I read this article and found it very interesting, thought it might be something for you. The article is called Tibet vulnerable to climate change, says Karmapa and is located at https://tibet.net/2011/11/tibet-vulnerable-to-climate-change-says-karmapa/.
Dharamsala : Tibet is highly vulnerable to climate change and what happens there matters greatly to the rest of mainland Asia, the 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, who is the third most important Tibetan religious head, says in a yet-to-be-published write-up.
“It’s an unfortunate fact that the temperature of the Tibetan plateau is increasing faster than most other places on earth due to climate change. I know there will be severe consequences for Tibet’s vast grasslands, and it saddens my heart,” said the article titled “Walking the Path of Environmental Buddhism through Compassion and Emptiness”.
“Tibet is the birthplace for Asia’s great rivers: the Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Irrawaddy, Yangtze, and the Mekong. Tibet is sometimes called the Third Pole because it stores the most ice and water after the Arctic and Antarctic.
“If its water sources dry up or become contaminated, there will be fateful consequences for over a billion people. Because glacier melt is increasing as temperatures increase, both floods and water shortages will increase in the near future.”
“When I was four or five years old, there was a severe drought and the local spring in our camp began to dry up. Our community requested my father ask me to plant a sapling at the source of the spring… my love for nature and dedication to protect the environment sprouted from this seed.”
The Karmapa, who now resides in a monastery on the outskirts of this town from where the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, heads his government-in-exile, says during the last 100 years, over 95 percent of the world’s wild tigers have vanished.
Appealing to the followers of Tibetan Buddhism to go vegetarian and stop animal slaughter, he says: “The magnificent tiger has almost completely disappeared due to consumer demand for its skin and body parts. We are driving a species to extinction simply because we believe wearing its skin makes us look wealthy or that consuming tiger parts will make us healthier. Doing such a thing is essentially non-Buddhist and uncompassionate.”
Narrating his experience of going vegetarian, the monk said: “Although I had considered giving up eating meat for many years, I became a complete vegetarian only a few years ago. Somebody presented a short documentary that showed how animals suffer before and during the act of killing. Watching it, I could feel the fear felt by the animals. Like a thunderclap, I became aware that these living beings were suffering so greatly simply to satisfy my habitual preferences. Eating meat became intolerable for me at that moment, and so I stopped.”
According to the Karmapa’s official website, the invitation to contribute to the journal was extended to the Karmapa in recognition of his role as young religious leader who can not only influence and inspire others but who has also demonstrated his own commitment to take action on environmental issues.
The Karmapa, who fled Tibet and sought refuge in India in January 2000, is the spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu school, one of the four sects of Buddhism. He is considered the third most important Tibetan religious head after the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama.
I read this article and found it very interesting, thought it might be something for you. The article is called India is living example of religious harmony: His Holiness the Dalai Lama and is located at https://tibet.net/2015/02/india-is-living-example-of-religious-harmony-his-holiness-the-dalai-lama/.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama walking from his hotel to visit a nearby Buddhist shrine during the second day of his three day visit to Sankisa, UP, India on January 31, 2015. Photo/Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL
SANKISA: When representatives of the organizers, the Youth Buddhist Society of India, came to see him this morning, His Holiness the Dalai Lama first of all thanked them for inviting him to this important Buddhist place. He said:
“Although the historical Buddhist site is in ruins, the Buddha’s teaching is not ruined. In fact many intelligent people today are taking an interest in it.”
A short drive up the road from his hotel brought His Holiness to where Shechen Monastery has built a chörten that they had requested him to consecrate. This is part of a project to fulfil the wish of the late Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche to build chörtens in the Buddhist pilgrimage places. His Holiness performed a brief ceremony and posed for a photograph with Khyentse Rinpoche’s present incarnation.
