Latest Update – INEB Eco Temple https://www.eco-temple.net Promoting Eco-Temple Culture in Asia Thu, 02 Jul 2026 09:57:37 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.1 https://www.eco-temple.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/cropped-eco-32x32.png Latest Update – INEB Eco Temple https://www.eco-temple.net 32 32 Ecological Incense Production – Improving Health and Sustainability on Temple Grounds in Beijing https://www.eco-temple.net/ecological-incense-production/ Mon, 29 Jun 2026 03:40:39 +0000 https://www.eco-temple.net/?p=5823

A Breath of Fresh Air: Where Science Meets Spirituality

by Linus Dolfini

Bangkok, June 26, 2026

This article is based on an interview with Hongbai Zhu, a Chinese high school student from Beijing who has committed himself to promoting sustainable and healthy alternatives to the widespread traditional incense.

Our meeting with Hongbai Zhu takes place via Zoom on a Sunday morning in mid-June. Hongbai is a Beijing-based high school student majoring in chemistry and religious studies who has begun developing his own initiative to create healthier, more eco-friendly formulas for incense sticks – an everyday item widely used in Chinese temples, public buildings, and homes. According to Hongbai, his own family, like most Chinese families today, does not actively follow any religion or participate in religious practices. However, his studies in religious education have sparked a deep interest in exploring the traditions of different faiths such as Buddhism or Christianity. In his free time, he enjoys visiting temples and churches, learning about their histories and practices, and connecting with people from diverse backgrounds. It was this curiosity, combined with his knowledge as a chemistry student, that ultimately inspired his work on sustainable incense.

Guangji Temple in Beijing where Hongbai conducted a field survey

The idea for his project emerged while he was visiting a local temple in Beijing. Upon entering the temple, Hongbai realized that a dense smoke was covering the interior as well as the area surrounding the temple, obstructing the view. The smoke rising from the burning incense was dense and white, which raised concerns about air quality that may affect both the health of those nearby and the surrounding environment. He decided to address this issue by trying to develop a more sustainable alternative to conventional incense, using natural materials instead of relying on synthetic chemicals. Through online research and experimenting at the school’s laboratory, he identified alternative formulas that allowed him to produce his first batch of environmentally friendly incense sticks. These new incense sticks emit fewer toxic particulates by containing natural ingredients such as calcium carbonate and bamboo charcoal powder which makes them burn more cleanly.

Hongbai explains that he would not classify himself as a believer or follower of one particular religion, yet through his studies and his personal interest he discovered certain spiritual practices that resonate with him on a personal level. As a high school student, he is all too familiar with the pressure of achieving high grades, gaining admission to prestigious universities, and competing in a demanding academic environment. Meditation offers a valuable balance, helping to calm the mind, regain focus, and restore a sense of inner stability. Hongbai believes that such practices are particularly beneficial for students, who often face intense expectations and stress. Overall, religious teachings can remind people to focus on what truly matters and to direct one’s energy toward making a meaningful difference rather than becoming consumed by external pressures. So, upon realizing the significance of the pollution that can be caused by chemical incense it was clear to him that he was in the right position to try and address this issue.

After conducting some initial research – which was also supported by his chemistry teacher – Hongbai worked at the school’s laboratory to put his new insights into practice. He conducted ratio tests with different materials such as bamboo charcoal powder, lemongrass powder and calcium carbonate, comparing the gases emitted by each of the different combinations. Measuring the emission rates without access to professional equipment proved a bit challenging. Nevertheless, Hongbai found a simple way to make an initial comparison between traditional chemical incense and his own experimental formulas. He lit the different types of incense, including traditional ones as well as his own mixtures with different ingredient ratios, in front of a sheet of white paper and recorded the smoke they produced. This allowed him to visually compare the amount and density of the emissions from each sample. While some emitted a lot of light gray smoke – a clear sign of unhealthy and unsustainable emissions – others burn with little to no visible emissions which in turn is a strong indicator of the effectiveness of that ratio. Another way to detect and compare the different gases was to burn each incense next to a jar of calcium hydroxide. Once the sulfur dioxide – which is one of the harmful gases emitted by burning traditional incense – enters calcium hydroxide in its liquid state, it forms a white compound that does not dissolve, therefore indicating how clean the emissions are. By comparing the traditional formula to his own formula, Hongbai discovered that his newly developed incense emits much less sulfur dioxide compared to the commonly used ones.

One of the challenges when producing this new eco-friendly incense has turned out to be including different fragrances. This is due to the fact that many fragrances contain high amounts of lignin, an aromatic biopolymer, so these fragrances emit Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) when they are burned. VOCs are a category of carbon-based chemicals, many of which are harmful. So, when trying to create fragrant incense, it is important to only use powders with limited amounts of lignin. As a result, the range of fragrances that can be incorporated into these new incense formulations is currently limited.

Currently, Hongbai is developing this initiative on his own. Alongside school and homework, he typically dedicates around five hours each week to his research and experimentation. At times, however, especially when conducting in-depth research or documenting his work on video, he spends an entire day or even a full weekend on the project. His dedication has already led to some promising results. His school has been very supportive of his commitment and by keeping them informed on his progress, as the teaching assistant of his high school’s chemistry competition class he led a hands-on workshop for other students, teaching them how to produce these new alternative incense sticks. He also approached the school’s administration to explain the health and environmental benefits of using eco-friendly incense instead of conventional alternatives. He provided the school with 60 of his new handmade incense sticks, which were placed in the school bathrooms to replace the commonly used chemical ones and to test their effectiveness. Hongbai explains that burning incense is not only something that takes place at temples and their use is not necessarily connected to religious activities. Instead, the use of incense is widespread in Chinese households as well as public buildings – such as schools – where they are commonly placed to freshen the air. Developing new formulas for incense sticks is therefore not only beneficial for the environment but also for public health. It has recently been proven by numerous studies that exposure to incense over time can increase the risk of cancer due to the emission of harmful fine particulate matter (PM2.5) as well as other gases such as the above-mentioned sulfur dioxide that can be found in cigarette smoke.

Temples as religious institutions are not as important as they used to be in contemporary China and their roles in society can be compared to those of Catholic and Protestant churches in Europe. Chinese people in general are still influenced by Buddhist traditions just as Christian traditions are still important in European countries and the religious heritage has not completely disappeared despite the society becoming more secular. However, most Chinese people do not visit places of worship such as temples regularly in order to practice a religion. Many temples have become places of cultural heritage, some now famous tourist attractions which are mostly visited on an irregular basis by tourists and people who want to pray for good luck when facing significant life events.

