Buddhadāsa’s Perspective on Environmental Ethics: A Buddhist Response

Abstract

Caring for the environment becomes a global issue of concern due to the massive devastation that is currently threatening our standard of living and survival. In western, two main schools: anthropocentrism and non-anthropocentrism, have responded in the sense of environmental ethics. The anthropocentric approach begins with mankind as the center of the world, whereas the non-human world exists solely for human utility. As the result, mankind alienates from nature and plays the role of conqueror. Also mankind has no direct duty towards the non-human world. The non-anthropocentric approach to ethics sees this approach as deficient and recognizes the importance of the need for this shift from anthropocentrism to non-anthropocentrism. As the result, it generally believes that mankind has a duty towards individual living things, as well as interconnected ecosystems. In this paper, the researcher aims at exploring the works of Buddhadāsa who emphasizes our interdependency with the natural world through his interpretation of the Buddhist idea of dependent origination. Based on his environmental approach, Buddhadāsa believed that when we clearly realized our inner mental nature, especially selfishness through the doctrine of dependent origination, there is less chance of being attached to the ‘self’ and the way that is conditioned as a consumer in contemporary society. As the result, there is less tendency to destroy, exploit and abuse nature. Thus, according to Buddhadāsa, the environmental approach rooted into the doctrine of dependent origination will help solve an environmental crisis and degradation in a sustainable way.