Environmental Ethics: Thai Buddhist Perspectives

Donald SwearerM

Y remarks on Buddhist environmental ethics focus on three ofThailand’s most noted contemporary spokespersons and interpreters of Buddhadhamma: Buddhadasa Bhikkhu (1906–1993), P.A.
Payutto (1938–), and Sulak Sivaraksa (1933–).
BUDDHDADASA BHIKKHU:The Dhamma is Nature
The news media and television coverage confront us daily with theextent and complexity of the environmental crisis: global warming,
draught in Africa, the melting of the polar ice caps, rising sea levels,
erratic temperature change, increase in violent storms, ocean and waterpollution, and so on. For over 50 years science has made enormous
contributions to our understanding of many aspects of environmentalproblems. Without collaborative scientific research we would be
unaware of the nature of global warming, species extinction, or theeffects of pollution on health. However, despite our increasing
knowledge about the facts of environmental problems, they have notaltered the kind of human behavior that is exploiting nature nor have thefacts affected human habits of addictive consumption. Environmentalists
increasingly realize that science and public policy are not sufficient totransform human consciousness and behavior for a sustainable future.
Ethics, religion, and spirituality must be engaged to transform ourunderstanding, attitudes, and actions in regard to our patterns ofconsumption and care for the earth.
Buddhadasa’s identification of nature (thammachat) and the Dhamma
can contribute toward transforming our understanding, attitudes, andactions regarding the care of the earth. It was Buddhadasa’s perceptionof the liberating power of nature-as-dhamma that inspired him to found
Wat Suan Mokkh, his monastery in Chaiya, in southern Thailand, as acenter of teaching and practice. For Buddhadasa the natural surround49

50

environmental ethics: thai buddhist perspectives

ings of his forest monastery were nothing less than a medium forpersonal transformation:“Trees, rocks, sand, even dirt and insects can speak. This doesn’t mean,
as some people believe that they are spirits (phi) or gods (thewada).
Rather, if we reside in nature near trees and rocks we’ll discover feelings and thoughts arising that are truly out of the ordinary. At first we’ll
feel a sense of peace and quiet (sangopyen) which may eventually movebeyond that feeling to a transcendence of self. The deep sense of calmthat nature provides through separation (wiwek) from the troubles andanxieties which plague us in the day-to-day world serves to protect heartand mind. Indeed, the lessons nature teaches us lead to a new birth
beyond the suffering (qwam thuk) that results from attachment to self.
Trees and rocks, then, can talk to us. They help us understand what itmeans to cool down from the heat of our confusion, despair, anxiety,and suffering.”(Siang Takong Jak Thammachat)

Destruction of Nature is Destruction of the Dhamma and Our
Humanity
For Buddhadasa, it is only by being in nature that the trees, rocks, earth,sand, animals, birds, and insects can teach us the lesson of selfforgetting. In what I call, Buddhadasa’s “spiritual biocentricism,” being
attuned to the lessons of nature is being at one with the Dhamma. The
destruction of nature, then, implies the destruction of the Dhamma, andthe destruction of the Dhamma is the destruction of our humanity.
Toward the end of his life the degredation of the natural environment
became a matter of great concern for Buddhadasa. One of his talks at
Wat Suan Mokkh in 1990, three years before his death, was titled,“Buddhists and the Care of Nature” [Buddhasasanik Kap Kan Anurak
Thammachat]. This essay provides insight into both the biocentric andethical dimensions of his environmental concern. The essay might beread as Buddhadasa’s plea for nature conservation and sustainability.
From an environmental perspective, I render the Thai term, anurak, as“conservation.” Many Thai monks are involved in efforts to stop theexploitation of forests in their districts and provinces. They have beencalled “forest conservation monks” (phra anurak pa). Wat Suan Mokkh
exemplifies Buddhadasa’s dedication to preserving a natural environment. Anurak, as embodied in his life and work, moreover, conveys arich, nuanced meaning close to its Pali roots: to be imbued with theenvironmental ethics: thai buddhist perspectives

51

quality of protecting, sheltering, and caring for. By the term, anurak,
Buddhadasa intends this deeper, dhammic sense of anu-rakkha, anintrinsic, active “caring for” that issues forth from the very nature of ourbeing. Caring, then, is the active expression of our fundamental empathy
for all creatures and the earth that we discover by hearing the Dhamma
in the “voices of nature.” One cares for the forest because one
empathizes with the forest just as one cares for people, including
oneself, because one has become empathetic. Anurak, the ability to be ina state of empathy, is fundamentally linked to non-attachment or liberation from preoccupation with self which is at the very core of
Buddhadasa’s thought. Caring (anurak) in the Dhammic sense, therefore, is the active expression of our empathetic identification with all life
forms—sentient and non-sentient, human beings, and nature.

