The Spirit of Environmental Preservation in the Buddhist
Teachings and Present-day Thai Life
Pataraporn Sirikanchana

1. IntroductionM

ost people today have become more aware of environmental
problems and responsibility because they themselves are facing
environmental crises and disasters. Modernization with its human avarice and irresponsibility is more and more harmful to our environmentand quality of life. All kinds of development are in vain without humandevelopment based on moral or ethical cultivation. Today, we are on thewrong track of development caused by lack of education, right motives,and right views. We certainly need a sustainable development to cure
our ailing society.
Environmental concern was probably formed around the late 1970s as
seen in several articles and books. P. A. Payutto whose present monastic
rank in Thailand is Somdet Phra Puttakosajarn explains that environmental problems today are 1) The destruction of natural resources and2) The increase of waste in the world. An example of the destruction ofnatural resources is forest devastation which leads to global warmingand drought. Moreover, the increase of waste in the world certainly
leads to problems of overloaded waste both on land and in the water.1
Since environmental problems nowadays are extremely critical, theUnited Nations Conference on Environment and Development met atRio de Janeiro, Brazil, from June 3 to 14, 1992, in order to reaffirm theDeclaration of the United Nations Conference on the HumanEnvironment which had been adopted at Stockholm, Sweden, on June16, 1972. The Declaration was endorsed by the 47th session of theUnited Nations General Assembly on December 22, 1992. Some
Principles of the Declaration can be mentioned as following examples:
Principle 1: Human beings are at the center of concern for sustainabledevelopment. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature.2184

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Principle 9: States should cooperate to strengthen endogenous capacitybuilding for sustainable development by improving scientific understanding through exchanges of scientific and technological knowledge
and by enhancing the development, adaptation, diffusion and transfer oftechnologies, including new and innovative technologies.3
Principle 25: Peace, development and environmental protection areinterdependent and indivisible.4

After the Rio Declaration (1992) environmental ethics began to flourish in most universities in the United States in which books and articles
on it appear almost weekly today. The Rio Declaration supported theEarth Charter centrally concerned with the transition to sustainable waysof living and sustainable human development. The Earth Charter values
sustainable ways of living and sustainable human development. It calls
for respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity,social and economic justice, democracy, nonviolence, and peace.
Sustainable development is a kind of economic development necessarily regarding environmental and ecological conservation. It protects
our natural resources while reducing poverty. It is thus emphasized in
the Earth Charter which reminds us that our environmental, economic,social, political, and spiritual problems are interdependent. The Earth
Charter was finally approved by the Earth Charter Commission at
UNESCO in Paris in 2000.
Our contemporary hi-tech development has been proved wrong. It
turns against nature and is hazardous to life.

2. Environmental Concern Today
Human Life today is facing serious environmental crises unknown inancient days. We have to admit that we need to uplift our moral consciousness and learn to respect nature. Our defilements, i.e., greed,
hatred and delusion produce the fall of nature. We should consider
nature and all natural environments as contributive to human development. These attitudes pacify human aggressiveness toward nature andturn humans into friends and live in peace with the environment. As to
our economic life and usage of technology, we need to live a sufficient
life, i.e., to consume only what is needed and only as much as we reallyneed. We should avoid and abandon a prodigal life. Besides, we should
use science and technology only to serve our needs and do so with concern for our natural environment. Through these views and practices, we186

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are able to have a sustainable development, and can enjoy the benefits ofour environment to the fullest. In other words, environmental concern
today calls for more understanding and responsibility toward nature. We
need to change ourselves and adapt to the way of nature. World religions, such as Buddhism, always encourage followers to live according
to nature. Living against nature will lead to one’s downfall.
Many passages in the Buddhist Scriptures encourage environmental
concern and preservation of nature. For example, in the Vinaya of theTipitaka, monks are forbidden to cut down trees and plants because they
are considered a kind of living being. Generally, in most Buddhist countries, people live close to nature. They are farmers, animal keepers, andso on. They learn to live according to nature and benefit from their natural environments. In the A∫guttaranikåya II, 32, the Buddha teaches hisfollowers to choose a suitable environment to live, study and work inorder to finally attain good lives, prosperity, and peace.5
Buddhists are taught to attain the perfection of morality (s¥lasampadå) in order to know about an organized life-style and good
activities, work, and the environment which are all beneficial to personalgrowth. Through the Buddhist Scriptures, we thus learn to adopt thebasic level of morality, e.g., proper conduct in our relationship withsociety and nature.
Buddhist texts show a respect for non-human sentient beings and thenatural environment that support them and humans. For example, theBook of Vinaya (the Buddhist Discipline for Monks) of the Tipitaka (theBuddhist Scriptures) reveals a dialogue between King Udena andÓnanda, the Buddha’s personal attendant, to show Ónanda’s concern for
natural conservation as follows :Venerable Ónanda, what will you do with those old robes that are worn
thin?
Your majesty, we will make them into upper covering.
Venerable Ónanda, what will you do with those upper coverings that areold?
Your majesty, we will make them into mattress coverings.
Venerable Ónanda, what will you do with you do with those mattresscoverings that are old?
Your majesty, we will make them into ground coverings.
Venerable Ónanda, what will you do with those ground coverings thatare old?
Your majesty, we will make them into foot—wipers.
Venerable Ónanda, what will you do with those foot—wipers that arethe spirit of environmental preservation in thai buddhism

