Dan Cozort, Buddhist Economics 4

This is the last of four talks by Dan Cozort, who is Professor Emeritus of Dickinson College in the USA, in which he discusses Buddhist economics, the climate crisis, and related topics. In this video he discusses the various strategies which Buddhism has developed, and which might help us understand and contextualize these issues.

The first thing he talks about is mindfulness and how it helps us to slow down and see our effect on the environment, and from that make the necessary changes. But it also puts us back in touch with our feelings about what is happening around us, and what is causing it.

He talks about the innovative work sessions of Joanna Macy, Thich Naht Hahn and others, and the various practices they have developed for reconnecting with the earth and the environment. He also discusses the Tibetan Tonglen practice of transforming the bad into good.

Some of the most interesting things he mentions come towards the end of the talk, where he discusses some practices that have arisen in traditional Buddhist countries, like Thailand with its tree-ordination movement; Tibet with its re-found emphasis on animal rights; and Sarvodaya in Sri Lanka, which seeks to uplift everyone at the village level.