akasati - ecology, buddhism and buddhafield: an introduction

Akasati:

Ecology, Buddhism and Buddhafield: an introduction

BUDDHAFIELD DHARMA SERIES I: FESTIVAL TALKS 2009-10

AKASATI: ECOLOGY, BUDDHISM AND BUDDHAFIELD: AN INTRODUCTION

Buddhafield Dharma Series I:

An introduction

These booklets have come out of the Dharma teaching on the

Buddhafield Festival , and the wider Buddhafield project.

Originally posted as audio talks on FreeBuddhistAudio at

www.freebuddhistaudio.com/browse?p=Buddhafield , they’ve now

been edited and published on-line to reach a wider audience. This

essay introduces the series as a whole - you’ll find the rest at

issuu.com/buddhafield .

Buddhafield itself is at www.buddhafield.com or on Facebook - and

in a field in the West of England!

Thanks to Akasati for the bulk of the work in preparing and editing

them for publication, plus for the vision that the time had come to

produce our first collection of Buddhafield Dharma.

December 2010

http://www.freebuddhistaudio.com/browse?p=Buddhafield

http://issuu.com/buddhafield

http://www.buddhafield.com/

BUDDHAFIELD DHARMA SERIES I: FESTIVAL TALKS 2009-10 PAGE 3/19

Akasati: Ecology, Buddhism and Buddhafield: an introduction

This is not primarily about Buddhafield but a collection of Dharma

teaching that has emerged from Buddhafield – it is intended to be

accessible to anyone interested in ecology and Buddhism, to include

people beyond the immediate circles of Buddhafield and Triratna.

In the last decades of the 20th Century, two movements of human

thought and practice emerged as significant influences in Western

society. One was the newly emerging environmental movement,

encompassing a broad range of concerns from the wellbeing of

indigenous peoples, rainforests and wildlife habitats to community

lifestyles, organic farming and ever growing issues about human use

of resources. Meanwhile, the 2 500-year-old Buddhist tradition has

become an increasingly familiar and respected presence in the

cultural landscape of the West, to the extent that it is no longer

unusual for its core meditation practices to be routinely used within

major organisationsi.

The fertile ground of this dialogue between urgent contemporary

issues and timeless Buddhist wisdom is the central theme of this

volume, which itself has its roots in Buddhafield, a collective running


a number of outdoor, eco-Buddhist projects including a festival,

itinerant vegan cafe, retreats under canvas and organic growing

projects. The talks and teachings on which these essays are based

were originally given at a Buddhafield festival or retreatii. Although

they are not primarily about Buddhafield, as that is the common

context which draws the different chapters together, some

background may be useful.

Buddhist practise on the land

In the twenty-first century west, an increasing number of people are

drawing inspiration from the teachings of the Buddha. We have an

ever-increasing volume of written teachings available in translation,

from the Pali texts of early Indian Buddhism to the sutras and

commentaries of later schools throughout Asia. However our

comfortable, push-button lifestyles are a long way away from the

profound simplicity of the Buddha and his early followers’ lives.

From the day he left his family home, the man destined to become

known as the Buddha lived outdoors: in forest groves, on the banks

of rivers and outside the villages and cities of northern India. At

times he penetrated deep into the jungle to confront his own fear,

or for respite from human society. Apart from taking shelter in huts


during the monsoon, Siddhartha Gautama and his followers slept in

the open: at the roots of trees, under the stars, close to the

elements and creatures of the non-human world. In keeping with

the culture of the time, they perceived the land as alive with

meaning, filled with sacred groves inhabited by local deities, spirits

of trees and brooks.

Some Western Buddhists have wished to explore not only the

written teachings of the Buddha but also the example of his pared-

down lifestyle, rooted in landscape experienced as alive and sacred.

Buddhafield is one expression of this exploration. Buddhafield is

what its name suggests: Buddhism in a field. Over the last decade or

so Buddhafield has given thousands of people interested in

exploring Buddhism the opportunity to experience Dharma practice

close to the elements, in a context of material simplicity.

Untamed Dharma: Festival Roots

Buddhafield’s distinctive style grew out of a network of influences.

In the mid 1990s when the seeds of Buddhafield were first

emerging, moves towards non-urban, simpler and more sustainable

ways of living were being explored by a much more widely and


festivals such as Glastonbury and the Big Green Gathering were a

focus for debate and sharing of ideas. The project that later became

Buddhafield began when members of the Western Buddhist Order

and friends went to teach meditation at Glastonbury Festival and

later the Big Green Gathering, supported by their ‘Green Buddha’

cafeiii.

