environmental Degradation

The Aggañña Sutta provides Buddhism's most detailed account of environmental degradation caused by human moral decline. This sutta describes primordial beings who were originally "self-luminous, subsisted on joy, and traversed the skies."¹¹ However, "the appearance of greed in primordial beings caused a subsequent loss of radiance and a loss of the ability to subsist on joy and move through the sky."¹²

The text continues: "At first, the Earth was covered with a flavorsome, fragrant substance similar to butter; however, when beings began partaking more and more greedily of this substance, their subtle bodies became more and more coarse, while the flavorsome substance began diminishing."¹³ As greed increased, "differences in form appeared. Some were beautiful while others were not, causing conceit to manifest, causing the beautiful ones to look down on the others, and because of such moral blemishes, the delicious edible earth-substance disappeared completely."¹⁴

This narrative provides a Buddhist understanding of environmental degradation fundamentally different from mechanistic explanations. Environmental problems arise not merely from technical or economic factors but from the mental states that drive human behavior: greed (lobha), hatred (dosa), and delusion (moha). As these unwholesome mental states increase, they manifest as exploitative behavior toward both other beings and the natural environment.

The Aggañña Sutta suggests that environmental restoration requires not only external changes but transformation of the mental states that generate destructive behavior. This insight remains profoundly relevant: contemporary environmental challenges reflect not merely technical problems but the spiritual and ethical dimensions of human consciousness.

Pollution and Purity: Environmental Ethics in the Vinaya

The Vinaya Pitaka, containing the monastic code of conduct, includes specific environmental protections that reveal early Buddhist environmental consciousness. "Several Vinaya rules prohibit monks from polluting green grass and water with saliva, urine, and feces. These were the common agents of pollution known during the Buddha's day and rules were promulgated against causing such pollution."¹⁵

These regulations reflect more than practical hygiene concerns. "Cleanliness was highly commended by the Buddhists both in the person and in the environment. They were much concerned about keeping water clean, be it in the river, pond, or well. These sources of water were for public use and each individual had to use them with proper public-spirited caution so that others after him could use them with the same degree of cleanliness."¹⁶

The Vinaya rules regarding plant life demonstrate similar environmental sensitivity. Monks are prohibited from unnecessarily damaging vegetation, reflecting recognition that plant life has intrinsic value deserving respect. "Rules regarding the cleanliness of green grass were prompted by ethical and aesthetic considerations."¹⁷

These Vinaya provisions establish fundamental principles for environmental ethics:

1. Shared Responsibility: Natural resources like water are common heritage requiring protection for future users
2. Preventive Ethics: Environmental protection requires proactive care rather than reactive cleanup
3. Intrinsic Value: Natural elements like plants deserve respect independent of human utility
4. Integrated Purity: Personal spiritual development and environmental cleanliness are interconnected

Contemporary environmental law could benefit from these principles, particularly the understanding that environmental protection flows from ethical obligation rather than merely regulatory compliance.

The Middle Way and Environmental Moderation

The Buddha's teaching of the Middle Way provides essential guidance for environmental ethics. This principle advocates avoiding extremes of both indulgence and deprivation, seeking instead the moderate path that leads to genuine wellbeing. Applied to environmental issues, the Middle Way suggests sustainable lifestyles that meet genuine human needs without excessive consumption or environmental harm.

The Pali Canon repeatedly emphasizes contentment (santuṭṭhi) as a fundamental virtue. As the Dhammapada teaches: "He who is satisfied with what he has, who is full of joy, is rich" (Dh. v. 204).¹⁸ This teaching directly addresses contemporary environmental challenges rooted in consumerism and endless growth paradigms.

The Buddha's environmental approach can be summarized in the teaching that "each man has to order his life on normal principles, exercise self-control in the enjoyment of the senses, discharge his duties in his various social roles, and conduct himself with wisdom and self-awareness in all activities. It is only when each man adopts a simple moderate lifestyle that mankind as a whole will stop polluting the environment."¹⁹

This individual-focused approach might initially seem inadequate for addressing global environmental challenges. However, Buddhist teaching recognizes that collective transformation emerges from individual transformation. Environmental destruction reflects the aggregate effect of countless individual choices driven by greed, hatred, and delusion. Environmental healing requires transformation of these underlying mental states through individual spiritual development.

The Buddhist approach does not dismiss structural and systemic changes but recognizes that sustainable systems must be supported by individuals capable of moderate, mindful behavior. Technical solutions alone cannot address environmental problems rooted in human consciousness.

