Tag: ecology

Spiritual environmentalism

June 9, 2020 / John D. / 0 Comments

Biodiversity and Spiritual Well-being

Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change, 2019

Article by Dusty Hoesly et al, Lecturer in Departments of Religious Studies and Asian American Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara

Among government agencies, practitioners and researchers there is growing interest in the potential of natural environments for human health and well-being. In parallel, conserving biodiversity is seen as critical in this effort. Likewise, spiritual well-being is increasingly considered as an important dimension of human health. This chapter examines the interrelationship between biodiversity and spiritual well-being.

Celebrating the connection with nature

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Ethical prescriptions and community practices that can promote ecological conservation are also present in various ‘world religions’ and alternative spiritualities. Whether the divine is seen as transcendent or immanent, dualistic or monistic, the range of beliefs and practices described in this section demonstrate increasing concern for biodiversity and engagement in speciﬁc actions to preserve it.

The Religions of the World and Ecology series from Harvard University Press illustrates the vitality of concern for ecological conservation within many ‘world religions’. The series includes volumes on Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Daoism, Hinduism, Indigenous Traditions, Islam, Jainism and Judaism. Similarly, various ‘world religions’ alongside other spiritual orientations are included in several scholarly handbooks on religion and ecology (e.g. Jenkins et al. 2017), at least one of which includes a chapter on biodiversity. In Hinduism, for example, natural objects such as rivers, trees, stones and animals can manifest the sacred as forms of divinity worthy of devotion and conservation. As one Hindu woman explains: “When I look into the face of the goddess on the tree, I feel a strong connection with this tree”.

Such an orientation can lead to environmental activism, for example, cleaning up the polluted Yamuna River in northern India or protecting sacred groves threatened with deforestation. Similarly, Buddhist environmentalists rely on Buddhist teachings about interdependence to support claims to oneness with nature and conservation. Joanna Macy, an eco-Buddhist activist, writes that in Buddhism the egotistical self is “replaced by wider constructs of identity and self-interest– by what you might call the ecological self or the eco-self, co-extensive with other beings and the life on our planet”. These religious perspectives, based on modern interpretations of ancient traditions, can spur people toward conservation of biodiversity. Indeed, a large-scale ‘religious environmentalism’ movement in America has challenged prior emphases on humanity’s dominion over the earth, instead insisting on ‘creation care’ or ‘stewardship’ as a central religious principle…

New Age and Neopagan spiritualities, including Wicca and Goddess worship, are also engaged in biodiversity conservation, in part because practitioners experience spiritual well-being through interaction with nature. These new religions draw on indigenous traditions, Asian religions and/or Western sources to create holistic spiritualities based on unity with nature and harmony with natural cycles. As Neopagan leader Starhawk writes: “The craft is earth religion, and our basic orien-tation is to the earth, to life, to nature…. All that lives (and all that is, lives), all that serves life, is Goddess” . Identiﬁcation with nature in all its diverse manifestations impels Neopagans to protect nature through social engagement and religious practice. One survey study showed that members of such alternative spirituality movements view both experiences in nature and environmental actions as spiritual. One practitioner of this Gaia-centered spirituality said that “getting back to the earth” means to “give back and give thanks to the earth, and be more of that one community… [of] oneness”. Based on these views and experiences with nature, many Neopagan and New Age people engage in ecological activism and preservation efforts, including “recycling, tree-planting, alternative energy strategies, petitions, and so forth”.

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In addition to spiritual beliefs and practices that can foster respect and action for biodiversity, we found ample sources on sacred natural sites as repositories of biodiversity. Spiritual values and taboos associated with sacred natural sites can help to preserve biodiversity In this context, sacred places are natural areas that have special signiﬁcance for local communities, often linked to religious myths or rites…. Additionally, conservation of these sites aids the preservation of local cultures and their traditional ecological knowledges.Of particular interest amongst researchers in this area are sacred groves and sacred forests.