The temple that initially inspired Hongbai to create his own initiative was very receptive when he first contacted them to introduce his project and explain that he would like to support them in addressing the pollution issue they face on their grounds. In fact, the temple confirmed that they would like to try out some of the new incense to test their effectiveness. For Hongbai supplying the temple is another big step. So far, he has been producing incense on his own by hand using tools he acquired specifically for that purpose. Now he is looking for producers that could handle a big order and mass-produce incense according to the formula he has developed. Supplying the temple with incense would require him to be able to send them up to 1000 sticks, an amount that is too large for one person to produce by hand. As soon as he finds a producer, he would like to reach out to other temples and religious institutions to convince them of the benefits of sustainable products and further spread his idea. Hongbai states that he plans to expand the initiative throughout his studies to hopefully create partnerships beyond Beijing to other parts of China as well as countries like Japan and Thailand.

]]> A Week on Koh Yor – Eco-Dharma Camp Report https://www.eco-temple.net/eco-dharma-camp-2026-report/ Wed, 27 May 2026 08:15:12 +0000 https://www.eco-temple.net/?p=5778

Exploring the Connection Between Buddhism and Ecology

by Linus Dolfini

Bangkok, May 27, 2026

From May 10th to May 16th, the Eco-Temple team from the INEB Secretariat in Bangkok traveled to the South of Thailand to join the Bhikkhunis of the Thippayasathan Dhamma Arama on Koh Yor, near Hat Yai, in conducting the first ever edition of the Eco-Dharma Camp. The main intention behind the camp was to strengthen connections among INEB members and monastics living in Thailand while exploring the deeply interconnected relationship between Buddhism and ecology.

At the heart of the camp was the understanding that Buddhism cannot be fully practiced without engagement. The teachings are not meant to be applied only inwardly through meditation and mindfulness in one’s personal daily life while remaining disconnected from the Dukkha present throughout the world. Buddhism must respond to the realities of society, community, and the natural environment. True wisdom emerges through genuine engagement, when personal struggles become connected with the struggles of others – from a community level to the global level – and when the state of the natural world is recognized as part of our shared existence. By acknowledging this interconnectedness and incorporating it into both practice and livelihood, the participants were able to explore a more holistic and engaged understanding of the Dharma.

The Bhikkhuni Arama on Koh Yor is a wonderful place located in a small, quiet town along the coast of Songkhla Lake. The Bhikkhunis live a simple and self-sufficient life, with a strong emphasis on community, which made it the perfect setting for our program. Throughout the week, all the speakers and participants committed themselves to the monastic lifestyle. Most of the participants were members of the Arama itself, with two monks joining from outside. The INEB team travelled from Bangkok while guest speakers came from all across Thailand.

The accommodations were small, stilted huts that provided just enough space for one person to lie down. Everyone shared communal showers and bathrooms, and the huts and the meeting rooms were cooled only by fans. Meals were eaten together as a community; some of the food was prepared by the Bhikkhunis themselves, while the rest was collected during the traditional morning alms round. This simple way of living set the right tone for the entire camp, allowing everyone to focus on what truly mattered: practicing the spiritual teachings and building genuine connections among the members of the Eco-Dharma Camp.

Everyone who joined the program benefited greatly from the experience, gaining exposure to new concepts and perspectives that broadened their understanding of both Buddhism and ecology. As one Bhikkhuni reflected, “one of the wonderful things about contributing to this network of people is that we all come from a Buddhist tradition.” Sharing this foundation created a unique space for dialogue, allowing participants to exchange their understandings of our world combined with the knowledges and experiences each person had cultivated throughout their lives. Sharing a spiritual foundation also shaped the way participants approached issues such as the climate emergency. Rather than falling into despair or wallowing in lost hopes, Buddhism offers an awareness of the natural cycles through which all things arise, flourish, decline, and eventually fade away. Within this understanding of impermanence, there is a certain sense of comfort and balance. However, it is important to state that at the same time, the Buddhist perspective is far from indifferent to the condition of the world; on the contrary, it carries a deep concern for the suffering experienced by both humanity and the natural environment. Through the lens of Buddhist philosophy, much of this suffering can be understood as arising from the “three poisons”: attachment, aversion, and delusion. Reflecting on these root causes helps practitioners engage with the world in a grounded and compassionate way, without becoming overwhelmed by its difficulties. This approach encourages practitioners to look both outward and inward. While recognizing the suffering and crises present in our world and the root causes that lead to them, Buddhist practitioners also search for these causes within themselves and try to eradicate them on a personal level. This connection between the inner and outer world is extremely important as it will ultimately lead to a more calm, balanced, and clear view of all the developments around us.

For these reasons, the program connected theoretical and practical lessons on ecology with daily spiritual practice. The first day focused on the relationship between inner and outer ecology, encouraging participants to experience the natural environment mindfully through all five senses and to reflect on the connections between humans and their surroundings, the body’s response to being in nature, and the influence it has on one’s state of mind. The second day explored sustainable livelihood practices for rural communities that do not rely on harming the natural environment, particularly forests. Throughout this session, guest speakers from the Thai Rak Pa Foundation shared valuable insights from their work in forest protection and community engagement.

The third day included a practical workshop in which participants explored simple, affordable, and environmentally friendly ways to produce fertilizer and cleaning materials. This session was especially valuable for the Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis, as local monasteries – especially ones led by female monastics – often operate with limited financial resources, unlike larger temples in cities such as Bangkok or Chiang Mai. Hence, affordability is an essential aspect of sustainable living for smaller institutions. The workshop resonated with the Bhikkhunis for another reason as well. Their Arama as well as the surrounding communities were severely affected by flooding last year when heavy rainfalls caused Songkhla Lake to overflow. Drawing from this experience, they emphasized the importance of cleaning materials in the aftermath of natural disasters. While emergency assistance often ensures sufficient access to food and fresh water during the crisis itself, the greater challenge begins once the floodwaters recede and aid responders depart, leaving communities to manage extensive cleaning and infrastructure repairs on their own.

The fourth day focused on environmental campaigning and was led by a representative from Greenpeace Thailand. The session aimed to provide participants with a better understanding of effective communication strategies and how environmental campaigns can develop narratives that resonate with the public while supporting their broader goals. In the context of Thailand, much of the messaging still needs to address the basic realities of climate change, such as raising awareness of how climate change contributes to extreme weather events like increasingly heavy and irregular rainfall, which in turn leads to severe flooding.