The Bee and Flower: A Model for Sustainable Living

Perhaps the most beautiful and practical environmental teaching in Buddhist literature appears in the analogy of the bee and flower. According to this teaching, humans should "utilize nature in the same way as a bee collects pollen from the flower, neither polluting its beauty nor depleting its fragrance. Just as the bee manufactures honey out of pollen, so man should be able to find happiness and fulfillment in life without harming the natural world in which he lives."²⁰

This metaphor provides a complete model for sustainable human-environment relationships:

Mutual Benefit: The bee-flower relationship demonstrates mutualistic interaction where both organisms benefit. The bee obtains nectar while pollinating flowers, contributing to plant reproduction. Similarly, humans can meet our needs while contributing positively to natural systems through regenerative rather than extractive practices.

Non-Exploitation: The bee takes only what it needs without damaging the flower's beauty or depleting its essence. This principle challenges economic systems based on maximum extraction and suggests instead taking only what is necessary while preserving the source's integrity and regenerative capacity.

Value Creation: The bee transforms pollen into honey, creating something valuable while supporting natural processes. Humans likewise can create genuine value—art, knowledge, spiritual development, community—while enhancing rather than degrading natural systems.

Aesthetic Appreciation: The bee's activity preserves the flower's beauty, reflecting understanding that human activities should maintain rather than destroy natural beauty. This aesthetic dimension of environmental ethics recognizes that beauty itself has value worthy of protection.

This teaching offers profound guidance for contemporary environmental challenges. Rather than viewing humans as inherently destructive to nature, it envisions human activity that enhances natural systems while meeting genuine human needs. Such vision requires transformation from extractive to regenerative mindsets.

Interdependence: The Doctrine of Dependent Origination

The Buddhist teaching of dependent origination (paticcasamuppada) provides the philosophical foundation for environmental ethics. This doctrine, articulated in suttas like the Kaccayanagotta Sutta, reveals that all phenomena arise through interconnected webs of causation rather than independent self-existence.²¹

Applied to environmental contexts, dependent origination demonstrates that human wellbeing and environmental health are not separate concerns but different aspects of a single interdependent reality. Environmental degradation affects human physical and mental health, economic stability, and spiritual development. Conversely, human psychological states, social structures, and economic systems directly influence environmental conditions.

The Samyutta Nikaya expresses this principle: "This existing, that exists; this arising, that arises. This not existing, that does not exist; this ceasing, that ceases."²² This teaching reveals that environmental protection and human flourishing are mutually dependent rather than competing concerns.

Dependent origination also reveals the illusory nature of the human-nature dualism that underlies much environmental destruction. The sense of being separate from nature reflects the delusion (moha) that Buddhist practice seeks to overcome. As we recognize our fundamental interdependence with natural systems, exploitation naturally gives way to stewardship.

This teaching suggests that environmental ethics rooted in utilitarian calculations or external regulations, while useful, remain incomplete without recognition of fundamental interdependence. Deep environmental healing requires spiritual understanding that dissolves the sense of separation from nature.

Compassion and Universal Love: Extending Loving-kindness to All Life

Buddhist environmental ethics finds its emotional foundation in the cultivation of loving-kindness (metta) and compassion (karuna) toward all forms of life. The Karaniyametta Sutta teaches the extension of loving-kindness without limit: "May all beings be happy and secure; may they be happy-minded. Whatever living beings there are—weak or strong, long, large, medium, short, small, or big, seen or unseen, dwelling far or near, born or coming-to-birth—may all beings be happy-minded!"²³

This universal compassion naturally extends to environmental protection. As we recognize the interconnectedness of all life and cultivate genuine care for the welfare of all beings, environmental destruction becomes impossible. How can we pollute waters that sustain countless beings? How can we destroy forests that provide homes for innumerable creatures?

The first precept against killing (panatipata veramani) establishes the foundation for this environmental compassion. While traditionally interpreted as avoiding direct killing of sentient beings, environmental applications recognize that habitat destruction and pollution cause widespread death and suffering among countless creatures.

Contemporary Buddhist environmental teacher Thich Nhat Hanh expresses this understanding: "We humans think we are smart, but an orchid knows how to produce noble, symmetrical flowers, and a snail knows how to make a beautiful, well-proportioned shell. We should bow deeply before the orchid and the snail and join our palms reverently before the monarch butterfly and the magnolia tree."²⁴

This reverent attitude toward all life forms provides the emotional and spiritual foundation for environmental protection based on love rather than fear, appreciation rather than calculation.

