Latest Articles by Martin Palmer

Religion and the environment in China

Martin Palmer — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 11:53:00 +0000

Religion can play an important role in protecting the earth’s natural heritage, says Martin Palmer, who reports on the Buddhists and Daoists committed to conserving China’s sacred mountains and wild animals.

My interest in China stretches back nearly thirty five years to my time working as a volunteer in a children’s home in Hong Kong in the early 1970s. It was then that I fell in love with Chinese language, history, philosophy and tradition and my life has been shaped by this ever since. I am a translator of Chinese classics such as the Yi Jing, the Dao De Jing and of Chinese myths and legends – for example about the Eight Immortals.

My interest in the environment goes back much further, to a mother who was passionate about nature and to the earliest days of what is now the world’s largest environmental organisation, the WWF, which I joined in its first few months as a schoolboy member.

It has been my fortune that I have been able to combine these two great passions and interests along with a third – that of the role of religion in contemporary cultures. I head the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC), which is a secular foundation working with all the major religions of the world, helping them develop environmental programmes on their lands, in their forests, on their farms, through their investments, schools, media and as a result of their teachings, beliefs and practices. Founded eleven years ago, we work in more than 60 countries worldwide.

When we established ARC in 1995, one of the first areas where we were asked to work was in China, by the China Daoists Association. When we told people about this most of them looked at us with total incredulity. “You are trying to work with religion in China? Impossible. You want to help them engage with environmental issues in China? Doubly impossible.”

In the mid ‘90s, almost no one from secular groups outside China was working with religion in China and the environment was not an issue except with regards to cuddly pandas and a few other token species.

Today, the situation regarding religion has changed a bit. The World Bank, for example, now has a programme in Kunming with Buddhists, but the environmental situation has totally changed.

In the mid ‘90s, it was considered inappropriate to point out that the incredible growth of China and its consumerism, hunt for energy, building work and industrial expansion was taking place at the cost of the environment. A great deal of nonsense was spoken by those who knew no better about the “Confucian” world view in which progress was all, questioning authority was inappropriate and dissent unimaginable. Putting it simply, many outside China felt that China could never develop a home-grown environmental culture. For the business world, this was an excuse not to even mention it. For the environmental movement, this allowed them to tread so gently around the Chinese government that they never seriously raised any issues with the authorities. The result was a stand-off on these urgent issues which were simply put to one side as culturally insignificant, or inappropriate.

But religions in China, especially Daoism and Buddhism, were engaging with this and in powerful ways.

In 1995, the China Daoist Association (CDA) issued its first ever Statement on the Environment. This led to ARC being able to start work assisting the Daoists in putting into practice the insights, beliefs and values that this astonishingly powerful statement had spelt out.

Aided by ARC, the Daoists undertook a survey of their major sacred mountains. What this study showed was that because of the inherent sacredness of places such as Hua Shan, Tai Shan, Emei Shan or Qingqing Shan, these had survived in a better ecological state than comparable areas which were not considered sacred by the general population. This had proved to be effective, even during the worse excesses of the Cultural Revolution. Temples and shrines, statues and sacred books had been destroyed, but the mountains had still survived in a better environmental state than other areas. This has recently been confirmed by a study undertaken by WWF and ARC.

The joint CDA and ARC project also discovered that where the religious communities were still present on a sacred mountain in significant numbers, the protection of the environment was also better. Putting it simply, most park wardens clock in at 8am and go home around 5pm. The illegal loggers and poachers tend to come when the wardens are not around. On a sacred mountain, it is quite likely that a Daoist monk will be running up the mountainside at 3am or meditating in the middle of the forest at midnight. The active presence of religious people on a mountain helps to protect it.

In 1998, this study helped the management committee of Hua Shan to agree to return most of the temples on the mountain to the CDA in order, in part, to better protect the mountain’s environment.

The success of this work led the Buddhist Association of China to undertake with ARC a similar programme on their sacred mountains and the same conclusions were drawn about the importance of active life on the sacred mountains.

Today, these developments have gone even further. The CDA and ARC, assisted by the Dutch group EMF, have rebuilt a key temple on the sacred mountain of Taibaishan in Shaanxi, destroyed in the Cultural Revolution, as a Daoist Ecology Education Temple. Here, Daoists are being trained in environmental management of sacred mountains, environmental education for pilgrims and visitors and will develop information and education packs for use throughout China, but especially in urban areas. A set of wall posters on Daoism and Ecology have already been produced. In June this year a new network came into being, the Daoist Temples’ Alliance on Environment and Education, designed to coordinate and develop projects across China through the medium of Daoism.