“This is the place where the Buddha descended to earth after teaching his mother. I came here once before and I’m here again at your invitation. The YBS has started a library here and I’d like to express my appreciation of all the hard work that has gone into it. In this place that is sacred to the Buddha I pray there may be more such development.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama paying his respects at a local Buddhist shrine near his hotel in Sankisa, UP, India on January 31, 2015. Photo/Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL
“We’ll begin with a recitation of the Mangala Sutta in Pali by local monks, followed by the Heart Sutra mantra. While the basis of the Pali tradition is the teaching of the Four Noble Truths, the 12 Links of Dependent Arising and the 37 Harmonies of Enlightenment, the basis of the Sanskrit tradition is the collection of Perfection of Wisdom Sutras.”
He said that Nagarjuna had commented extensively on the explicit meaning of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras, emptiness, and Maitreya had explained the implicit meaning, the path. This is why he likes to start a teaching by reciting the salutation verses from Nagarjuna’s ‘Fundamental Wisdom’ and Maitreya’s ‘Clear Ornament for Realization’.“I’m going to go through the Dhammapada,” he announced. “I’ll read it with some explanations here and there. The Pali text is the Dhammapada, but in Tibetan the equivalent is the Udanavarga, which was one of the six principal texts of the Kadampa masters. In addition to the Jatakamala, these included Shantideva’s ‘Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life’ and ‘Compendium of Training’, Asanga’s ‘Bodhisattva Grounds’ and Maitreya’s ‘Ornament of Sutras’.”He opened the text of the Dhammapada and read the first two verses as an introduction.
Mind precedes its objects. They are mind-governed and mind-made. To speak or act with a peaceful mind is to draw happiness after yourself, like an inseparable shadow.
Monks preparing to welcome His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the new stupa at Sechen Monastery in Sankisa, UP, India on January 31, 2015. Photo/Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL
His Holiness remarked that both the teacher and his or her audience should correct their motivation for giving and listening to the teachings. The teacher should check that he or she is not teaching in order to earn name and fame, while the students should not attend merely to run up a score of teachings they have heard. Asking what the Dharma is and whether it is relevant today, His Holiness said it has the function of protecting us from suffering. As the first verses make clear, if your mind is peaceful, you’ll be happy. This alludes to our dealing with our disturbing emotions. Material development only gives us sensory pleasure, but to be lastingly happy we need to develop our minds. We need calm minds. “If your mind is disciplined you’ll be happier, whether you are religious or not. Today, even scientists are finding that if you have peace of mind, you’ll be happier and your family will be more content. This is the basis of the kind of secular ethics that can appeal even to those who have no religious faith. And in this context I use secular in the Indian sense of having respect for all religious views and those who have none.”
His Holiness the Dalai Lama looking at an exhibit of the activities of the Youth Buddhist Society (YBS) on his arrival at the teaching ground in Sankisa, UP, India on January 31, 2015. Photo/Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL
His Holiness the Dalai Lama laying flowers at the plaque inaugurating the new learning center at the Youth Buddhist Society’s teaching ground in Sankisa, UP, India on January 31, 2015. Photo/Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL
His Holiness the Dalai Lama greeting the crowd on his arrival at the Youth Buddhist Society’s teaching venue in Sankisa, UP, India on January 31, 2015. Photo/Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL
His Holiness the Dalai Lama reading from the Dhammapada during his teaching at the Youth Buddhist Society’s teaching ground in Sankisa, UP, India on January 31, 2015. Photo/Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL
A view of the stage during the afternoon session of the first day of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s two day teaching at the Youth Buddhist Society’s teaching ground in Sankisa, UP, India on January 31, 2015. Photo/Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL
Lunch being prepared for the many thousands attending His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teaching at the Youth Buddhist Society’s teaching ground in Sankisa, UP, India on January 31, 2015. Photo/Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL
Day three back home. I’ve been good. I’ve been resisting drunken intentions, and staying home. I’ve agreed to meet with Honzik. No, I told him I wanted to meet. I don’t like things ending with an SMS I don’t remember writing and deleting. I’m naively hoping he’s not as uncaring. That maybe he’ll not grin […]
But sir, I want to, have cheeks sag, joints tighten and memory lag, grow stiffer, bitter and air it out as I will. I’d like to age, and have them age with me, to grow inside of me through and through down Aire against their will, we will.