Dharma Rain

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 493 pages
• Published by: Shambhala; 1 Ed edition February 8, 2000
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1570624755
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1570624759
• Book Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Weighs: 1.5 pounds

Product Review
In many senses, modern consumerism, with its promotion of greed, attachment, and self-centeredness, is the reversal of Buddhist values. The result is that modern Buddhists are moving into social activism, specifically environmentalism, and protecting the world's ecology from the devastation of unchecked consumerism. In Dharma Rain, Stephanie Kaza and Kenneth Kraft offer a resource for Buddhist environmentalists. They begin with sources in Buddhist Scriptures and writings of past masters. The rest of the book is a treasury of perspectives from contemporary Buddhist activists who look deeply at causes and solutions to environmental devastation that is happening in places like Thailand, where seventy percent of the forest has disappeared in the 20th century, and in Tibet, where the Chinese communists continue to quietly destroy not only Tibetan society but also its once-teeming wildlife and verdant flora. Many great minds chime in: Thich Nhat Hanh on interbeing, the Dalai Lama on true political success, Sulak Sivaraksa on buddhism with a small "b," Peter Matthiessen on the snow leopard, Joanna Macy on dependent co-origination, and Gary Snyder on the "harming" inherent in certain things we eat; Dharma Rain is an embodiment of Thich Nhat Hanh's observation that "life is one," that "our way of walking on the earth has a great influence on animals and plants." --Brian Bruya

From Publishers Weekly
This book seeks to provide environmentalist themes and ideas for those practicing "engaged Buddhism." With seven sections and forty contributors, it covers several aspects of what many believe modern Buddhists should be doing to respond correctly to environmental problems such as consumerism, economic development, deforestation, pollution and industrialization. Thich Nhat Hanh and the Dalai Lama contribute essays, as do composer Philip Glass and writers Joanna Macy and Helen Tworkov (who is also editor of Tricycle). There are lovely sections on being at one with nature and on hiking, but the book rehashes ecological material available elsewhere, and aside from the first section ("Teachings from Buddhist Traditions"), very little here is deeply Buddhist. The Transcendentalists made the same arguments for nature's supremacy in the 19th century (and indeed, several of the writers quote Thoreau). Still, there are some memorable essays: Peter Matthiessen, Patrick McMahon and Kuya Minogue provide a direct experience of the reality of nature to show why nature is worth saving: for the benefit of one's practice. Robert Aitken and William Ophuls reflect on the superiority of simplicity, providing a useful starting place for those who wish to initiate greater restraint in utilizing resources. The volume closes with suggestions for spiritual exercises, meditations and rituals (including the "Smokey the Bear Sutra"). (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Reader Reviews
To borrow from poet William Blake, this anthology encourages us "to see a world in a grain of sand, and Heaven in a wildflower." Previous green anthologies, such as the 1991 "Green Reader" (which I also recommend), convincingly show that we are in the midst of a global environmental crisis. This impressive, 491-page collection not only examines the many problems contributing to that crisis (e. g., consumerism, nuclear waste, deforestation, and overpopulation), but proposes that it is now time we rethink our attitude "not only to people, but to plants, animals and places" (p. 356), suggesting that a compassionate, buddhist perspective can help. Contributors to this anthology include, among others, Thich Nhat Hanh, Gary Snyder, Joanna Macy, the Dalai Lama, Peter Matthiessen, Peter Timmerman, Robert Aitken, Rick Fields, and Christopher Titmuss. Although all of the contributors write from a buddhist point of view, you do not have to be a buddhist to appreciate this book. G. Merritt