As well as being a new context for connecting with people likely to

be interested in meditation and Dharma teaching, for those

pioneering the project these events were also a welcome escape

from city life and an opportunity to be part of the relaxed, counter-

culture vibes of the festival scene – a very different environment

from the comparatively restrained atmosphere of a city Buddhist

centre or retreat, which some people found restrictive. No path is

without pitfalls and in Buddhist circles a potential danger has been

noted: that the necessary application of restraint in the practice of

mindfulness and ethics can slide into a state of alienation, blocked

energy and denial of feelings and drives that seem not to fit into the

picture of a ‘good Buddhist’iv. Whilst many Buddhist practitioners

focussed on cultivating spiritual purity (and sometimes, human

nature being what it is, concerns about being seen to do so), others

were more interested in opportunities to explore energies that


were not so consciously controlled, in an environment which

encouraged free expression. Although hard-and-fast distinctions

between ‘conformity’ and ‘dissent’ can sometimes lead to unhelpful

polarisation, the presence of ‘counter-culture’ alternatives has

nonetheless provided many a liberating context for something fresh

and creative to be born. So it was for the pioneers of Buddhafield.

For dissenters and ‘bad boys’ who felt they did not fit into the

Buddhist ‘mainstream’, the festival scene was a gift. Glastonbury in

the nineties was a relatively uncontrolled environment, certainly by

UK standards, with all the opportunities for creativity and

underworld dealings one might expect. The festival scene typically

blended Eastern influences with New Age ideas; miscellaneous

shamanistic traditions of varying degrees of authenticity and holistic

healing methods, creating a potpourri of ritual and spiritual

practices – alongside plenty of rock music and recreational drug use.

Buddhist meditation, chanting and puja were readily absorbed into

the mix, to the extent that many festival goers did not -- and still

don’t - distinguish Buddhism from New Age ideas or the various

branches of Hindu belief and practice that made their way West via

the hippy trail.


The influence of the festival world went much deeper than

opportunities for Buddhists to let their hair down. Glastonbury and

the Big Green Gathering were a focus for activists, campaigners and

people following alternative, low-impact lifestyles. These people

were engaged in a serious critique of mainstream, consumer values.

Buddhafield from its inception has been serious about the ethical

imperative for low-impact living and has provided a context for

dialogue between the ecology movement and Buddhist teachings

such as non-violence and interdependence. This dialogue continues

to be a fundamental working ground for how all Buddhafield

projects are run. A radical critique of contemporary Western values

and lifestyles remains at the heart of the project.

Challenges and joys: community as practice

Buddhafield is a community - or rather a number of interlocking,

overlapping communities, from a small group working together

year-round in the South West of England to a variety of seasonal

communities that come together once a year, whether to put on the

festival, join the café team as it journeys through its summer of

festivals, or attend an intensive meditation or families retreat. It is

an ever-growing community. New enthusiasts get involved each

year and some responsibilities for the families retreat are now held


by young people who have been coming on the retreats throughout

their childhood. Central to the project are Buddhists who have

made an explicit commitment to shared Dharma practice, alongside

many people who make these projects possible, providing anything

from wind power, a sauna or live music, who would not consider

themselves as Buddhists. Differences of values can cause tensions

but can also create a live dialogue, not just in theory but in the most

hands-on sense, where members of a diverse community have to

communicate and negotiate with one another. One case in point is

that while festivals are more usually places where alcohol and drugs

are consumed in quantity, Buddhafield makes every effort to be

drug and alcohol free. Many people attending the Buddhafield

Festival have been surprised and delighted by how much enjoyment

they can have without recourse to mind-altering substances. In this

way they have direct experience of the ‘mindfulness clear and

radiant’ described in the positive formulation of the five key

Buddhist precepts.

Cooperating with other people is always, sooner or later, a

challenge. Views and egos bump up against one another. It’s all too

easy to talk about the Buddhist virtues of compassion, generosity,


truthfulness and so on and quite another thing to put them into

practice. The closer we live and work together, the more revealing

our day to day interactions are likely to be about where we actually

stand in relation to these precepts and practices. Like deepening

one’s meditation or ethical sensibilities, building sangha

(community based on Buddhist values) is a demanding practice,

requiring genuine willingness to change and bringing unexpected

joys.

Many times on Buddhafield events, a deeply satisfying sense of

community arises in adversity. On an event dominated by torrential

rain, levels of co-operation and mutual helpfulness tend to reach

their highest. As well as arising from the obvious ways in which we

need one another, difficult conditions can enable us to work

together against a ‘common enemy’ – in this case, the weather.