Mindfulness and Environmental Awareness

The practice of mindfulness (sati) as taught in the Satipatthana Sutta provides essential tools for environmental awareness and action.²⁵ Mindfulness involves clear awareness of present-moment experience, including our relationship with natural environments and the consequences of our actions.

Environmental mindfulness includes:

Awareness of Consumption: Mindful attention to what we consume—food, energy, materials—and the environmental impacts of our consumption choices. This awareness naturally leads to more sustainable consumption patterns rooted in genuine need rather than compulsive desire.

Connection with Natural Cycles: Mindful observation of seasonal changes, weather patterns, and natural rhythms helps restore awareness of our embeddedness in natural systems. This connection counters the urban alienation that enables environmental destruction.

Recognition of Interdependence: Mindful investigation reveals the countless conditions supporting each moment of experience—air, water, food, shelter, the work of countless beings. This recognition generates gratitude and responsibility.

Awareness of Mental States: Mindful observation of greed, hatred, and delusion as they arise helps us recognize the mental roots of environmental problems and transform them through wise attention.

The Mahāparinibbāna Sutta records the Buddha's appreciation for natural beauty: "How delightful is Vesali, how delightful the Udena shrine, how delightful the Gotamaka shrine, how delightful the Sattamba shrine, how delightful the Bahuputta shrine, how delightful the Sarandada shrine!"²⁶ This aesthetic appreciation, cultivated through mindfulness, naturally generates environmental protection.

Right Livelihood and Environmental Economics

The Noble Eightfold Path includes Right Livelihood (samma ajiva) as an essential component of ethical development. The Pali Canon identifies several occupations as incompatible with Right Livelihood, including "trading in weapons, trading in living beings, trading in meat, trading in intoxicants, and trading in poisons."²⁷

Contemporary environmental applications of Right Livelihood would examine whether various economic activities support or undermine environmental health and human wellbeing. Occupations that cause significant environmental harm—whether through pollution, habitat destruction, or resource depletion—require ethical evaluation according to Buddhist principles.

The Buddha's teaching on Right Livelihood emphasizes that our means of earning income affects our spiritual development. Work that requires environmental destruction generates negative karma that impacts both individual and collective wellbeing. Conversely, work that supports environmental health and regeneration creates positive karma that benefits all beings.

This teaching suggests developing economic systems that align with Buddhist environmental principles: moderation rather than endless growth, regeneration rather than extraction, cooperation rather than competition, and wisdom rather than greed as driving forces.

Silence and Sound: Buddhist Approaches to Noise Pollution

While modern noise pollution was unknown in the Buddha's time, the Pali Canon reveals Buddhist appreciation for natural silence and concern about noise as a spiritual and social problem. "Even Buddhist laymen were reputed to have appreciated quietude and silence. Pañcangika Thapati can be cited as a conspicuous example."²⁸

The texts record complaints about urban noise: "Once Mahanama the Sakyan complained to the Buddha that he is disturbed by the hustle of the busy city of Kapilavatthu. He explained that he experiences calm serenity when he visits the Buddha in the quiet salubrious surroundings of the monastery and his peace of mind gets disturbed when he goes to the city."²⁹

These passages reveal Buddhist understanding that environmental quality includes not only clean air and water but also acoustic environments that support mental clarity and spiritual development. "Quietude is much appreciated as spiritually rewarding, while noise condemned as a personal and social nuisance."³⁰

Contemporary environmental applications recognize that noise pollution affects human health, wildlife behavior, and ecosystem functioning. Buddhist environmental ethics would advocate for acoustic environments that support the contemplative awareness necessary for wisdom and compassion.

Contemporary Applications: Buddhist Environmental Practice

How can these ancient teachings guide contemporary environmental practice? Several applications emerge from this examination of the Pali Canon:

Personal Practice

Mindful Consumption: Following the Middle Way in consumption choices, taking only what is needed while maintaining gratitude for what is received. This includes mindful eating, energy use, transportation choices, and material possessions.

Meditation in Nature: Regular meditation practice in natural settings, following the Buddha's example and that of forest monastics. This direct connection with natural environments cultivates both spiritual development and environmental awareness.

Cultivating Contentment: Practicing contentment (santuṭṭhi) as an alternative to consumer culture's emphasis on endless acquisition. Contentment provides the inner foundation for sustainable lifestyles.

Environmental Precepts: Extending the traditional precepts to include environmental applications—avoiding activities that cause significant environmental harm, practicing generosity toward future generations through sustainable choices.

Community Applications

Dharma Study and Environmental Ethics: Study groups examining Pali Canon teachings on nature, interdependence, and environmental ethics. Such study helps Buddhist communities develop environmental understanding rooted in authentic Dharma rather than secular environmentalism.