The success of the program largely came from the integration of the workshop components into everyday monastic life, with guest speakers, organizers, and outside participants invited to join the Bhikkhunis in their daily activities such as morning chanting, the morning alms round, meditation practices, and Dharma talks held before breakfast and lunch. Although the discussions often took place on an intellectual level, the Buddhist practices helped participants remain grounded and engage with the topics on a deeper, more experiential level while critically reflecting on the concepts being discussed. At the same time the sessions were not only based on discussions but included hands-on practices as well. Through this immersive approach, the Eco-Dharma Camp managed to successfully bring together its two central themes – ecology and Buddhism – allowing them to intersect on practical, spiritual, and intellectual levels.

]]> Reimagining Waste Management: Sustainable Practices at Bangkok’s Wat Chak Daeng https://www.eco-temple.net/a-temple-turned-recycling-center/ Thu, 21 May 2026 06:34:11 +0000 https://www.eco-temple.net/?p=5701

A Temple Turned Recycling Center

by Linus Dolfini

Bangkok, May 21, 2026

The temple of Wat Chak Daeng is located on Bang Krachao, the so-called green lung of Bangkok, an artificial river island in the South of the city. It’s situated directly on the riverbank near the famous Bhumibol Bridge. The temple was established over 250 years ago, back in 1757 as a center for students of Abhidhamma. Since the early 2000s, however, Wat Chak Daeng has turned from a traditional monastery into a place that takes on a proactive role in addressing environmental challenges, particularly waste management. Nowadays the temple is not only a spiritual hub but also a leader in sustainability efforts. Its most famous project has become the innovative approach of gathering and processing plastic bottles into monks’ robes. This initiative is part of the temple’s broader commitment to creating a cleaner, more sustainable environment for future generations.

The temple’s abbot, Phra Maha Pranom, has been involved in waste management and fighting Bangkok’s waste pollution issues for two decades now. He recalls how on a trip to Taiwan, he was introduced to the advanced Taiwanese system, which manages to recycle large quantities of waste. This inspired him to advance recycling efforts in his monastery as well. It took him over ten years to establish the first successful recycling project, since sorting garbage and recycling was a foreign concept at the time for most people in Bangkok. The abbot also had to face criticism from monks of other monasteries who felt that waste management and environmental projects were not the responsibilities of Buddhist monks. Additionally, the temple faced financial issues, it did not have the means to sustain large scale recycling efforts. Phra Maha Pranom explains how in the beginning, he was doing everything by himself, with the help of a handful monks from the monastery. One of the monks at the time had been an environmental engineer before his ordination and was familiar with different recycling strategies, so together they developed a way to extract oil from melted plastic wraps so it could be reused. However, this method turned out to be too inefficient and they had to give it up. A turning point came when a visitor introduced the abbot to the concept of turning plastic waste into textiles. This idea inspired the abbot and thirteen years after his initial efforts he managed to establish a partnership with a large chemical company that is based in Bangkok. Together they were able to develop the necessary infrastructure and launch the project of turning recycled plastic bottles into monk’s robes.

The recycling process as it works today starts with gathering the plastic bottles. On the grounds of the monastery there’s a spot where people can come to and drop off their used bottles. Recently the monastery has also started working with other organizations and companies, to receive even more used plastic bottles from them for their project. These bottles then get cleaned and sorted. This work is mostly done by people from the community who have a hard time finding other work – elderly people, Burmese immigrants, or disabled people. For them, the work at the temple which is compensated provides the chance to earn a small income. Once the bottles are prepared, they are sent to factories where they are shredded into small particles. These particles are used to produce eco-friendly fabric, which is then dyed and sent back to the temple, where the fabric is made into monk’s robes and newly also other items of clothing such as skirts, shirts, or hats. To make a complete set of a sarong, undergarment, and robe, 60 plastic bottles are required. Due to the higher costs of producing these sustainable textiles, the robes are double the price of regularly produced ones. There is a solid demand, yet 2024 was the first year since the Covid-19 pandemic where the temple managed to create a small profit from the sales of the robes and other clothing. According to the abbot the partnerships with large companies, he managed to establish are vital for the temple’s projects. Without support, Wat Chak Daeng could not sustain its efforts in the same manner as it is doing now.

Recycling plastic bottles is only one of Wat Chak Daeng’s environmental initiatives. Parallel to the development of the robe-production, the temple also established a way to create organic fertilizer. For that matter, organic waste from the kitchen as well as all the leaves and other greenery the monks collect when cleaning the grounds are gathered and used to manufacture fertilizer. This process takes place on the temple grounds. The temple sells the product to farmers so they can replace the chemical fertilizers which are especially harmful to humans and amongst other negative effects lead to increased air and groundwater pollution. However, the temple faces the same issue here as with the robes, the fertilizer that they produce is more expensive than its chemical counterparts, so finding buyers is a challenge.

Furthermore, the temple gathers aluminum that people can dispose there just like the plastic bottles. Together with engineers from Chulalongkorn University they recently developed a machine with which plastic can be removed from aluminum products. The oil is then distracted from the plastic and the pure aluminum is compressed into small compact pieces. The oil is not of a high quality but one of the monks explained that it can for example be used for cremation for instance. The compressed pieces of the metal are sold to companies who use it for their own productions. One kilogram can be sold for 70 baht.

These comprehensive approaches reflect the monks’ believes that living according to Lord Buddha’s teachings also includes addressing local and global environmental crises. Buddha’s teaching that “there is a solution to every problem” underpins the temple’s philosophy, making inaction in the face of environmental degradation unthinkable. The idea of recycling materials is not a modern invention. It traces back to the time of Lord Buddha, who, along with his followers, reportedly made robes from discarded fabrics found in trash piles or shrouds. Even when a robe was too used to wear, it would be repurposed into a matrass or a floor mat. This ancient practice echoes modern principles of a circular economy, reminding us that if we shift our mindset and find value in old or discarded materials, we can significantly reduce waste.

Here however, a discrepancy exists between the current efforts of Wat Chak Daeng, and the ancient practices and ideas taught by Lord Buddha. Wat Chak Daeng has established ways to address the waste pollution in Bangkok, by managing the produced waste, and successfully recycling it into products, so it can be reused. Yet, these efforts only pose a holding action. They do not address the issue of the waste being produced in the first place. This would be a critical step to move forward towards a circular economy. Because the plastic waste that’s produced still causes issues, even if it can be managed and repurposed. The production of plastic widely depends on fossil raw materials such as oil and gas, which makes single use bottles, bags, and containers extremely unsustainable. Furthermore, the wide use of plastic products – including clothing that is made from recycled materials – leads to increased levels of microplastic in our environment. This poses a threat to humans and animals since the ingestion of microplastic goes hand in hand with inflammatory reactions and toxicological effects. These days microplastic can be found in various products, such as fish, milk, honey or drinking water. Combating waste pollution through large-scale recycling measures is a major step forward compared to the situation just 10 years ago and it has helped to improve the waste situation in Bangkok. Yet, it cannot be the final solution to the fundamental problem of mass consumption.