The practical demands of living outdoors, away from most of the

gadgets that make modern life so comfortable, frequently have

other unexpected benefits. It is surprising how satisfying it is to be

called upon to use our ingenuity rather than having everything laid

on as we have come to expect. I have been repeatedly surprised

how empowering it feels to rig up a shower-bucket from a tree or

simply chop wood for a fire. The vast majority of people who leave


comfortable lifestyles to spend even a short period camping out in

the elements are visibly more alive and ‘present’ within a few days.

Unconsciously we realise how dependant for our very survival we

are in the modern West on machines most of us don’t understand

and complex systems such as global agriculture and trade that are

beyond our control. The human capacity for specialisation has

created unprecedented wealth for at least some of us on the planet

at this time, but at a cost. In addition to the heavy and

unsustainable environmental costs of our current lifestyles, an

further individual cost is the underlying anxiety of being ill-equipped

to fend for oneself in the world. The theme of ‘survival’, explored in

Akuppa’s essay ‘Strive On’, seems to be part of our current zeitgeist,

on various levelsv.

The spiritual benefits of living and working together (at least for periods in our lives) have

been much emphasised by Sangharakshita, the founder of the Friends of the Western Buddhist

Order; a practical teaching which has been intensively followed within the Buddhafield

community.

Nature as Teacher

Living outdoors, even temporarily, it becomes obvious that

community extends beyond the human realm. Camping on a piece


of land and actively cultivating awareness, one naturally begins to

tune in with the creatures who already live there: insects, birds,

badgers, foxes and deer. The presence of elements in the form of

trees, a stream or the earth itself, becomes more vivid and alive.

Buddhist teachings on the conditioned and therefore

interconnected nature of all phenomena reveal themselves in

myriad new ways, especially to the great majority of us who have

grown up in urban environments, in some degree of disconnection

from the natural world. The experience of arriving in a field to set

up an event and having to find a source of water (whether from a

natural spring or connecting to the mains supply); to deal with one’s

own waste through earth toilets and composting can give us new

perspectives on some of life’s essentials that we normally take for

granted. Eating our own vegetables, we see how elements emerge

from the earth, move through the body and back into the earth,

ultimately as the rich compost that ‘humanure’, in time, becomes.

Food and excrement, those two ‘ends’ of the same process that

classically give us occasion for greed and aversion, are fertile ground

for reflection on the whole of life as a process of arising and passing

away that our own bodies are part of. From this more immediate

experience, it is easier to directly appreciate the importance of


balancing what we receive and what we put back in relationship to

the physical world.

In shamanic traditions the world over, the natural world is taken as

the great teacher. Qualities of strength, agility and far-sight are

learned from animals and birds. Through sustained contact with the

non-human world, adherents come to deep understanding of the

meaning and nature of life.

People coming to live on the land for a week or a month generally

notice how deeply they are affected by the presence of the

elements. Camping next to a great oak tree or brook and being

awoken by the building crescendo of the dawn chorus, our spirits

are nourished and regenerated. Of course the elements are always

present, whether we are in the remotest wilderness or the greyest

corners of the inner city. But when we are inside 4 walls, away from

the touch of the breeze or the sound of flowing water, we generally

feel less connected to this web of life we are intrinsically part of. We

do not need to look far to see what damaging and dangerous

consequences this perceived disconnection between human society

and the rest of the biosphere is having.


Unlike many religious and philosophical viewpoints, Buddhism sees

the whole of life as a continuum and does not separate human

beings into a special category in the way that mainstream Christian

and much philosophical thinking in the West have generally done.

The traditional Buddhist view does not even place humankind at the

‘top’ of the evolutionary tree, listing ‘devas’ – beings in subtle

bodies – as existing in more refined, happier realms than ourselves

(though the deva worlds, owing to the de-motivating effects of

sustained bliss, are not necessarily advantageous in the business of

attaining full liberation).

As the Jataka (Birth) storiesvi show, perhaps naively for

contemporary tastes, traditional Buddhism sees consciousness as

manifesting in a series of rebirths by which an individual (though

ever-changing) mind-stream might manifest now as a hare or a

monkey and now as a human being, with its nature and tendencies

in the present impacting on future manifestations. Buddhist ethics

link us humans very firmly in with other species. The first precept of

non-harm is towards all beings, not just other people. It is to be

applied as much as possible to the whole of life.

Thankfully, many people from diverse religious and philosophical

backgrounds have been seeking and drawing out grounds for


ecological sustainability that might be suggested, directly or

indirectly, within their system. Although the threat of the collapse

of ecological systems on a huge scale was not an issue the Buddha’s

time and so not addressed directly, it is not difficult to find

teachings that are relevant to the predicament we find ourselves in.

