Karma Thegsum Choling Minneapolis

As part of our routine meditation practice, many of us take a bodhisattva vow, a promise to live our lives and pursue our meditative development so as to benefit all sentient beings. It sometimes sounds rather abstract. Such motivation, however, can result in profound changes in the way we live.

Here are some thoughts by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, taken from the Buddhist Ecology Link, a newsletter distributed through the Network of Buddhist Organizations (NBO):

“I believe that to meet the challenge of our times, human beings will have to develop a greater sense of universal responsibility. Each of us must learn to work not just for his own self, family, or nation, but for the benefit of mankind. Universal responsibility is the real key to human survival. It is the best foundation for world peace, the equitable use of natural resources and, through concern for future generations, the proper care for the environment…The natural environment sustains the life of all beings in the world; it is important that we all take whatever steps we can to preserve and maintain it before it is too late.”

Our group of White Tara practitioners’ is using a portion of their group practice time to discuss and share ideas and information about the preservation of the planet. In a recent meeting, the group members shared a number of ideas and activities each of them are pursuing in order to reduce his or her “footprint”. These included:

Click on the “Our Sangha’s Footprint” page under ‘Pages’ in the righthand column of this blog to read about our sangha’s footprint. of course!

‘ The planet’s temperature has climbed to levels not seen in thousands of years, warming that has begun to affect plants and animals, researchers report in Tuesday’s issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The Earth has been warming at a rate of 0.36 degree Fahrenheit per decade for the last 30 years, according to the research team led by James Hansen of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York.

That brings the overall temperature to the warmest in the current interglacial period, which began about 12,000 years ago.

…”This evidence implies that we are getting close to dangerous levels of human-made pollution,” Hansen said in a statement.

…Hansen, who first warned of the danger of climate change decades ago, said that human-made greenhouse gases have become the dominant climate change factor.

…The study said the recent warming has brought global temperature to a level within about one degree Celsius _ 1.8 degree Fahrenheit _ of the maximum temperature of the past million years.’

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: http://www.pnas.org. Quote from Road Runner News 25.9.2006.

Evolution is based on cooperation, not competition.
We are now deep into the 6th mass extinction event to hit this planet. This event is unique because it has been caused by humans.
Biologist Bruce Lipton, PhD.

Dr. Lipton is the author of Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter and Miracles, 2005 and earlier titles.

(How about if) All sangha members agree to roll over your current auto to one that gets a minimum 32-35 mpg in the city at next new / new-used car opportunity.

There are autos out there now available in every income level that do this.

Use energy saving compact fluorescent bulbs. An excellent selection is available from www.buylighting.com.

(In the 1970’s) “… We had even obtained the use of a large property near Lake Perry not far from the Topeka city limits where the marchers could camp. This was an important halfway stop for the Indians because the marchers who had come all the way from the West Coast were joined by runners from the North, and the two movements merged and joined forces. Their numbers grew to over one thousand and they remained at the Kansas campsite for over one week …

The Indians broke camp quickly and quietly and set out on their eastward journey at sunrise one morning and, though for many days hundreds of them - men, women, and children - had cooked, slept, and played on the land and held their many sweats and ceremonies, they left not one single sign that they had ever been there.”

Doug Boyd from MAD BEAR Spirit, Healing, and the Sacred in the Life of a Native American Medicine Man by Doug Boyd. Simon & Schuster, 1994.

Eat less