Wat Chak Daeng’s sustainability efforts however also have had other beneficial effects. They have led to social changes within and outside the temple. 20 years ago, when Prah Maha Pranom started advocating for more sustainability he stood by himself. The people from the community around the monastery as well as monks from other monasteries didn’t pay much attention to the issue of waste pollution and recycling was a new concept to them. However, over the years Wat Chak Daeng’s efforts started to influence the perceptions of the people outside the monastery. More and more individuals from the surrounding community started to dispose their sorted waste on the temple grounds. One of the main reasons in the beginning must have been, that at Wat Chak Daeng you don’t have to bring gifts such as food to make merit, but instead you can donate your plastic bottles. Recently the mindset of people has changed so much that some have started to collect waste themselves, because they learned about the possibility to earn an additional income by reselling aluminum, paper or plastic to certain companies that use it for their production.

Its recycling projects have made Wat Chak Daeng more widely known, which in turn has led to the temple being more involved with the community around it. There have been numerous newspapers visiting the temple to report on its ongoing projects. Other monasteries have started to show interest and have established regular contact to learn about what they’re doing at Wat Chak Daeng and to adopt certain strategies for their own temples. Furthermore, there are school visits to the temple, where students are taught about recycling and the importance of reducing waste as much as possible and all the ways in which used products can be repurposed. According to the abbot the temple is now affiliated with 100 monasteries and around 400 schools who are all interested in Wat Chak Daeng and learning about its recycling efforts. For the people from the surrounding communities, the temple has started doing recycling workshops, where once a month everyone who’s interested in helping and learning more can come to the temple to support them in their efforts.

Over the last 20 years and thanks to the efforts of its abbot Phra Maha Pranom, Wat Chak Daeng has evolved from a traditional Buddhist monastery into an environmental leader who displays how profoundly religious institutions can impact sustainability. Through its innovative recycling projects – turning plastic bottles into clothing, producing organic fertilizer, and making use of disposed aluminum – the temple has not only managed to find ways to address the immediate waste pollution issue in Bangkok but has also fostered social change. By engaging with the local community, awareness about environmental issues was raised and recycling was introduced to a wider audience and became more mainstream. Following the example of Wat Chak Daeng, people have learned how to help address the problem of waste pollution on an individual level with a few simple steps. Separate your waste and find out where you can dispose of it properly. Try to reuse products and give them a new purpose instead of throwing them away. And above all, try to reduce your consumption of disposable products and use reusable shopping bags, bottles, food containers, etc. instead. By trying to find and promote solutions Wat Chak Daeng managed to connect to hundreds of monasteries and schools all over Thailand, which are now learning about its practices and trying to adopt them. Partnerships with large companies have made it possible for the temple to significantly increase its capacity to gather and manage wasted materials. And there is no end in sight, as Wat Chak Daeng will continue to work on expanding its efforts and address the waste pollution and sustainability issues in and around Bangkok. It is a reminder of the potential of originally small-scale approaches by spiritual and religious leaders, and how significant they can become for the communities around them.

]]> Santi Asoke: Practicing Engaged Buddhism https://www.eco-temple.net/the-ecology-of-simple-living/ Thu, 21 May 2026 05:15:14 +0000 https://www.eco-temple.net/?p=5683

The Ecology of Simple Living

by Linus Dolfini

Bangkok, May 21, 2026

This article is based on a visit to the Santi Asoke community in the northeast of Bangkok where we were welcomed by temple staff and Bhikkhunis who introduced us to Santi Asoke’s work and their way of practicing, showed us around the temple’s facilities and sat down for a short interview.

Santi Asoke is the name of an ascetic Buddhist sect that was established in Thailand in the 1970s by a monk called Phra Bodhirak. Originally, Phra Bodhirak was a popular television entertainer and singer who later on in his life decided to follow a different path and ordain as a monk. In the 1960s and 70s, Buddhism in Thailand was often practiced less strictly than the teachings prescribed, a tendency that Phra Bodhirak began to criticize openly after his ordination. He openly criticized many of his fellow monks for engaging in what he saw as worldly pleasures, including alcohol consumption, gambling, and sexual affairs, questioning their genuine commitment to following the Buddha’s teachings. In 1975 he declared independence from his original Sangha and founded the Asoke community which incorporated elements of both Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism. Santi Asoke emphasized on overcoming Dhukka on a personal level by closely following the Dharma whilst also stressing the importance of helping others by engaging with the surrounding communities. Contrary to monks at established temples, this new movement focused on living a simple and sufficient lifestyle by practicing Buddhism in a more strict and disciplined way. The monastics committed to a strict vegetarian diet and refrained from engaging in sexual activities or the consumption of alcohol and cigarettes – as is traditionally required in Theravada Buddhism. Since its founding, the community has also committed to remaining strictly peaceful and non-violent. During my visit of Santi Asoke in the northeast of Bangkok one monastic explained to me that “having enemies and carrying the kind of anger it brings, is the worst thing for any practitioner.” This strict and disciplined way of practicing whilst remaining peaceful and trying to reach out and engage socially, attracted many lay people. They felt inspired by how Phra Bodhirak and the Asoke community interpreted, and taught Buddhism and they became followers themselves.

Santi Asoke had to overcome many obstacles throughout the years. In the 1980s Phra Bodhirak and other members were prosecuted because they acted as an official Buddhist order and performed ordinations without being recognized by the Thai Sangha. Furthermore, they actively engaged in peaceful protests and civil disobedience movements. A Bhikkhuni explained to me that these obstacles have always been seen as opportunities to grow and upgrade the movement. Every confrontation gives the community a chance to take a moment and examine whether they are still on the right path. “Every obstacle makes you consider the situation you are in, and therefore presents a chance to gain more wisdom”.

One persistent challenge that Santi Asoke has continuously tried to address has been the environmental crises. The movement has tried to show people alternative ways to live by promoting a simple and sufficient lifestyle. As members of the community point out, nowadays many people live extremely comfortable lifestyles and are oblivious to the suffering they are creating for themselves and others. When visiting Santi Asoke’s temple in Bangkok, it quickly becomes clear how important the connection to nature is for the community members. The temple grounds are nestled within a beautiful small forest that, upon entering, makes you immediately forget the mega-city surrounding it. The architecture of the temple facilities is extremely impressive. Trees did not simply get removed to build housing; they were incorporated into the design of the temple. In small ponds the temple saves and recycles water that is used in the kitchens, bathroom, and showers. The temple grounds include a pagoda, office buildings, restaurants, markets, workshop, living quarters and even a school.

