Tibetan Buddhist Environmental Ethics: Beliefs and Practices

Abstract

I spent ten weeks in two Tibetan Buddhist communities in Northern India. I worked for different NGO's collecting data about environmental issues in the communities. I interviewed various individuals regarding their views about environmental ethics. The goal of this research was to determine if Buddhism teaches an environmental ethic, and if so, what it is. While the Buddhists I spoke with definitely practiced an environmental ethic, none of them could point me to a specific Buddhist teaching about environmental protection. During my research, I was able to get involved in local issues. I offered policy recommendations for many of the environmental issues. Two of the NGO's I worked with are using my recommendations as a platform to work from for the upcoming year.