Respond of Judaism and Buddhism on Ecological Crisis - Essay Example

Respond of Judaism and Buddhism on Ecological Crisis An ecological crisis can simply be defined as a crisis that occurs where environment of species or population changes and at the end impacts on its continual survival. The crisis can be experienced when temperatures rises above normal and less significant rainfalls. A crisis can also be observed in a situation where predation pressure arises thus affecting the continued survival of the species. An ecological crisis cannot be avoided because of technological advancement and more improved ways of scientific approaches that are up coming. The modern technology and science are in parallel with the Christian attitudes towards man’s interrelatedness with nature. The major cause roots of the ecological crisis are the population size, high levels of poverty and need for development. This has resulted to global warming that has far reaching efforts towards the environment, and its endowment (Kinsey, pp 43). However, the Zen Buddhism and the Eastern religions brought more philosophy on how man should be friendlier to nature basing on the behaviors and the attitude. One philosopher argued that if both religion and philosophy avails wrong information about the earth-harming geared by the human behaviors then there would be no sources whatsoever to provide the clue. Buddhism educates people upon earth-harming behaviors and with time they alter their behaviors and become more conscious and caring thus protecting the environment. Buddhism believes that human do not have any difference with nature and therefore they should consider nature as themselves. Buddhism philosophy is more related to the deep ecology ideology. Buddha, who is a Buddhist believer sat under a bodhi tree and analyzed the environment and concluded that trees should have a special place in their world view. The Buddhism perception on nature and human beings is that, man should retreat from material desires and view nature as sacred, hence protect God’s creation (Young pp 21). Buddhism responded to ecological crisis by showing “to others how the human species arose out of other life forms and hence an argument for our responsibility to ensuring the continuity of all life forms and their habitats, not just human life,” (Orton Para 9). They stated that, there is need for human beings transformation into another form of life in order to rule out the idea of anthropocentrism where by they view themselves as the only important creatures on earth. In addition to that, man should not be awarded credit or merit in the expense of other life forms but rather encouraged not to separate their values from the rest of the life forms thus deep ecology’s’ argument as well as Buddhism. Buddhism as a religion holds a special compassion towards particular animals but not to ecosystems or species. However, such animals which they value most are treated as sacred and this implies that, the idea of anthropocentrism to them is less pronounced. In an economical background, Buddhist economist argued that, it is vital to discourage people from the drive of acquiring material for their personal interests. They also said that people should produce goods for their own consumption and not for export unless the goods produced appear to be in surplus and this should be prevented and if it is to occur then it should be in a small scale and not regularly. They went ahead and noted that, non renewable resources should only be used if there is no alternative and their uses must be treated in a greater care and there exploitation to Buddhist was an abomination. Buddhism as compared to other religions is a denomination that has no transcendental creator or rather does not believe in God as a creator. It is a religion that ethically holds a lot of intrinsic values towards the environment. It has been observed that, Buddhism can assist the religious activist in correcting the situations of ecological crisis. However it does not have straight forward versions to how it tackles the problems of ecological crisis but basing on what it means to a person, then this can contribute to a great deal. Judaism or Christianity believes in God as a creator and the bible in which Christians believes in it, clarifies more on observance of God’s commandment and it is not specific on people’s attitudes and reactions towards nature. In the Jewish tradition’s “nature is neither an abstraction nor an ideal, but rather one of the realms in which human’s interact with God,” (Katz pp 2006). Environment is observed as a place that God meets man and in which man was authorized by God to take care of it. However, Judaism view nature as a human responsibility that God assigned and demanded its total care and therefore all the activities that man performs should be geared towards nature’s protection. In the bible Genesis, it states that “…God blessed them...and …said unto them: Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth,” (Katz pp 206). This anthology is biased towards nature because it suggests that all living things and the earth in general belongs to the human race, but however the very bible in the book of Torah limits and denies man over using nature. Judaism also argues out that, man is entitled to use of the natural resources but not misusing and denaturing the very resources. The bible commands observation and keeping the Sabbath. This implies that, man should abstain from work and it reminds human beings about God’s power over the earth and it also prevents them from more achievements which causes more harm to nature. The bible also warns, man over creation and that man has no powers to destroy anything since they cannot create but enjoying what God has created has been delegated to them. This means that caring of nature is more vital according to Judaism believes and traditions basing on what the bible states and that human beings should act as God’s stewards over nature. Nature in Judaism is perceived as a divine plan and it should not be disturbed by the human activities.” ...in Leviticus 19:19...prohibition against the hybridization of plants and animals,…restriction on wearing two types of cloth: “you shall not let your cattle mate with a different kind, you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, you shall not wear a garment of wool and linen,” (Katz Pp 211).This explains that there are some intrinsic values attached to nature. Human beings are cautioned against there relationship with nature and it emphasizes on the need of protecting endangered species towards there extinction. Jewish fundamentalist have got a principle that does not allow man to harm the animal. It does not fully support fair treatment of the environment but it lays a foundation of conserving the environment because it holds high esteem and compassion on animals. The principle goes ahead and denies man authority to destroy the property owned and destroying the neighbor’s property too is prohibited. In addition to that, it guarantees permission of destroying a fruit tree incase it is observed that it has a destructive nature on the neighbor’s property. The Jewish principles comment that, they are not designed to make human life better and that they are not anthropocentric either but they are stewards of God’s creation and they are promoting nature, conservation and protecting it as well (Waskow, para 7). Environmental philosophers are anthropocentric in nature and Judaism corrects the situation by instilling the doctrines of non-anthropocentric. This refers to viewing of the natural resources and the environment at large as sacred and every entity of nature must be treated with proper care, with no destruction because God had a reason of creating every kind of a life form and it is God alone who has supreme powers of denaturing anything in the universe but not man. The Judaism respond in the Asian Era towards ecological crisis, does not prohibit man from using the natural endowments but it encouraged exploitation of nature for man to observe or rather have proper ends. On the other hand, it also warns man against exhausting what God has provided on the earth (Zaleha para 8). Religion both Buddhism and Judaism have got more or less similar response towards the ecological crisis. Both observe nature as sacred and divine but they do not purely rely on all the natural resources. In a greater extend they have offered or contributed solutions towards the ecological crisis and they could be used to better serve the universe and its people. Works Cited Katz, Eric. Nature as Subject: Human Obligation and Natural Community, ISBN: 0847683044; Rowman & Littlefield, 1996 Kinsey, David .Ecology and Religion: Ecology Spirituality in a Cross Cultural Perspective, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996 Orton, David. Reflections on Buddhism and Deep Ecology, 2000 retrieved on 10th May 2008 from http://home.ca.inter.net/~greenweb/DE-Buddhism.html Waskow, Rabbi Arthur. The Emergence of Eco-Judaism, 2001, retrieved on 10th May 2008 from http://www.shalomctr.org/node/173 Young A. William. The Worlds Religions: Worldviews and Contemporary Issues, ISBN: 0131830104; Prentice Hall, 2004 Zaleha, Bernard Daley. The Biological Roots of Our Ecological Crisis, July 9, 2000, retrived on 10th May 2008 from http://www.christianecology.org/BiologicalBasis.html Read More