In the Santi Asoke community’s environmental work cannot be separated from its social engagements. Both are complementary. All services and projects are designed to create community and support people who are struggling, while remaining eco-friendly and sustainable. Food and other goods are produced organically and sold at cheap prices. The temple accepts donations of items such as clothing, furniture, and electronic devices for them to restore and resell. Through these sales the temple rases between 600,000 and 800,000 baht each month. Santi Asoke is an open space; everyone can visit the temple to learn about their philosophy, their way of practicing and the way in which they are engaged with the surrounding communities. Those who would like to contribute something on a more personal level can volunteer in ways that align with their skills and passions. If someone is interested in cooking and vegetarian cuisine, they can visit Santi Asoke and volunteer in the kitchen. The restaurants, the workshops, and the stores are open to people who want to engage in social and environmental work. For the people who join the community and are willing to do community work, housing is free. The community’s focus lies on self-sufficiency and the balance of human life and nature. These days Santi Asoke has many different environmental projects organized by monastics and lay people. Some projects include, promoting and practicing waste management, recycling plastic, producing organic fertilizers, producing microorganisms for wastewater treatment, and planting trees. These activities such as planting trees are often made into events where people come together and have a celebration, strengthening the connection within the community. Furthermore, Santi Asoke now offers alternative burials where instead of putting people’s ashes in a temple building, they put them in the earth and plant a tree over them that is then nourished by the physical remains of the buried body. By closely combining environmental and social work Santi Asoke pursues the goal of protecting the environment while ensuring the physical and mental wellbeing of the people in and around its temples.

Santi Asoke showcases, that being an eco-temple does not mean exclusively addressing environmental issues. Being an eco-temple is an underlying commitment. It means that a temple is focused on protecting the environment and conducting its everyday activities in a sustainable and eco-friendly way. However, eco-friendly behavior also serves as the basis on which the temple then builds a strong social foundation. As Santi Asoke shows, an eco-temple can become a community center by addressing issues such as poverty and providing work and education. Being an eco-temple ideally means being an institution that is socially engaged and committed to fulfill this role in a way that does not harm the environment.

Santi Asoke is a very flexible community. When asking them about how they set up their different engagements and projects it becomes clear, that their philosophy is to not plan and pursue specific projects in a detailed manner far in advance. The temple members explain, that rather than creating concepts of projects that they think are necessary, the projects come to them. If they see a situation that needs to be addressed, they try to do whatever they can in that moment and from that the next steps develop automatically. “Reality tells us what kind of projects are needed right now”, therefore there are no big plans for the future. When asking the community where Santi Asoke will go from here, they answer, that they will simply continue their work, day by day. “The end point is death, and we are all heading there, so there is little point in worrying too much about the future. We simply try to do our best here and now.”

]]> A Look at Gaia Education and the Global Eco-Village Network https://www.eco-temple.net/a-look-at-the-gaia-education-and-the-global-eco-village-network/ Sun, 03 May 2026 05:06:22 +0000 https://www.eco-temple.net/?p=5666

Eco-Village: From Grassroots Initiative to Global Movement

by Linus Dolfini & Guy Boonyarakyotin

Bangkok, May 3, 2026

This article is based on an interview with Ph.D. Petra Čarman conducted on March 24, 2026. Petra has been involved with the Eco-Village Network for many years and is also a close friend of INEB and the Eco-Temple Network.

The Eco-Village Network is a movement that has been developing for over 60 years, evolving from a few small, local initiatives into an intentional international community. This article provides an overview of how this evolution took place and how local efforts gradually organized themselves into a global movement; while the regional branches of the network followed different pathways, they have collectively upheld a common structure while remaining flexible. In addition, the article compares the approaches of the European and Asian networks and focuses on the internal and external challenges that come with developing an Eco-Village.

Petra explains that the first villages in the West were established over 60 years ago in the 1950s and 60s. Back then, in Europe this movement was mainly led by ‘hippie’ communities that were at the forefront of this movement, incensed by worrying trends in environmental degradation and stressing the importance of environmentalism and the need to change our ways of life in order to move away from consumerism and capitalism. The original Eco-Villages promoted the idea that contemporary communities can build more authentic connections between people and their environment. Central to this philosophy is the importance of establishing a spiritual harmony between Humans and Nature.

Over the following decades, additional villages were established while the existing ones kept evolving. In the 1990s, there was an initiative to bring these communities together and create a more unified movement, with the intention of establishing channels to share the knowledge gained through years of sustainable living. Bringing together the different Eco-Villages from various locations around the world was about working on more proactive ways to diversify the foundations of Eco-Village Design. The goal was to gather different ideas and experiences into a comprehensive framework that would paint a holistic picture of how to build such communities, implement environmental projects and adjust individual lifestyles.

One of the drivers behind this development was Findhorn, a Scottish Eco-Village and one of the oldest of its kind. Together with the Gaia Education Foundation, which emerged from Findhorn, they began to explore how to promote these concepts in a more organized way through specific programs that would allow people to join different Eco-Village communities and experience what it truly means to live a more sustainable, community-oriented lifestyle. Over the years Gaia Education Foundation became a leading provider of holistic education in sustainability, regenerative practices, and community development and nowadays they offer institutionalized training programs for people from all over the world. Petra explains that the foundation now represents the more institutional and educational aspects of the original movement, while the Eco-Village Network is active on the ground through its various local initiatives.

The program that was developed by Gaia Education Foundation back when it was first established, is called Eco-Village Design Education (EDE) and it is still conducted today. The program is a fully experiential, fully residential experience where people come together to tackle the four dimensions of sustainability that the EDE-framework defines and that are integral parts of an Eco-Village community: Social, Worldview, Economic and Environmental.

The social dimension focuses on organizing the community, and clarifying how people live together, work together, make decisions in a participatory manner, and how to resolve conflict. It is also about integrating diversity in such a way that it becomes an asset, rather than allowing it to become an obstacle to harmonious coexistence. The worldview dimension entails the spiritual and cultural aspects of sustainability. Its goal is to help the participants shift their views away from the destructive cultures and structures people often grow up in towards a paradigm shift that allows them to actually see the world as a living being rather than something we can take advantage of. The economic dimension links the social aspects of communal living, shared decision-making, and way of life with important practical matters, such as how the community can earn money and how the collective can best survive in a world where many alternative communities are not able to be self-sufficient. At the same time this dimension also takes a look at different perspectives on what it means to be wealthy in a way that goes beyond finances but instead focuses on all the various resources available to the community to create social entrepreneurship. Finally, the ecologic dimension focuses on how people can work together in order to become part of the natural environment. This dimension is very practically oriented and entails lessons such as how communities can build their own houses, how energy self-sufficiency works, and how resources are best allocated to create a life that aligns with the nature around them.