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old?
Your majesty, we will make them into dusters.
Venerable Ónanda, what will you do with those dusters that are old?
Your majesty, having torn them into shreds, having kneaded them withmud, we will smear a plaster—flooring.6

Having heard venerable Ónanda’s answers, King Udena was very
pleased and gave him 500 women cloths in addition to the 500 innerrobes his concubines had earlier given to the monk.
Buddhist knowledge and practice are crucial to environmental conservation and development. Buddhism encourages environmental ethics
through its confidence in human wisdom and efforts to overcome one’sown defilements. While western philosophy encourages human beings
to master the universe and other living beings, Buddhist philosophy supports the use of wisdom and compassion to overcome one’s own
defilements as well as to live for the sake of all beings according to thelaw of Nature. Instead of being trained to exploit nature and otherbeings, Buddhists are taught by Buddhist teachings to love nature andall natural beings in the world. The Buddhist Scriptures refer, for example, to the two enlightened disciples of the Buddha, Såriputta and MahåKassapa, who can find the beauty of nature which contributes to theirmental qualities:Såriputta:

Forests are delightful, where (most) folk find no delight.
Those without attachment will delight; they are notseekers after sensual pleasures.
Mahå-kassapa: With clear water and great boulders, frequented bymonkeys and deer, covered with moisture and moss,
those rocks delight me.7

Through the words of Såriputta and Mahå-kassapa, we learn that thenatural environment not only brings pleasure to ordinary onlookers but
also supports a spiritual practice. It is therefore worth it for us to protectit.

3. Environmental Preservation in the Buddhist Teachings
and Its Application in Thailand Today
The life and teaching of the Buddha as recorded in the Tipitaka (theBuddhist Scriptures) have well proved his environmental concern.
Throughout his life, he worked close to nature. He considered forests

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and wildernesses places of solitude and tranquility suitable for meditation and his search for enlightenment. Apart from forests andwildernesses, the Buddha and his disciples liked to stay in caves, under
big trees and under shelters provided by cliffs. Only when they wereinvited to stay in a city or near a city, would they reside in a building. It
should be noted that several precepts in the Buddhist discipline obviously express Buddhist environmental concerns. Monks have to dwell in
their residences during the rainy season. This is the period of the Buddhist rain retreat. In the Buddha’s time, his disciple monks wanderedfrom place to place in all seasons. They accidentally crushed green grass
and injured small animals in the field and thus, were blamed by villagers. The Buddha then prescribed a monastic rule for monks to be inresidence for three months of the rainy season.8Since environmental preservation can be achieved through sustainabledevelopment, we then should consider the Buddhist teaching on sustainable happiness which is described as follows:
1) Happiness of possessing one’s property which is the outcome of
one’s own effort and moral conduct.
2) Happiness of possessing one’s property for the sake of one’s own
self, one’s own family, the needy and the public welfare.
3) Happiness of freedom from debt.
4) Happiness of blameless conduct.9For Example, The King of Bhutan and His people are particularly
devout Buddhists. They live modest but sufficient lives. They prefer living with nature and in a natural environment to living among
materialism and modern technology. The Bhutanese aim to attain theideology of GNH (Gross National Happiness). Though Bhutan is considered a poor country with a low income and simple life style, thepeople are content with their Buddhist way of life.
In Thailand, Thai people learn to live according to nature and findhappiness in simple living through His Majesty (the late) King
Bhumibol Adulyadej’s New Theory for the Solution of Drought forFarmers. According to this Theory, each farmer who owns an average of
six acres per family should get the most benefit from the land by dividing it into four parts. The first part, about 30% of the land, is used forwater storage by digging a pond where fish are kept and water is used in
the dry season. The second part, 30% of the land, is used for growing
rice which yields food to the family during the whole year. The thirdpart, 30% of the land, is used for growing vegetable and fruit plants forthe spirit of environmental preservation in thai buddhism