Sacred forest at Togakushi Jinja in Nagano

Sacred groves are patches of natural vegetation dedicated to local deities and protected by religious tenets and cultural traditions; they may also be tree-stands raised in honor of heroes and warriors and maintained by the local community. Taboos against over-harvesting, harming particular sacred species or disrupting the ecological balance of sacred groves and forests can preserve species richness. For example, the Nkodurom and Pinkwae sacred groves in Ghana have been protected through traditional beliefs and taboos, resulting in preservation of threatened mollusk, turtle, monkey and heron species.

In India, the number and spatial distribution of sacred groves creates a network that preserves “a sizable portion of the local biodiversity in areas where it would not be feasible to maintain large tracts of protected forests”. Local traditions that include worshipping trees in a sacred grove helped to preserve a rare bat species, and, in another area, spiritual beliefs about a hidden shrine within a sacred grove preserved riparian forests and streams.

In central Italy, local Catholic practices around pilgrimage sites have helped to conserve biodiversity through preserving relic habitats and vegetation assemblages, protecting old growth forests and tree species, and maintaining greater habitat heterogeneity due to sacred grottos and water sources. Reﬂecting on forest preservation by the ofﬁcial association of Shinto shrines in Japan, Rots (2015) observes: “The signiﬁcance of these forests … extends well beyond ecology and nature conservation proper. Constituting continuity between the present and the ancestral past, they have come to be seen as local community centers that provide social cohesion and spiritual well-being” (p. 209).

Many studies of biodiversity at sacred sites have used standard ecological survey techniques of tree species diversity, tree species richness, regeneration status, ﬂoristic surveys of vegetation composition and ethnobotanical uses of species. An alternative approach was taken by Anderson et al. in documenting the biodiversity of sacred mountains in the Himalayas of Tibet. Existing vegetation maps and geo-graphic information systems (GIS) were used to remotely assess species composition, diversity and frequency of useful and endemic plant species. Sacred mountains had signiﬁcantly greater overall species diversity than surrounding areas. These studies highlight the various measures being used to document biodiversity preservation in sacred protected areas.

A bridge transporting the visitor into a sacred world of nature and renewal

Forest bathing

June 15, 2019 / John D. / 0 Comments

The delightfully secluded Kuzuryu Shrine set in the woods

Getting back to nature: how forest bathing can make us feel better

The Japanese have known for years that spending mindful time in the woods is beneficial for body and soul. Now western doctors – and royals – agree

Forest bathing and renewal Harriet Sherwood in The Observer Sat 8 Jun 2019

Every day, apart from when it’s raining heavily, Dr Qing Li heads to a leafy park near the Nippon Medical School in Tokyo where he works. It’s not just a pleasant place to eat his lunch; he believes the time spent under the trees’ canopy is a critical factor in the fight against diseases, of the mind and body.

Once a month Li spends three days in forests near Tokyo, using all five senses to connect with the environment and clear his mind. This practice of shinrin-yoku – literally, forest bath – has the power to counter illnesses including cancer, strokes, gastric ulcers, depression, anxiety and stress, he says. It boosts the immune system, lowers blood pressure and aids sleep. And soon it could be prescribed by British doctors.

Rees & Mount Aspiring National Park Dart and Cascade Saddle Track

Last week the Woodland Trust suggested forest bathing – which doesn’t, despite its name, involve getting in water – should be among a range of non-medical therapies and activities recommended by GPs’ surgeries to boost patients’ boost well-being. ‘Social prescribing’ is a growing movement in the NHS, can include volunteering, gardening, sports activities, cookery and befriending.

“Forest bathing is an opportunity for people to take time out, slow down and connect with nature. We think it could be part of the mix of activities for social prescription,” Stuart Dainton of the Woodland Trust told the Observer. “Evidence about its benefits is building.”

Shinrin-yoku was developed in the 1980s in Japan. Although people had been taking walks in the country’s forests for centuries, new studies showed that such activity could reduce blood pressure, lower cortisol levels and improve concentration and memory. A chemical released by trees and plants, called phytoncides, was found to boost the immune system. As more research highlighted the benefits of shinrin-yoku, the Japanese government incorporated it into the country’s health programme.