A key aspect of the EDE is that none of these dimensions is considered separately from the others. The EDE takes into account the fact that all these dimensions and topics are interconnected and together form a holistic concept. Furthermore, these four dimensions are flexible and can be adapted to the specific context in which they are implemented. After all, an Eco-Village in Southeast Asia must focus on different circumstances than an Eco-Village in Europe. The four dimensions are always brought together in a way that aligns with the context in which the respective community operates. Through that approach very unique engagements are created. At the same time however, it can be hard to narrow down what exactly makes an Eco-Village and what it is supposed to look like because of the various shapes that different engagements take all over the world. The key to the EDE is that it is not focused on teaching solutions, it helps people and their communities to think about topics, approach issues in productive ways, and find out what works in the contexts they are operating in.

These days the Eco-Village Network and the Gaia Education Foundation which came out of the same movement can be seen as “sister organizations” according to Petra. While Gaia Education is focusing on the institutionalized educational aspects, the Eco-Village Network and its members are engaged in their communities on the ground and are actively working on implementing projects and creating new Eco-Village initiatives. The network operates on a global level and is divided into five sections: Asia-Oceania, Europe, South America, North America, and Africa. Each of these sections is organized in their own way according to the local context.

The European part of the network, for example, is very institutionalized and based on a membership system. This is due to the stricter European legal system which provides clear guidelines for communities who want to build spaces for alternative living. Therefore, it is important for the network in Europe to follow these rules and regulations in order to find a way in which they can operate that aligns with the local culture. Due to these circumstances the European network is also more focused on the economic, and the social and legal aspects of building Eco-Village communities. In Asia, the network operates very differently and is a lot less institutionalized than its European counterpart. A lot of the work is done by volunteers that are doing their best to organize the sharing of knowledge and making the most of the limited resources available. Based on the differences between the two cultures two different approaches have been established that come with different characteristics. In Petra’s experience, the Asian network is stronger when it comes to finding creative and quick solutions and is more open to newcomers since it lacks clear membership procedures. People who are interested in being involved can simply reach out and become part of an initiative or start their own engagement based on what inspires them. The network will provide them with resources and assessments to help the new members track their progress and evaluate how well they are integrating the four dimensions. The European network, on the other hand, benefits from being an institutionalized and recognized organization with clear procedures since it allows the network to access funding from the European Union and therefore being better equipped financially.

The fact that the Eco-Village Network operates internationally and is connected globally can be challenging, as there are bound to be different worldviews and perspectives among network members, organizers, and participants. Incorporating diverse viewpoints in a balanced and proactive way is a challenge that can be observed amongst many movements and activist circles. Petra points out that this aspect is often overlooked, as it is automatically assumed that people who come together within such a network share the same worldviews. The EDE tries to specifically address this during its activities by focusing on the network’s and the Eco-Villages’ shared goals. Even though the individual members who come together as part of an Eco-Village or an EDE program for example share the goals they want to achieve, their underlying worldviews may still differ. Rather than trying to get everyone to share the same perspective, the Eco-Village Network’s approach is to always acknowledge that people may not share the same views and that there are small differences among community members and that this does not have to be an obstacle to their commitment. This is an important part of the Eco-Village approach because it recognizes that conflicts may arise based on varying views. Hence, the most important thing is to ensure that differences are openly talked about and to agree on embracing the diversity and focusing on what connects each member rather than trying to create uniform communities since that would be extremely counterproductive.

A crucial part of this process amongst the members of a community is to define what the non-negotiables are and what values the community should be built upon. What do decision making processes look like based on the agreed upon framework and are there any specific cultural aspects that should be included in the community’s lifestyle? Being aware of these questions and addressing them from the beginning is so important because the success of each Eco-Village engagement depends on how its community is structured. Some initiatives are implemented in specific local contexts and include only people of the same culture while others invite members from all over the world. Flexibility is required to be able to find suitable ways to work with each other even if individual worldviews vary.

Besides dealing with the challenges of internal differences, newly formed communities must also often deal with tensions between them and the communities which surround them. Building an Eco-Village means establishing an alternative way of living and fully committing to it. Surrounding communities are often skeptical and initially wonder who these people are and what they are doing. Being aware of these tensions and addressing them is another key to creating a successful engagement. Again, there are differences that can be observed amongst the Eco-Villages in different regions. Petra explains that Eco-Village communities in Asia stand out less from their surroundings and therefore face less difficulty integrating into their neighborhoods. This is because amongst the Asian network there is a focus on reviving traditional communities. In Southeast Asia many people are still much more familiar with the local traditional ways of life, ways which the Eco-Village Network has actively been promoting since they are often more sustainable and holistic than modern lifestyles that are connected to capitalism and consumerism. This approach is less focused on building something completely new but instead wants to build on what is already there and what has not been lost yet. In Europe the situation is different since people have long moved away from these types of communities. For the Eco-Villages there it is more about developing an alternative way of community living from the ground up. By doing so they create a wider gap between themselves and the mainstream and therefore it is often harder for them to connect to the people from the surrounding areas.

From its early beginnings the Eco-Village Network has developed into a global movement that enables its members to adjust to local contexts as alternative systems are created alongside the people they are meant to serve. While its flexibility does not come without its challenges ultimately it leads to a variety of Eco-Villages and training programs that are able to adapt to the needs of the people who are creating them as well as those who are joining later on by allowing diverse ideas to flourish simultaneously. These Eco-Villages that embrace the key elements of the EDE framework provide interesting alternative ways to community organizing and governance that do not institutionalize power or leadership. Overall, this movement has allowed numerous initiatives to thrive and explore new approaches to environmental work that unravel the binary between humans and the nature that surrounds them.

]]> Earth Day Program 2026 in Tamil Nadu, India https://www.eco-temple.net/earth-day-program-2026-in-tamil-nadu-india/ Sat, 02 May 2026 07:50:51 +0000 https://www.eco-temple.net/?p=5638

Report on the Earth Day Program 2026

Organized by the Foundation of His Sacred Majesty

April 21, 2026

Ooty, Nilgiris District, Tamil Nadu

The Earth Day program organized by the Foundation of His Sacred Majesty on April 21, 2026, in Ooty, Nilgiris District, Tamil Nadu, was a meaningful initiative aimed at deepening environmental awareness and responsibility. The program highlighted the urgent need for collective action to address climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. It brought together participants from diverse backgrounds to engage directly with the region’s rich ecological heritage. This year’s theme, “Our Power, Our Planet,” emphasized that collective community action—such as cleaning local areas, planting trees, and supporting sustainable energy—can create significant and lasting environmental change. The celebrations extended beyond a single day, forming part of Earth Week (April 18–22), which included activities such as tree planting, farm visits, and community-led clean-up drives.