189eating and selling. The fourth part which is 10% of the land is used forbuilding a house, raising animals and growing small plants.10 Throughthis management of land, farmers will be able to live sufficiently andovercome all difficulties throughout their lives.
The environmental concern, according to Buddhist teachings, is not
limited merely to trees, forests and lifeless beings. Love and compassion
toward animals are also emphasized by the Buddha in the Tipitaka as
follows:
Creatures without feet have my love,
And likewise those that have two feet,
And those that have four feet I love,
And those, too, that have many feet.11In Thailand, because people are mostly faithful Buddhists and generally love animals, they took active roles for the sake of animal protection
and preservation about ten years ago. For example, the National
Elephant Institute, Lampang Province under the Patronage of Her RoyalHighness (the late) Princess Galyani Vadhana Krom Luang Naradhiwas
Rajanagarindra was established when some authorities in Lompang
Province in Northern Thailand cooperated with the Forest Industry
Organization in returning elephants to the forest at Doi Pha Muang
Wildlife Sanctuary in Lampang. Since then, the staff members of theNational Elephant Institute have offered to take care of the released elephants in the Sanctuary.
Formerly, the National Elephant Institute was the only young
Elephant Training Center. It became the Thai Elephant Conservation
Center and upgraded to the National Elephant Institute under thePatronage of Her Royal Highness (the late) Princess Galyani Vadhana
Krom Luang Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra in C.E. 2002.
The National Elephant Institute is responsible for providing care forand protecting elephants. There is an elephant hospital with veterinarians in it. The Institute takes care of elephants free of charge. Besides,Her Majesty Queen Sirikit has initiated a mobile veterinarian project in
the Forest Industry Organization which is responsible for sending veterinarians to cure sick elephants and provide medical check-ups forelephants throughout the country.
The late King Bhumibol is the most outstanding example for his workin environmental preservation and development. He encouraged Thaipeople who worked in the fields to preserve natural resources and work
according to nature. He advised hill-tribe people in Thailand to grow190

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Vetiver grass in order to protect their mountainside fields from being
destroyed by floods. The Vetiver grass is good in conserving soil andwater since its root is very long and holds fast onto land. It can be used
as a natural wall in order to slow down the flow of water and thus keep
the soil wet enough for good planting. The King’s innovation of the useof Vetiver grass in plantations is well recognized by many international
leaders. He was praised for his natural conservation and protection ofnatural environments as well as his work for the decrease of global
warming. On February 28, 1993, the International Erosion Control
Association thus presented him the International Merit Award. In addition, the United Nations declared December 5 (the King’s Birthday) asWorld Soil Day and the Year 2013 as the International Year of Soils.12Conclusion
Many Thai Buddhists nowadays are beginning to become aware of thevalue of environmental preservation. The government and volunteers aretrying their best to save wild animals who can barely find their food in
the forests and roam about the edges of the forests near the villages. We
are a part of nature. We learn that if nature and our environment to bedeleted, both natural and social, are destroyed, we cannot live happily
and can hardly survive. Our environmental concern should not exist
merely in our generation but had better extend to the next generations
for the sake of the entire world.
Notes
P. A. Payutto, Karn Pattana Tee Yang Yeun [Sustainable Development] (Bangkok:Sahadhammic Press, B.E. 2541/C.E. 1998), pp. 31–46 (in Thai).
2
Louis P. Pojman, Comp. Environmental Ethics: Readings in Theory and Application(Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1998), p. 566.
3Ibid., p. 567.
4Ibid., p. 568.
5P. A. Payutto, A Constitution for Living, the Pali Canon: What a Buddhist Must
Know (Bangkok: Printing House of Thammasat University, B.E. 2551/C.E. 2008), p. 38.
6Cuhlavagga XI, 13–14: Vinaya II. 290–292, translated by G. A. Somaratne in Most
Venerable Phra Brahmapundit, Chief Editor, Common Buddhist Text: Guidance andInsight from the Buddha (Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya: Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya
University, 2017), pp. 490–491.
78Theragåthå 992 and 1070 translated by Peter Harvey in Ibid., p. 440. 	
Henry Clarke Warren, ed. and trans., Buddhism in Translations (New York: Atheneum,1974), pp. 414–417.
9P. A. Payutto, A Constitution for Living, the Pali Canon: What a Buddhist MustKnow, p. 44.
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10Pragas Wacharaporn. Phra Raja Panithan Nailuang [His Majesty the King’s Resolution] (Bangkok: Prapansarn Printing, B.E. 2542/C.E. 1999), pp. 205–207 (in Thai).
11
Culla-Vagga (v.6) in Henry Clarke Warren, ed. and trans., Buddhism in Translations,p. 303.
12
The National Identity Foundation, Royal Activities and International Cooperation(Bangkok: Rungsilp Press, B.E. 2558/C.E. 2015), pp. 100–104.

Author Biography
Pataraporn Sirikanchana is currently a professor emeritus of Thammasat Universityand associate fellow of the Royal Society of Thailand. She specializes in Philosophy andReligious Studies, especially in Buddhist Studies. Having got her Ph.D. in Religious
Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, she is engaged in teaching, writing andbeing a peer reviewer of many academic works in Philosophy and Buddhist Studies. Herbooks and articles in English include In Search of Thai Buddhism (2012), A Guide toBuddhist Monasteries and Meditation Centers in Thailand (2004), and Buddhism andGlobal Governance in Toward a Global Civilization? The Contribution of Religions(2001).