Abstract:
Protecting the environment is a global need indeed today. In the modern
society, there is an over competitiveness among people and the desire to
have higher progress of life with material gain have affected the existence
of the environment. People with poor attitudes towards the environment
tend to destroy the environment seeking money, lands or other advantages.
Industrial development worldwide makes this issue a bigger one. Poisonous
smokes, unrecyclable products, harmful excretions are some of the major
treats produced by industries. Environmental pollution comes from various
ways such as water misuse, energy wasting, air pollution, sound pollution,
clearing forests etc.All those activities are being conducted by human beings
unfortunately. As a result of those activities a lot of disasters happen frequently
like floods, soil erosion and droughts.
To overcome these environmental issues there should be an attitude change of
people.Buddhist perspective on environment helps to protect all environmental
segments of the earth like animals, trees, water, and air and so on.A lot of suttas in
P̓ãli Canon like Kutadantasutta, Wanarõpanasutta, teachings in VinayaPitaka
and some stanzas in Dhammapada emphasize the importance of protecting
environment. Furthermore, concepts in Buddism like metta, karuna ensure
the security of environment. Usually, on one hand, people do not care about
the environment due to their lack of knowledge on environmental pollution.
On the other hand people think to pass their responsibility on protection the
environment to others. In addition, they do not have any familiarity with that.
Therefore, to make a change upon thinking patterns of people, attitude changing
with Buddhist teachings is very important. Educational institutes, industries,
organizations, religious centers and other volunteers should be encouraged to
have a sound knowledge about Buddhist teachings on environment and then
they may take actions to change attitudes of people. Children based interventions
are very useful here. Furthermore, political leaders should support that process
taking immediate actions and facilitating. These steps should be implemented
to change attitudes of people with Buddhist teachings on the environment
as soon as possible to ensure the security of the environment and also the
wellbeing of next generation.