Nature Walk and Ecological Learning

The day began with a nature walk from Ooty to Doddabetta, the highest peak in the Nilgiris which is of 9 km stretch. The youths walked for few kilometers observing the rich flora and fauna that Nilgiris represents. At a basic level, it helps you reconnect with the natural world. Walking in nature brings attention back to things like wind, sounds, light, and living beings. A nature walk can be a way to study plants, birds, insects, soil, and ecosystems. It develops awareness—seeing how different forms of life are interconnected. There’s also an ethical and social dimension. When people experience nature directly, they are more likely to care about protecting it. So nature walks can deepen ecological responsibility. Along the route, participants explored the region’s unique biodiversity, observing native plants, bird species, and forest ecosystems. The walk provided an opportunity to understand the ecological significance of these habitats as well as the challenges they face due to climate change and human activity. 

Visit to the Government Botanical Garden

Participants visited the Government Botanical Garden in Udhagamandalam, a historic garden established in 1848 and maintained by the Tamil Nadu Horticulture Department. Spread across approximately 22 hectares on the lower slopes of Doddabetta, the garden features a terraced layout and houses around a thousand species of plants, including exotic and indigenous varieties. The garden includes flowering lawns, lily ponds, medicinal plant sections, and an Italian-style arrangement of beds. A notable feature is a fossilized tree trunk estimated to be around 20 million years old. The visit highlighted the scientific, historical, and conservation value of the garden, as well as its role in environmental education and biodiversity preservation.

Clean Village Campaign

A key component of the program was the Clean Village Campaign, where participants engaged with local communities to promote cleanliness, sanitation, and environmental responsibility. The campaign focused on:

  • Raising awareness about the harmful effects of open defecation
  • Addressing the sanitation needs of vulnerable groups such as children, women, the elderly, and persons with disabilities
  • Encouraging suitable technological solutions based on local environmental conditions
  • Fostering hygienic behavior through education and skill development
  • Strengthening community participation and local governance capacity
  • Enhancing coordination among institutions and stakeholders for sustainable implementation

The initiative emphasized community mobilization through Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) strategies, with active involvement from Village Panchayats and relevant departments.

Understanding Pollution and Global Impact

The program also included discussions on the global impact of local pollution. Participants reflected every day on how waste, especially plastic, enters waterways and eventually reaches oceans. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch was discussed as an example of how ocean currents accumulate waste across vast distances. The session highlighted the harmful effects of microplastics on marine life, wildlife, and human health, including hormonal disruption and immune system damage. It emphasized that pollution is not only a local issue but a global environmental and public health challenge, requiring sustainable alternatives and responsible consumption practices. This session drew upon resource materials from Dr. Susan Davidson, Chair of the Wisconsin Birth Defects Advisory Council, and was supported by the Loka Initiative.

Ban on Single-Use Plastics in Nilgiris

Participants were informed about the strict regulations in the Nilgiris district prohibiting various single-use plastic items, including:

  • Plastic carry bags (all thicknesses)
  • Plastic cups, tumblers, and straws
  • Disposable cutlery (spoons, forks, knives)
  • Paper cups and laminated plates
  • Styrofoam (thermocol) products
  • Non-woven plastic bags and related items
  • Plastic packaging materials and water packets
  • Foil wraps and laminated sheets
  • Plastic decorative items such as bouquets and festoons These measures reflect the district’s commitment to environmental protection and sustainable practices.

Visit to Tea Gardens

The visit to nearby tea gardens provided insights into sustainable agricultural practices and the livelihoods connected to the region’s landscape. Visiting an organic tea garden, especially in the multiple Nilgiris, serves purposes— educational, ecological, and social. It helps visitors understand sustainable agriculture, where tea is grown without harmful chemicals, preserving soil health, biodiversity, and water systems. Such visits also create awareness about ethical consumption and the importance of supporting environmentally responsible farming practices.

At the same time, the situation of Tamil Nadu Tea Plantation Corporation highlights a deeper social issue. Established to rehabilitate repatriated Tamil workers from Sri Lanka, TANTEA today faces financial losses, low productivity, and questions about worker welfare. Despite managing vast tea estates, many workers struggle with low wages, poor housing, and limited access to healthcare and education. Thus, visiting organic tea gardens is not just tourism—it can become a reflective act. It reveals the contrast between ideal sustainable models and the lived realities of plantation workers. Understanding TANTEA’s challenges encourages critical thinking about state responsibility, labor dignity, and the future of plantation economies in regions like the Nilgiris. Participants gained a deeper appreciation of the balance between economic activity and environmental conservation.

Integration with Young Bodhisattva Camp

Environmental themes were also integrated into the Bodhisattva Young Camp organized for 15 youth participants from different communities across South India. The camp emphasized that environmental activism and social justice are inseparable.

In the Nilgiris, environmental concerns are closely linked with the rights and livelihoods of Adivasi (tribal) and Dalit communities. Issues such as forest conservation, land rights, and access to water are not merely ecological—they are matters of dignity, survival, and historical justice. The program stressed that environmental protection efforts must address social inequalities. Ignoring caste and community realities risks reinforcing injustice. Similarly, social justice movements must incorporate ecological Displacement, deforestation, conservation and policies certain often marginalize these communities, disrupting traditional ways of life.

The program stressed that environmental protection efforts must address social inequalities. Ignoring caste and community realities risks reinforcing injustice. Similarly, social justice movements must incorporate ecological Displacement, deforestation, conservation and policies certain often marginalize these communities, disrupting traditional ways of life. concerns, as land and nature are central to community identity and sustenance. Meaningful and lasting change can only be achieved when environmental sustainability and social equity are pursued together, with active participation from affected communities.

]]> Tera Energy: An Interview with Co-Founder Rev. Tsuruno Koyu https://www.eco-temple.net/tera-energy-an-interview-with-co-founder-rev-tsuruno-koyu/ Mon, 05 Jan 2026 12:35:28 +0000 https://www.eco-temple.net/?p=5529

Tera Energy: “Illuminating” Society with New Electric Power

Buddhist Priests Supporting Entrepreneurial NPOs
An Interview with Rev. Tsuruno Koyu, Co-founder

Beyond COVID-19 Series: Interview #53

Bunka Jiho newspaper Friday 10 October 2025

Article by Sakamoto Yuri

Translated and edited by Jonathan S. Watts

You can read more about Tera Energy and its background here.

