Learning Love from a Tiger: Approaches to Nature in an American Buddhist Monastery

Abstract

Mississippi, where he teaches courses in Asian and comparative religion. He has published several pieces on Buddhism in the United States including the book Guru Devotion and the American Buddhist Experience.

The search for microbial Martian life and American Buddhist ethics

“…This non-killing may include microorganisms, since some Buddhists debate the sentience of microbes (Eisen and Konchok, 2018), with sentience designating one as a Buddhist moral actor (Keown, 2001). At the same time, Buddhism treasures the human species above all others, for only humans can join the monastic community and, aside from apocryphal stories, realize nirvana (Capper, 2015). Hence, a common Buddhist opinion holds that killing microbes remains acceptable if it prolongs a human life, and Buddhists act practically on this principle every time they cook food or clean their kitchens.…”

“…Each day monastics and lay people consume plant- and animal-based foods and thereby at least kill small creatures resident in these foods, other Buddhists take antibiotics that they know will kill microbes (McCormick, 2013), while yet other Buddhists intentionally will eliminate bathroom ‘germs’ in their homes. These microbicidal activities often remain encouraged by some anthropocentric dimensions of Buddhism (Capper, 2015), for the extension of human life to seek nirvana (something generally unavailable to animals and microbes) remains more valued than the lives of complex animals as well as microbes themselves (Waldau, 2002). Moreover, at times microbes may not be considered sentient or animals and hence not subject to the precept on non-harm (Eisen and Konchok, 2018).…”

“…For its part, Buddhism faces its own environmental ethics dilemmas, such as its curtailed protections for stone and water ecologies (Capper, 2016 b ) and recurring divergences between theory and practice (Capper, 2015). However, Buddhism is not a Bible-based religion, does not subscribe to the biblical worldview of human stewardship of the natural world and was not developed in the context of biblical religiosity like many Western philosophies were.…”

Intrinsic Value, American Buddhism, and Potential Life on Saturn's Moon Titan

“…For Marshall, any life that is found on Mars must be preserved absolutely, because "Martian life is intrinsically valuable." 11 If microbial life is found on the Red Planet, Marshall claims, Mars "should be left alone, with exploration only via sterilized automated spacecraft." 12 Instead, the entirety of Mars should be turned into a "World Park," devoid of physical humans and their science, in order to preserve the planet's heuristically-presumed intrinsically valuable microorganisms.…”

The Trees, My Lungs: Self Psychology and the Natural World at an American Buddhist Center

“…Wallace () examined the integration of Buddhist and folk practices regarding livestock in Mongolia, and Vargas () provided a brief survey of Tibetan Buddhist realities. In a series of articles, Susan Darlington (, ) described Buddhist tree ordination practices in Thailand and I studied ramifications for Buddhist environmental ethics at a monastery in the United States (Capper forthcoming). But Donald Swearer remains correct in arguing that our understanding of Buddhist attitudes toward nature needs more “religious‐cultural narratives of place” which focus on specific contexts (, 136).…”