Li – now president of the Society for Forest Medicine in Japan, and the author of Shinrin-Yoku: The Art and Science of Forest Bathing – is a world expert and has conducted numerous studies. “It’s a preventative medicine, not a treatment,” he told the Observer. People spend their lives increasingly indoors, he said. About 80% of Japan’s population lives in urban areas, and the average American now spends more than 90% of their time indoors. But we are designed to be connected to the natural world, to “listen to the wind and taste the air”.

The Duchess of Cambridge visits her garden at Chelsea Flower Show in London. It was inspired by shinrin-yoku.

His book offers this advice for the practice of shinrin-yoku: “Make sure you have left your phone and camera behind. You are going to be walking aimlessly and slowly. You don’t need any devices. Let your body be your guide. Listen to where it wants to take you. Follow your nose. And take your time. It doesn’t matter if you don’t get anywhere. You are not going anywhere. You are savouring the sounds, smells and sights of nature and letting the forest in.”

Gary Evans, who set up the Forest Bathing Institute in the UK last year, said: “People initially think they’ve been doing this all their lives: going for a walk in the woods. But it might be a brisk walk, or you might be worrying about where the dog has got to. “A better way to frame forest bathing is mindful time spent under the canopy of trees for health and wellbeing purposes.”

The woods at Shimogamo Jinja in Kyoto offer a shining example of the work that Shinto shrines can do with their sacred groves

A typical session might last three hours, and begin with an explanation of the history and science of shinrin-yoku. “Then it’s about sensory exercises,” said Evans. “We try to hold people’s attention in the present moment, to give their bodies and minds a chance to slow down. We move very slowly, touching the trees, looking at colours and patterns, and breathing deeply. We end up lying down under trees and looking up through the branches.”

Shades of green and blue, the colours of the forest and the sky, were the most relaxing, he said. Looking at nature’s patterns helped to stop thoughts spinning in the head.

After a slow start, interest in forest bathing had taken off, Evans said. Officials from national and local government have made inquiries, and Evans addressed 40 doctors at Frimley Park hospital in Surrey last month on the benefits. GPs in the county have expressed interest in social prescribing of forest bathing. The Forest Bathing Institute is training people to become shinrin-yoku guides.

“The rocket ship has left the launch pad,” Evans said. “There is a growing recognition by the medical profession of the value of forest bathing. But we’re 40 years behind Japan. We need doctors and scientists here to start some studies on the physiological and psychological impact.”

One UK study, carried out by King’s College London and published in January 2018, found that exposure to trees, the sky and birdsong in cities improved mental wellbeing. The benefits were still evident several hours after the exposure.

“Even just 20 minutes can help, though 10 hours a month is even better,” said Dainton. “If you live in a city, you may not be able to get to a forest easily, but taking off your shoes in the park and feeling the grass will help you de-stress.”

A study of 585 Japanese people published last year said that city dwellers were “constantly exposed to stressors” and that “urban living is associated with increased risk of health problems”, including anxiety, depression and psychosis.

It concluded: “The psychological benefits of walking through forests are very significant … Urban planners should pay more attention to maintaining and increasing accessible greenery in urban areas. The beneficial effects of nature suggest a simple, accessible and cost-effective method to improve the quality of life and health of urban residents.”

Trees of life

Shinto’s greenness

May 18, 2015 / John D. / 0 Comments

New greenery at Tadasu no mori, Shimogamo Shrine’s sacred grove. These abodes of the kami are held up as shining examples of Shinto’s greenness, but preserving a grove can go hand-in-hand with environmentally destructive policies elsewhere.

Michael Pye is an English academic who has worked at Marburg and Kyoto. He is on the committee of ISSA (International Shinto Studies Association) and has just published what looks like an interesting book on Japan’s Buddhist pilgrimages. On the academic.edu site, he has recently posted a revised version of a talk on the environment and Shinto he first gave in 1995 entitled Can Shinto think Green?