P.A. PAYUTTO (Phra Bhramagunabhorn):
Buddhism and the Forest
Acknowledged to be one of the leading scholar-monks in contemporary
Thailand, P. A. Payutto was ordained at the age of eleven in 1950. Only
one of four novice monks to pass the ninth and highest level of thesangha Pali curriculum since its inception, he received higher ordinationand the monastic name, Phra Maha Prayudh Payutto in 1961. Hegraduated with first class honors from Mahachulalongkorn Buddhist
University, and later served as its deputy secretary-general as well as
abbot of Phra Phirain monastery in Bangkok. His major contributions tothe scholarly study of Buddhism include two Pali dictionaries, editorial
leadership in the newest edition of the Thai Pali canon and the Mahidol
University CD-ROM Pali canon, and his magnum opus treatise,
Buddhadhamma: Natural Laws and Values for Life. In addition, he has
written extensively on a variety of subjects including Buddhist
education, Buddhism and science, Buddhist economics, Buddhism andthe environment, as well as Buddhist doctrinal topics. For his outstanding contribution to Buddhist scholarship and education, he has received
several honorary doctorates and in 1994 was awarded the UNESCO
Peace Education Prize.
In the early 1990s Payutto addressed the question of the relationshipbetween the Buddhist sangha and forests in reaction to what he saw as
an excessively political response by some monks to extensive deforestation in northern Thailand and the encroachment by government andprivate enterprise on traditional village forest management in the52

environmental ethics: thai buddhist perspectives

northeast. In these talks, later printed as essays, Payutto makes a casefor forest preservation on the grounds of the example of the life andteachings of the Buddha, the traditions of early Buddhist monastic
practice, and the development of Buddhism in Thai history. He bases hisposition on the doctrinal view that overcoming mental defilements(kilesa), one of the central teachings of Theravada Buddhism, requires
separation (viveka) from the confusions, anxieties, and stresses of thegetting-and-spending world that typify much of our lives; and, thatduring the time of the Buddha the forest was the preferred environment
for the solitude required for achieving this state of mind. From a historical perspective, he argues that beginning with the thirteenth century
Thai kingdoms, forest monasteries have been essential to the organization and practice of Buddhism in Thailand. Consequently, for the government not to support forest monasteries would contradict a practice thathas defined Thai Buddhism from its early beginnings.
Unlike some so-called “Green Buddhists” who consider such philosophical concepts as dependent co-arising (paticca samuppada) anduniversal Buddha nature (dhammadhatu) to provide a biocentric
ecological argument for the preservation and conservation of nature,
Payutto supports a more human centered position that values the forest,
or nature more broadly construed, as the ideal venue for the pursuit of
Buddhist spiritual goals and moral values. He offers both doctrinal andhistorical justifications for his position, arguing that from a Buddhist
perspective forest preservation rests on a religious rather than an ecological basis. It is a position that supports conservation on the grounds thanan unspoiled natural environment best promotes Buddhist spirituality
and has always held a prominent place within monastic traditions. At thesame time, however, his position problematizes the activist role of Thaiconservation monks who have politicized the role of the sangha in Thai
society. Implied in Payutto’s position that relies upon a religious andhistorical justification for conserving natural environments like forests,
is a critique of politically activist monks who, in his opinion, jeopardize
the spiritual goal of Buddhist practice.

The Right view of Nature and of Human Beings
In contrast to the close interrelationship between the human communityand nature in the Buddhist tradition, Payutto ascribes modern global
environmental destruction to the dominant Western worldview flawed,
in his view, by three erroneous beliefs: humankind is separated fromnature, human beings are masters of nature, and that happiness resultsenvironmental ethics: thai buddhist perspectives

53

from the acquisition of material goods. For Payutto conservation andpreservation of the natural environment cannot be achieved simply bymore astute public policy and better enforcement of conservation laws,
but demand a paradigm shift, an ethical transformation not only of theprevailing attitude toward nature, but also toward our fellow humanbeings and our personal life objective. Advancing the Buddhist position
that right view leads to right action, Payutto contends that until the rightview prevails and human beings are seen as part of nature, theworldwide trend toward environmental degradation will continue.
SULAK SIVARAKSA:Engaged Buddhist Activist and Environmentalist
Sulak Sivaraksa, Thailand’s prominent lay Buddhist social activist andauthor, is widely known as a major figure in the international engaged
Buddhist movement. In 1961, upon his return to Thailand from England
where he completed university and law degrees, he became a publisher,
university lecturer, and founding editor of the Social Science Review,
Thailand’s leading intellectual journal until 1976 when it was suppressed by the government. In 1971 he organized the Komol KeemthongFoundation whose purpose was to inspire young Thais to dedicate theirlives to social justice and the common good rather than the sole pursuitof their own personal gain. The Foundation was the first of many nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) S. Sivaraksa has inaugurated.
Prominent among them are the Thai Inter-religious Commission forDevelopment (TICD) and the International Network of Engaged
Buddhists (INEB), (Institute of Peace, Democratic Participation, andJustice), and the Spirit in Education Movement. Through these and otherorganizations and networks, S. Sivaraksa has devoted his life to thepursuit of economic and educational reform, social and environmental
justice, human and civil rights. S. Sivaraksa has authored hundreds ofessays and articles in Thai and several collections of essays in English,
most notable among them are: Seeds of Peace: A Buddhist Vision for
Renewing Society, A Socially Engaged Buddhism, Religion and Development, and Siamese Resurgence. A Thai Buddhist Voice on Asia and aWorld of Change. An abbreviated version of his autobiography in Thai
has been published under the title, Loyalty Demands Dissent: Autobiography of an Engaged Buddhist.		
In numerous writings S. Sivaraksa has spoken forcefully on the issue
of environmental destruction, especially in his own country. Equally

