An authentically Buddhist ecology is based on the preservation and protection of the environment--plants, earth, air, and water--for the sole reason that this environment, in proper working order, is essential to sentient life. Buddhism teaches us that the individual living being is not simply a component of a "functioning ecosystem," interchangeable with every other member of his species and therefore expendable if he becomes inconvenient. He is a sentient being, entitled to the full protection of our compassion. We preserve the ecosystem to protect him; we do not kill him in order to protect the ecosystem.
---The Great Compassion: Buddhism and Animal Rights, by Norm Phelps---
No comments:
Post a Comment