In Buddhism, a similar movement is under way with plans to develop a Buddhist ecology temple centre in Wutai Shan and to develop Wutai Shan as a model of integrated environmental management.

At the same time, ARC, in collaboration with WWF International, is developing a major programme on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and especially the illegal importing of Asian big cats’ bodies to China for use in TCM. In 2001, Daoism made the use of endangered species in TCM an excommunicable offence. Building on this and on Daoist research into alternative TCM prescriptions which don’t use endangered species, linked to Buddhist prohibitions on using illegal TCM, we hope to make a considerable impact at the popular, folk-medicine level, as well as in curbing demand generally.

But perhaps the biggest development is one that no one, not even ARC could have foreseen eleven years ago. And this is the role that the government is asking the Buddhists and Daoists to play in making people aware and responsible for environmental protection.

China has awoken to the threat of environmental degradation in ways unimaginable just a few years ago. Gone is the blasé notion that growth was all that mattered. The Communist Party now finds itself with a nation, hell bent on growth, on consumerism and with a corresponding loss of a sense of community and responsibility. Concerned with what the party has called “spiritual culture” – meaning higher values and a sense of wider responsibility -- the religions have been asked to help reinstate a sense of a purpose beyond just self and consumerism.

Hence, in April this year, the Buddhist Association of China, in conjunction with the Chinese government, held a unique gathering of Buddhists from all over the Chinese world on the theme of social issues, and the environment was one of the key topics. Arising from this is a new range of projects and commitments by Buddhists across China to address issues such as deforestation, urban sprawl, waste, energy and moral values related to the environment. Next year, a similar forum will bring Daoists together, again to address these social issues.

What is going on?

The reason ARC works with the major religions is simple. Dynasties, governments and economic orders come and go. But the Buddhists and Daoists will still be there, just as they always have been. They have been on the sacred mountains for at least two thousand years; they are likely to be there still in two thousand years’ time. A programme developed with structures and organisations and beliefs such as these can shape the environment for centuries. That is why the Chinese government, having tried to destroy religion during the Cultural Revolution, now seeks religion’s help in restoring some sense of wider values. Buddhism and Daoism have been constants for generations and will be so for generations to come.

Perhaps the best way to capture all this is to quote from the Daoists statement on the environment:

“People should take into full consideration the limits of nature’s sustaining power, so that when they pursue their own development, they have a correct standard of success. If anything runs counter to the harmony and balance of nature, even if it is of great immediate interest and profit, people should restrain themselves from doing it, so as to prevent nature’s punishment… Daoism has a unique sense of value in that it judges affluence by the number of different species. If all things in the universe grow well, then a society is a community of affluence. If not, this kingdom is on the decline.”

The author: Martin Palmer is secretary general of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation. His translation of the 4^th century BC philosopher Zhuang Zi will be published by Penguin Classics this November.

Homepage photo by Elizabeth Thomsen

The Dao De Jing and the natural world

Martin Palmer, Xiaoxin He, Victoria Finlay — Thu, 17 May 2007 14:51:00 +0000

One of China’s earliest philosophical texts contains many lessons on living in harmony with nature. Martin Palmer, Victoria Finlay and He Xiaoxin explain how Daoists can help protect the land from the pollution and rapid development of China today.

The Dao De Jing, which I have had the honour of translating into English, paints a fascinating and challenging picture of how Daoists see the world. For example, chapter four tells us that the Dao is the source of all life: generous, free flowing, timeless, indeed coming from a time before time itself. Yet today we see that human activity is bringing to an end many forms of life: it is poisoning the waters; polluting the air; changing the climate, destroying forests and killing thousands of species. The Dao is under attack as never before and it is we, human beings, who are attacking it.

And what does the Dao De Jing say about this?

Chapter 29 tells us that if a ruler behaves as if he invented the world, he will do no good at all. It goes on to say the earth is a sacred vessel and it cannot be owned or improved. Yet we behave as if we do own the world, as if nature was there just for us. Chapter 46 tells us that with greed running wild, and without the guidance of the Dao, the world is in danger.

And with this great threat of climate change, the world is in danger today.

Daoism holds the key to finding the way out of these crises because it understands where humanity should be within the Great Order of the Dao. Chapter 42 tells us exactly where we come in this Great Order - as part of the “three” that hold the world together - and it emphasises how we humans are absolutely essential in maintaining the balance of qi in the world.

Daoists’ special role in protecting nature

The role of Daoists was recognised by the Declaration on the Environment created by the China Daoist Association in 1995.

