Gyurme Dorje

Lying at the center of an ancient network of Buddhist temples in the Great Temple of Lhasa, the Jokhang Temple is the heart of spiritual and economic life in Tibet. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is the atmospheric focal point of Lhasa, from which bustling narrow lanes of commerce radiate outward in all directions.This landmark publication is illustrated with photographs taken over eight decades, and is introduced by the personal reminiscences of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Gyurme Dorje presents a detailed inventory of the Great Temple, and Tashi Tsering compiles historical sources that illustrate its importance in Tibetan life. Heather Stoddard draws on early historical material to highlight the temple’s geomantic origins and the inauguration of the Great Prayer Festival, while Andre Alexander explores the temple’s intricate Indo-Nepalese architecture and Ulrich van Schroeder documents its extant bronze images.… (mer)

This is a collection of writings by a wide variety of esteemed Buddhist teachers, addressing the problem of climate change. Some of the contributions are very short aspiration prayers, while others are more analytical essays. At the front and back of the book, editor Stanley contributes sketches of the problem and of a variety of solutions.

I have been thinking for many years about the somewhat broader topic of Buddhism and modern science and technology. For me this book was somewhat disappointing. Mostly the discussion remained rather superficial. Actually the late Chatral Rinpoche contributed an aspirational prayer that was almost shocking in its brevity. I suspect the shock was intentional. We like to think of the problem in front of us as somehow very special, but really samsara has a pretty uniform taste and character! It's not like we really need some special medicine to cure this particular ill. If we just practice Dharma, the nature of reality and the nature of mind are as close as they ever have been!

It's a tricky situation, really. It's not like Buddhist cultures have really been the leaders in the industrialization that has brought us climate change. Japan is probably the most interesting case. Books like Rude Awakenings, edited by Heisig and Maraldo, address some deep issues, ways that Buddhism has really failed to address effectively the problematic aspects of modern technology.

A key issue that I struggle with is nuclear power. I don't recall seeing this discussed in any of the essays in this book. Nuclear power looks like a splendid way to have our planet and eat it too. I can't see how it won't turn out to be a much more hideous bargain with the devil than we have already seen with Chernobyl, Fukushima, Three Mile Island, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, etc.

Maybe the problem is really simple and all we need to do is build a bunch of windmills. I rather doubt it! That's why I think we need some deeper analysis.

I think the best audience for this book is folks who are quite familiar with Buddhism but not so familiar with climate change. It's a perfectly reasonable starting point to learn about the relevance of Buddhism to the problem.… (mer)