One of the key aims of Buddhafield and of this book is to explore

the relevance of Buddhist teachings to the urgent issues of our time.

It is no coincidence that several contributors are involved with the

Network of Engaged Buddhists, a group with a specific mission to

engage not just with the work of personal development, but also

with current social, ecological and political issues.

Elemental embodiment

Any attempt to bring about real transformation of the individuals

who collectively constitute society, however, must be grounded in

the self-knowledge that comes from a degree of introspection.

Retreats on the land allow people the opportunity to take time out

of hectic schedules for meditation and reflection, surrounded by the

beauty of nature. Meditating in a tent, seated on the lumps and

bumps of the earth beneath and feeling the cool touch of the

breeze, is different to meditating in a room. In a camp situation, we


use our bodies more than many of us would normally. Tents have to

be erected, water carried and wood chopped. We need to take care

walking over uneven ground especially on a dark night, far from the

glare of street lights. We are less protected from the elements than

we would be in a building; more likely to get wet when it rains, hot

when the sun comes out and cold when it goes down. Away from

our insulated lives and computer screens, we can begin to

experience ourselves as more deeply embodied. Barefoot walking

meditation, treading directly on the earth and with the expanse of

the sky above, we experience directly how connected we are,

energetically, to these great elements. Reflection on the six

elements (adding space and consciousness to the classic list of four

elements) is intended to deepen our insight into the profound

continuity between what we experience inside our bodies with what

we experience as ‘outside’, as explored by Kamalashila in ‘The Living

Elements’ chapter.

A capacity to extend our awareness to include not just the contents

of our head but the direct, non-discursive sensations of the body, is

a pre-requisite for entering more settled, meditative states of mind.

The importance of attention to the body has been emphasised since

the Buddha’s day when he urged his followers to cultivate sustained


mindfulness of the body and its functions: its posture and

movements in space; experience of temperature, pleasure, pain and

the substances that make it up. In spite of this unmistakable

emphasis, many of us have a tendency to disregard and even

denigrate our own bodies in our pursuit of spiritual growth.

Although we may feel some influence from the Buddha and his

teachings in our lives, most of us carry more powerful, less

conscious influences from our own culture. According to a Buddhist

critique, theistic religions tend towards an eternalistic view whereby

the body is regarded as fundamentally separate from the eternal

soul, which is seen as our essence: the most important part of our

being. From Greek philosophical influences through the Judeo-

Christian heritage which has dominated Western culture, the kind of

split whereby the body, and indeed the whole of nature came to be

seen as something separate, inferior and to be subjugated has been

a major cultural strand. Serious study of the Dharma by Western

students tends to lead back to an examination of our own received

views. A vigorous critique to such enduring views and an alternative

way of perceiving the world as radically interconnected may turn

out to be the most useful contribution Buddhism has to make to the

current ecological crisis.


Mythic realms

This book is not intended to cover the main themes and influences

of Buddhafield in a comprehensive way. Readers who have been to

Buddhafield might miss the presence in this volume of the figures of

Padmasambhava, Tara, Amoghasiddhi and the archetypal Buddhas

and Bodhisattvas who are the focus of chanting and devotional

practice on many events. The practice of ritual, drawing not only on

Buddhist but also pagan, Celtic roots, is a vivid experience for many

of the people who come to Buddhafield. An exploration of the

meaning and power of ritual is not the province of this volume and

in any case is perhaps best left to direct experience.

Ultimately we can only fully experience the beauty and magic of

meditation and Dharma practice on the land, in community, not by

reading about it but by actually doing it.


Appendix

i eg NHS mindfulness courses

ii This essay introduces the series as a whole - you’ll find the rest at

issuu.com/buddhafield

iii As well as the ‘eco’ inference, ‘Green Buddha’ refers to Amoghasiddhi,

the green Buddha of the Tantric mandala who symbolises fearlessness and

unstoppable energy.

iv Sangharakshita: ‘Alienated and Integrated Awareness’

v http://issuu.com/buddhafield/docs/akuppa-strive_on2?mode=a_p

vi A body of canonical and non-canonical stories relating the former lives of

the Buddha and his disciples, in some cases as animals

http://issuu.com/buddhafield

http://issuu.com/buddhafield/docs/akuppa-strive_on2?mode=a_p

akasati - ecology, buddhism and buddhafield: an introduction

Documents

buddhafield festival

wider buddhafield project

festival talks

collection of dharma

buddhist practise

audio talks

century west

ecobuddhist projects