The conclusions Pye reaches are central to the concerns of Green Shinto, and the premises on which they are based will be of interest to the readers of this blog. Many Westerners are drawn to Shinto in the belief that as a nature religion it must be ‘green’, but within Japan such thinking seems simplistic. ‘In fact, Shintō, like most religions, has a somewhat ambivalent relationship to environmental matters,’ writes Pye.

What follows is a summarised account of the paper, and quotations are given with the permission of the author. (The full paper of ‘Can Shinto think Green?’ can be accessed here.)

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Can Shintō think Green? Introductory Remarks on Shintō, the Environment and Industry
by Michael Pye, Marburg.

Sacred waterfall at Matsuo Taisha. Shinto is particularist, and not all waterfalls are sacred…

One of the first issues Pye addresses is the orientation of Shinto in terms of ethics, and he notes the juxtaposition of ‘a religion of the Japanese people’ which ‘mainly promotes a national perspective’ as opposed to the universal nature of the environmental crisis. In terms of Shinto’s early development which grew out of its close relationship to nature, Pye asserts that it was ‘a question of the regulation and manipulation of natural forces, rather than of any kind of romantic love of nature.’ Moreover, as Green Shinto has noted on previous occasions, it is by no means evident that worship of particular items of sacralised nature leads to any significant change in environmental attitude or behaviour. The conservation of sacred trees for instance has gone hand in hand with the large-scale destruction of forests in south-east Asia .

In terms of moral values, Pye notes the emphasis on purity, sincerity and honesty. He notes too a contrast between the particularism of Shinto, whose concern is broadly limited to the frontiers of Japan, and the universalism of Buddhism. Given that water, air and sunshine are shared by humankind, Pye suggests that geographical restrictions are out of place in the face of a global crisis and that, while refraining from being seen to meddle in Japan’s affairs, ‘It is good to emphasize that progressive efforts for environmental protection would meet with world-wide recognition. That is always welcome.’

Pye then gives a concrete example of how change might be encouraged in Japan, which is worth quoting here at length:

Calling for a change of attitude is best done in conjunction with political and economic pressure. Specially targeted conferences and symposia are probably the most effective means of mounting influence from outside Japan, because they are often reported in the media. Responsible participation can be encouraged by the psychologically effective method of planning such symposia on the basis of mutual partnership and exchange.

International collaboration is one way of drawing Shinto into matters of universal concern.

A meeting on environmental questions in Germany, for example, could be complemented by a follow-up meeting to be held in Japan, and so envisaged in the planning stage. Moreover, funding is more likely to be forthcoming. Since the meeting in Japan then refers back to the previous meeting in Germany, it is able to have a much stronger effect on public opinion. For similar reasons, the participation and financial support of industry in both countries should be aimed at. Support in the form of subsidies only may lead into the blind alley of alibi-production, and would be analogous to the donations which flow from the major Japanese companies to the Shintō shrines. Such donations have above all an exorcising function and are supposed to ensure peace, safety and prosperity. It is therefore desirable to have direct representation from industry to industry, in the presence of other experts, ensuring that the environmental aspect remains on the agenda.

By way of conclusion, Pye considers whether Shinto representatives will be prepared to truly ‘go green’, or whether they will just use the word ‘nature’ as a feelgood factor to win popularity. In other words, will the Shinto establishment adopt ‘greenwashing’ as a tactic to project a sympathetic image? Noting that Shinto is an adapted primal religion, he states that throughout history it has undergone change reactively rather than proactively. If indeed it is to be truly a nature religion rather than a national religion, then it will probably need to be nudged in the right direction.

‘So, in the last analysis,’ Pye concludes, ‘there is a question to be posed. Are Shintō leaders prepared to think “green”? The question is urgent.’

Westerners sometimes have an idealised view of Shinto as a religion of nature worship, but Shinto in Japan often has concerns that are far removed from environmentalism.