Green

Green Monasticism
A Buddhist-Catholic Response to an Environmental Calamity
Edited by Prof. Donald Mitchell, and William Skudlarek, O.S.B.

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For more than forty years—inspired by the pioneering dialogues of the Trappist monk Thomas Merton, with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and the Zen master Daisetz T. Suzuki—Buddhist and Christian monastics have been engaged in interfaith colloquies about the similarities and differences between these two great spiritual traditions. In 1996 and 2002, practitioners from Catholicism and various Buddhist traditions met at Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky, the home of Thomas Merton, to discuss spiritual practice and the nature of suffering, respectively.

Green Monasticism is a collection of articles and talks from the third Gethesemani Encounter, which took place in 2008. The theme was the Buddhist and Catholic response to the environmental crisis. In addition to covering a wide range of Catholic thought, the essays come from both the Theravadan and Mahayana traditions and cover both North American and international monastic orders.

Table of Contents

Green Monasticism: A Buddhist-Catholic Response to an Environmental Calamity
Edited by Prof. Donald Mitchell, and William Skudlarek, O.S.B.

Acknowledgement
Introduction, William Skudlarek OSB

Section I: Thomas Merton and the Looming Ecological Crisis

  • Paradise Regained Re-lost, Fr. Ezekiel Lotz OSB
Section II: Buddhist and Christian Teaching on the World and Our Place in It—Religious Vision and Ethical Choices
  • Dependent Origination and the Causes and Conditions behind the Climate Crisis, Ajahn Punnadhammo
  • The World as Created, Fallen, and Redeemed, Fr. James Wiseman OSB
Section III: Monastic Rules on the World and Our Life in It—Bringing New Awareness to Ancient Yet Living Documents
  • The Monastic Rules of Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism , Rev. Heng Sure, Ph.D.
  • The Rule of Benedict, Sr. Judith Sutera OSB
Section IV: Monasticism vis-à-vis the Consumer Society
  • The Monastic Instinct to Revere, to Conserve, to Be Content with Little, and to Share, Rev. Eko Little
  • Christian Monasticism and Simplicity of Life, Fr. Charles Cummings OCSO
Section V: Contemporary Environmental Practices in American Monastic Communities
  • Bad Practices Hidden or Justified by Ideology
    • Saffron and Green in the Clear Forest Pool: A Reflection on the Four Noble Truths and Right Effort, Ayya Tathaaloka Bhikkhuni
    • Complicity and Conversion, Fr. Hugh Feiss OSB

  • Good Practices, Ancient and Emerging
    • Good Practices of Buddhist Monastic Communities in North America, Ven. Thubten Semkye
    • Good Practices of Catholic Monastic Communities in North America, Sr. Renée Branigan OSB
Section VI: Epilogue—Insights from Dialogue: Challenges to Living a Green Spirituality
  • Birken: the Tradition of the Green Forest Monastery, Ajahn Sona
  • The Monastic Challenge to Respond in Love, Sr. Anne McCarthey OSB
Section VII: Appendix