“Daoism has a unique sense of value in that it judges affluence by the number of different species,” the report stated. “If all things in the universe grow well, then a society is a community of affluence. If not, this kingdom is on the decline.”

Daoists are inspired by the Dao De Jing 2,500 years ago, by the Daoist Declaration on the Environment 12 years ago and by the many centuries in between, during which Daoist believers have quietly cared for nature. But what can Daoists actually do?

The True Way

First, Daoists have a very strong teaching about how the way of Power is not the True Way. And today we might also echo chapter one by adding that the way of exploiting this fragile world and thinking that this will costs us nothing, is not the True Way. The way of Material Prosperity as the only worthwhile goal is not the True Way. And the way of human communities existing without regard to the communities of animals, plants, rocks, rivers and mountains that live beside them is not the True Way. By recognising that these are illusions, and living out your belief about the True Way, Daoists can restore a holistic vision of our world and our responsibilities.

Protecting species

Secondly, Daoists can set an example in protecting species. Traditional Chinese Medicine is so important in looking after sick people in China, and it has also become popular around the world. However, some unscrupulous people use the body parts of endangered species such as tigers and rhinoceroses to make their so-called medicine. Or they use the gall of bears kept in terrible conditions in tiny cages. This creates a problem, because a medicine designed to harmonise the vital forces in the body, but which itself destroys the harmonious balance of nature, cannot by definition be good medicine. It is not flowing with the Dao. It is destroying the flow of the Dao. As chapter 39 points out, the Dao has to be in unity with all for the power of the Dao to keep the world, the universe whole.

In 2000, the China Daoist Association set a wonderful example by officially publishing a document which outlawed any use of Traditional Chinese Medicine which used endangered species. This now needs to become more than just good words. It needs to become action. Let’s find ways of curbing this by introducing other prescriptions which do not use endangered animals, and do not destroy virgin forest areas or habitats either.

Caring for resources

Thirdly, you can look at your own resources. Many monasteries and temples own land. But is this managed ecologically and organically? If not, maybe it can be changed.

Many monasteries and temples are on sacred mountains. But do they help protect these mountains – for example by creating tree nurseries or by clearing rubbish from the hillsides? If not, then perhaps this can be changed.

As temples and monasteries are given back to the Daoists, do you restore them in sustainable ways? If not, perhaps this can be changed.

All monasteries and temples use paper, energy, transport and food: but is the paper eco-friendly? Is the energy renewable? Is the transport kept to a minimum and are the foodstuffs free of chemical sprays? And is the monastery itself a model of ecology so that local people can learn from it? Is it built from renewable resources? Is it ecological in its use of gardens and water, and does it have an eco-friendly car park? If not, then perhaps these things can be changed as well.

Training

Finally, Daoists are teachers. Could your monasteries and temples become training centres for traditional and sustainable methods of building, painting, carving and landscaping? We believe you could and we will help you to do this. Can we together, for example, make leaflets for pilgrims to take home from all the great Daoist pilgrimage sites, to teach them how to look after nature? The new Taibaishan ecology temple is doing just this. Let’s make this happen right across China.

Can we together train young people, the poorest of the poor, those who will otherwise have no skills, to become the builders of a new and beautiful China?

Or can we together run special day courses for local farmers or business-people, on how to live as good Daoists for the environment? Using the Taibaishan centre, let’s bring as many workshops there as possible to help train monks and nuns and lay people in how to live a Daoist life which respects and restores our relationship with nature.

Last year a new body called the Temple Alliance on Ecology Education, was set up at the first ecology workshop at Taibaishan. A declaration was made called the Qinling Declaration in which all the participants promised to:

- bring ecological education into temples;
- reduce pollution caused by incense burners etc;
- use farmed land sustainably;
- protect species and forests;
- save energy;
- protect water resources.

The Alliance of Religions and Conservation is willing to help on all these levels. We have been working as partners with China’s Daoists since 1995. We have helped Louguantai create the first ever Daoist ecology temple. We are helping produce Daoist educational materials for use in temples. But we are small and you are great, and we know that you can do so much more.

So let us bring the world back to an understanding of true Dao. As Zhuang Zi says in chapter 12, “Heaven and Earth”:

The Dao, how deep and quiet it lies;
How pure is its clarity!
Without it neither gold not stone would resonate.
The gold and stones have sounds within them
But if they are not struck, then no sound comes forth…

But now I would like to remind you of the last line of this verse…

“All the creatures in this world have dimensions that cannot be calculated.”

Martin Palmer is secretary general of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation.