Environmental Ethics in Buddhism

Pragati Sahni is currently Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy, Delhi University. Her current research interests include Environmental Philosophy, Applied Ethics and Early Buddhist Philosophy. She has published some articles and has been a recipient of the Commonwealth Scholarship.

"I urge Buddhist students and teachers to take up this environmental ethics discourse as a prime arena for examining the Buddha's teachings. We need to take our place at the table with Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, scientists, poets, politicians, and economists. In this regard, we can thank Sahni and other Buddhist environmental thinkers for offering us thoughtful springboards for reflection and action." -- Stephanie Kaza, Buddharma, Spring 2008"The refreshing quality of this book lies largely in its creating a suitable methodology for the subject itself in the absence of any available theory or approach by which Buddhist environmental ethics can be meaningfully understood. The approach here goes beyond the limits of contemporary Western methodologies by virtue of a many-layered discussion that attends to various implications of passages from the Pāli Canon most relevant to Buddhist ethics. The bibliography and notes are impressive, and give full support to the author’s thesis. It is certainly a "must read" for anyone seriously interested in environmental issues as well as the significance of Buddhism in today’s world." -- Deepa Nag Haksar, Journal of Buddhist Ethics, Volume 18, 2011

• 1. Towards an Environmental Ethics in Buddhism 2. Nature: A "Conservationist" Analysis 3. Nature: A "Cosmological" Approach 4. Environmental Virtue Ethics in Early Buddhism 5. The Environmental Virtues of Early Buddhism 6. Environmental Virtue Ethics in the Jatakas. Conclusion