Sustainable Sanghas: Buddhist communities implementing sustainable practices in their temples, centers, and retreats—renewable energy, organic gardening, waste reduction, water conservation—as expressions of Buddhist values.

Environmental Service: Organized environmental service projects as expressions of compassion and generosity—habitat restoration, pollution cleanup, environmental education—understood as spiritual practice.

Economic Alternatives: Developing economic models based on Buddhist principles—cooperative enterprises, gift economies, time banks, community-supported agriculture—that embody Right Livelihood on community scales.

Educational Dimensions

Environmental Dharma Teaching: Teachers incorporating environmental dimensions into traditional Dharma instruction, showing the connections between spiritual development and environmental responsibility.

Contemplative Ecology Programs: Retreat programs combining traditional meditation instruction with environmental awareness practices, following models developed in various Buddhist communities.

Children's Environmental Buddhist Education: Teaching children Buddhist environmental principles through stories, garden projects, nature meditation, and service activities.

Engagement with Environmental Movements

Buddhist Voice in Environmental Advocacy: Buddhist practitioners contributing distinctive perspectives to environmental movements—emphasis on inner transformation, interdependence, compassion, and long-term thinking.

Dialogue with Environmental Organizations: Buddhist communities partnering with environmental organizations while maintaining clarity about Buddhist principles and approaches.

Policy Applications: Contributing Buddhist insights about individual transformation, community cooperation, and sustainable economics to environmental policy discussions.

Challenges and Limitations

Applying ancient Buddhist teachings to contemporary environmental challenges involves several important limitations and challenges that deserve acknowledgment:

Textual Limitations

The Pali Canon was compiled in pre-industrial societies where environmental problems had completely different scales and characteristics than contemporary issues. "Environmental pollution is a problem of the modern age, unheard of and unsuspected during the time of the Buddha."³¹ This requires careful interpretation that distinguishes between timeless principles and historically specific applications.

Some environmental applications of Buddhist teachings risk reading modern ecological concepts into ancient texts rather than understanding what the texts actually teach. Responsible interpretation requires careful attention to original contexts and meanings while exploring their contemporary relevance.

Individual vs. Systemic Action

Buddhist environmental ethics emphasizes individual transformation as the foundation for collective change. While this provides essential insights about the spiritual and psychological dimensions of environmental challenges, it may inadequately address the structural and systemic changes required for effective environmental protection.

Contemporary environmental challenges require coordinated action at scales and speeds that purely individual approaches may not achieve. Buddhist environmental practice needs to integrate individual transformation with collective action and systemic change.

Cultural and Religious Boundaries

Buddhist environmental teachings emerged from specific cultural contexts and may not translate directly to contemporary multicultural societies. Environmental movements require cooperation across religious and cultural boundaries, requiring Buddhist practitioners to translate their insights into language and approaches accessible to diverse communities.

Additionally, some Buddhist environmental approaches may conflict with other valid approaches to environmental protection, requiring skillful dialogue and cooperation rather than competitive assertions of superiority.

Practical Effectiveness

While Buddhist environmental principles provide important wisdom about sustainable lifestyles and environmental ethics, their practical effectiveness for addressing urgent environmental challenges remains to be demonstrated. Buddhist communities need to develop concrete practices and measurable outcomes rather than merely philosophical positions.

Conclusion: The Path Forward

The Pali Canon offers profound wisdom for environmental ethics rooted in understanding of interdependence, moderation, and universal compassion. These teachings provide not merely intellectual concepts but practical guidance for developing sustainable relationships with the natural world based on spiritual transformation.

The Buddhist approach to environmental challenges recognizes that outer transformation requires inner transformation. Environmental healing depends not only on technical solutions and policy changes but on transforming the mental states—greed, hatred, and delusion—that generate environmental destruction. As individuals develop wisdom, compassion, and moderation, their actions naturally support rather than harm natural systems.

The bee and flower analogy remains perhaps the most beautiful and practical guidance for human environmental relationships: taking only what is needed while contributing positively to natural processes, creating genuine value while preserving beauty and regenerative capacity. This vision offers hope for human civilization that enhances rather than destroys the natural world.

Yet Buddhist environmental practice cannot remain merely individual. The interconnectedness revealed by dependent origination calls for collective action that addresses both personal transformation and systemic change. Buddhist communities have opportunities to demonstrate alternative ways of living that embody environmental wisdom while engaging constructively with broader environmental movements.