54

environmental ethics: thai buddhist perspectives

important are organizations and movements he has created to promote
environmental preservation and environmental justice. Most of theNGOs founded by S. Sivaraksa include an environmental agenda but forone, in particular, the preservation of the natural environment isuppermost. Sekhiyadhamma (Students of the Dhamma), is a network ofBuddhist monks working in their communities to preserve localenvironments, principally forests that are essential to village economies.
Their efforts are both educational, teaching villagers better ways toconserve natural resources, as well as political, protecting local social,
cultural, and natural environments from the encroachment of commercial, industrial, and urban development. On the outskirts of Bangkok, S.
Sivaraksa has established, a conference center, the Wongsanit Ashram,
to exemplify the ideal of simple living close to nature or, as he fondly
quotes Gandhi, “living simply so that others may simply live.” TheAshram serves as a center for the practice of a mindful, nonconsumerist, other-regarding way of life.

He Fights against the Violence of Free Market Capitalism
Like his spiritual mentor, Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, S. Sivaraksa grounds
his environmental ethic on a holistic understanding of the Buddhist
principle of interdependent co-arising conducive to a deep respect fornature. This knowledge of “inter-becoming,” a term he borrows fromThich Nhat Hanh, is achieved through the development of mindful
awareness and leads naturally to an empathetic identification with andcompassionate action toward all life forms. On this foundation S.
Sivaraksa builds a guide for compassionate action using traditional
Buddhist teachings—the Four Sublime Abodes (love, compassion,sympathetic joy, equanimity), the four Bases of Sympathy (generosity,kindly speech, life of service, impartiality), the five precepts (sila). For
example, he applies the first precept against killing to the structural
violence engendered against the poor and the natural environment byglobal corporate power.
S. Sivaraksa brings to his environmental agenda a sharp critique ofgovernmental and commercial exploitation of nature at both global andThai national levels. Applying the principle that power corrupts andabsolute power corrupts absolutely, he believes that the global economic
structures of free market capitalism facilitate the concentration of wealthand power at the expense of the poor and the environment, a scenariothat he characterizes as “structural violence.” Free market capitalism
also creates a culture of consumption driven by greed, selfishness, andenvironmental ethics: thai buddhist perspectives

55

acquisitiveness rather than promoting the qualities of simplicity,responsibility, and care that are essential to the preservation andconservation of nature. He finds in the culture of consumerism theillusion of autonomous, individualized selves undermining both humancommunity and the mindful-awareness of the interdependence of humanbeings and nature.
S. Sivaraksa idealizes the rural Thai environment of relatively small
self-sustaining communities living in harmony with the naturalenvironment, not in a naïve, antique sense but as a practical example ofa more humane, caring, and harmonious society. Rather thanunrealistically advocating a return to a pre-modern, less complex era, heforges alliances and networks among people from many walks of life—
academics, laborers, farmers, activists, civil servants, and even thebusiness community—dedicated to the building of a more democratic,egalitarian, inclusive, and compassionate society. In recent years he has
challenged numerous government and private projects that havedislocated villages or undermined traditional ways of life and thecommunities that support them. These projects include dozens of damsconstructed without prior consultation with local populations geared
mainly toward making abundant water supplies for industries at theexpense of small-scale agriculture; the destruction of local forests innorth and northeastern Thailand for the promotion of commercial
enterprises, especially wood pulp eucalyptus plantations; and land loss
around and the subsequent pollution of Songkhla Lake, Thailand’s
largest inland body of water.
S. Sivaraksa’s Buddhist environmental philosophy owes a special debt
to the thought of Buddhadasa Bhikkhu and Thich Nhat Hanh. Yet, incontrast to their more reflective and contemplative styles, heaggressively fights in the trenches for the cause of human andenvironmental justice. On March 6, 1998, he was arrested during a sit-in
protest against the construction of the Burma-Thailand Yadana pipelinein Kanjanaburi province, south Thailand. Typical of S. Sivaraksa’s styleas an engaged Buddhist, he was putting his life on the line to protest
both human rights abuses and the pipeline’s potential for ecologicaldamage.