The urgency of contemporary environmental challenges requires what Buddhist teacher David Loy calls "a new form of spiritual practice" that integrates traditional spiritual development with environmental engagement.³² This integration honors the Buddha's focus on ending suffering by recognizing that environmental destruction causes immense suffering for countless beings across generations.

As Buddhist practitioner and environmental activist Stephanie Kaza observes, "The earth is calling us to wake up, to see the interconnectedness of all life, to act from wisdom and compassion rather than from greed and fear."³³ The Pali Canon provides essential resources for this awakening, offering wisdom that can guide humanity toward environmental harmony rooted in spiritual understanding.

The path forward requires neither romantic return to pre-modern ways of life nor uncritical adoption of secular environmentalism, but rather creative integration of ancient wisdom with contemporary knowledge in service of all beings. As we face environmental challenges unprecedented in human history, the Buddha's teaching of the Middle Way offers guidance for sustainable approaches that avoid both environmental destruction and human deprivation.

May all beings benefit from this exploration of Buddhist environmental wisdom. May we develop the wisdom to live like bees among flowers—taking only what we need while contributing to the flourishing of the whole web of life. May our individual and collective actions support the healing of our wounded planet and the wellbeing of all beings across countless generations.

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Bibliography

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Aṅguttara Nikāya. Edited by Richard Morris and Edmund Hardy. 5 vols. London: Pali Text Society, 1885-1900.

Dhammapada. Edited by Oskar von Hinüber and K.R. Norman. London: Pali Text Society, 1994.

Dīgha Nikāya. Edited by T.W. Rhys Davids and J.E. Carpenter. 3 vols. London: Pali Text Society, 1890-1911.

Majjhima Nikāya. Edited by V. Trenckner and R. Chalmers. 3 vols. London: Pali Text Society, 1888-1899.

Saṃyutta Nikāya. Edited by Léon Feer. 5 vols. London: Pali Text Society, 1884-1898.

Sutta Nipāta. Edited by Dines Andersen and Helmer Smith. London: Pali Text Society, 1913.

Vinaya Piṭaka. Edited by Hermann Oldenberg. 5 vols. London: Pali Text Society, 1879-1883.

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Footnotes

¹ Lily de Silva, "The Buddhist Attitude Towards Nature," Access to Insight, accessed August 25, 2025, https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/desilva/attitude.html.

² Ibid.

³ Ibid.

⁴ "Buddhist Environmental Ethics," Sunnataram Forest Monastery, accessed August 25, 2025, https://www.sunnataram.org/dhamma-teachings/buddhist-environmental-ethics.

⁵ "Buddhist ethics," Wikipedia, last modified January 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_ethics.

⁶ De Silva, "The Buddhist Attitude Towards Nature."

⁷ Ibid.

⁸ Ibid.

⁹ Ibid.

¹⁰ Ibid.

¹¹ David Dale Holmes, "Buddhism and Nature, and the Relationship with Human Suffering," Buddhistdoor Global, June 14, 2021, https://www.buddhistdoor.net/features/buddhism-and-nature-and-the-relationship-with-human-suffering/.

¹² Ibid.

¹³ Ibid.

¹⁴ Ibid.

¹⁵ De Silva, "The Buddhist Attitude Towards Nature."

¹⁶ Ibid.

¹⁷ Ibid.

¹⁸ "The Buddhist Perspective on Environment, Ecology, and Nature," Dhamma USA, September 2024, https://www.dhammausa.com/2024/09/the-buddhist-perspective-on-environment.html.

¹⁹ De Silva, "The Buddhist Attitude Towards Nature."

²⁰ Ibid.

²¹ Saṃyutta Nikāya 2.16-17.

²² Ibid., 12.61.

²³ Sutta Nipāta 1.8 (Karaniya Metta Sutta).

²⁴ Donald K. Swearer, "Principles and Poetry, Places and Stories: The Resources of Buddhist Ecology," American Academy of Arts and Sciences, December 20, 2018, https://www.amacad.org/publication/daedalus/principles-and-poetry-places-and-stories-resources-buddhist-ecology.

²⁵ Majjhima Nikāya 10 (Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta).

²⁶ Dīgha Nikāya 16 (Mahāparinibbāna Sutta).

²⁷ Aṅguttara Nikāya 5.177.

²⁸ De Silva, "The Buddhist Attitude Towards Nature."

²⁹ Ibid.

³⁰ Ibid.

³¹ Ibid.

³² David R. Loy, The Great Awakening: A Buddhist Social Theory (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2003).

³³ Stephanie Kaza, Green Buddhism: Practice and Compassionate Action in Uncertain Times (Boston: Shambhala, 2008).