The new electricity company Tera Energy Co., Ltd. was founded in 2018 by four Buddhist priests in Kyoto City with Rev. Takemoto Ryogo serving as president. These priests were initially involved in suicide prevention with Sotto: the Kyoto Suicide Prevention Centre in Kyoto. Having seen the suicide issue as the tip of the iceberg of a myriad of social issues that have emerged with the downturn in Japan’s economy since the 1990s, these priests decided to work on a more holistic response.[1] We spoke to Tera Energy’s director, Rev. Tsuruno Koyu 霍野廣由 (38), a founding member and head of their new disaster prevention division, about their activities for “illuminating” society.

Revs. Koyu Tsurono, Ryogo Takemoto, Makoto Honda, Keio Kimoto (left to right)

Sacrificing Profits to Gain Donations

Rev. Tsuruno noted, “After finishing graduate school, I joined an NPO where we struggled with fundraising. Looking around, I saw many charitable organisations facing the same problem. To solve these financial issues, we launched this business, Tera Energy.”

Q: But why electricity?

A: Our team was exploring ways to create a system where funds would flow to Buddhist temples nationwide engaged in social work with non-profit organizations (NPO). During this period, Rev. Takemoto learned of an example in Germany where ordinary citizens had established an electric power company and were returning a portion of the profits to the community. This was around the time of the liberalisation of the Japanese electricity industry began[2], and he thought, “This is what I’ve been looking for.”[3]

Q: As a Buddhist priest starting a business, and specifically an electricity company, did you face criticism?

A: The media reported, “Priests from the Jodo Shin sect have founded an electricity company”, and footage of our head temple, the Nishi Hongan-ji, was shown. Nishi Hongan-ji received complaints from parishioners nationwide, which caused them troubles. However, we explained our intentions and gained their understanding.

Q: It’s been seven years since the launch. How has it gone?

A: There were several precarious moments. The electricity market became turbulent, and the more we sold, the deeper came the losses. At such times, various temples came to our aid. It is precisely because of this support that we are still operating today.

Q: I understand a portion of your profits is then donated?

A: Among roughly 700 competitors, we rank around 70th in sales, placing us within the top 10%. People often assume the donation amount is added to electricity bills, but that’s not the case. We are actually cutting into our profits to make these donations. We go to such lengths, because we understand the strain of sustaining social initiatives. Rather than monopolising profits, we remain committed to the founding principle that, “Happiness and prosperity lie in sharing”.

Q: This solid philosophy and narrative form Tera Energy’s strength, don’t you think?

A: I believe so. With electricity liberalisation, users switch providers as easily as they change mobile phone contracts when cheaper new services emerge. However, those who sign up because they resonate with our values rarely leave. Our customer turnover rate is significantly lower than competitors’ precisely because they value aspects beyond price.

Fire Service Collaboration and Disaster Prevention Events

In 2023, aiming to accelerate decarbonisation, Tera Energy concluded a cooperation agreement with Kyoto City. By 2025, they were selected as a partner organisation for the Kyoto City Fire Department.

Q: In your sales activities, what kind of response have you received from temples?

A: While terms like “climate change” and “decarbonization” don’t particularly capture temples’ interest, mentioning their potential as disaster-preparedness hubs for the community gets a positive response. Some temples involved in disaster relief efforts, such as after the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, have installed solar panels and storage batteries, because they want to be there for their community in times of need. We’re gradually connecting with temples that share this mindset.

Senju-in Temple in Kamaishi City, Iwate Prefecture served as an emergency shelter after the great tsunami of 2011

Q: Temples serve as local hubs during disasters, providing shelters and communal meals. So you all felt it was novel for temples to be involved from the awareness-raising stage before disasters occur?

A: I heard that Myofuku-ji Temple 妙福寺 of the Honmon Butsuri sect of the Nichiren and Lotus Sutra tradition, which supports Tera Energy, had signed a formal agreement with Fushimi Ward in Kyoto to serve as a designated evacuation site during disasters. However, we were concerned about how well this was recognised locally and whether it could truly function as an evacuation centre when disaster struck. During a conversation with their abbot, Rev. Matsumoto Genkun 松本現薫, the idea arose to hold events at the temple to help people understand that, “This temple is actively involved in disaster preparedness, so please evacuate here if needed.”

In September this year, we held a disaster prevention event at Mibu-dera Temple 壬生寺—the head temple of the ancient Ritsu sect based on the practice of the bhikkhu vinaya—in collaboration with the City Fire Department in Kyoto. It was well received by local residents, who requested we hold it again next year, and other temples also expressed interest. Having gained the know-how, we believe we can now offer this service. That said, organising events incurs costs. We intend to seek sponsors to ensure the project’s continuity.

Q: I understand you are assisting the City Fire Department in promoting and raising awareness of their seismic-sensitive circuit breaker initiative. What exactly is a seismic-sensitive circuit breaker?

A: It is equipment that automatically trips the circuit breaker and cuts the power when it detects a major earthquake of seismic intensity 5 or higher. In discussions with the fire department, I heard their concern that although it’s a good device, it isn’t widely recognised. Installing it in temples, which often have many wooden structures, would be extremely helpful. Furthermore, many of Tera Energy’s customers are very interested in social issues. That’s why we decided to assist with its promotion and awareness. The manufacturer also passionately explained that installing it in shrines and temples holds significant social value. We plan to visit soon the Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shinto shrine in Shizuoka Prefecture, which already has it installed, for an inspection.”

The Company is the Means; the Purpose is Support

Q: How do you envision expanding support for charitable organisations going forward?

A: We currently donate to around 150 organisations. While our focus has been on connecting with various groups, our new approach will involve deeper communication with these established connections, promoting Tera Energy to both the organisations and their supporters. However, we are not primarily interested in selling electricity. We use the donation-linked electricity scheme solely as a means to support non-profit organizations (NPOs) and NGOs. We are currently renewing our website and aim to create a platform, similar to crowdfunding, where NPOs and supporters can connect.

Q: So your company’s goal is what, precisely?

A: We will generate solid electricity sales revenue to fund donations. However, our primary measure of success will be “how much we donate”, not “how much we sell”. We aim to reach ¥100 million ($640,000) in donations.

Profile: Rev. Tsuruno Koyu was born in 1987 in Kaku-enji temple of the Jodo Shin-shu Honganji denomination in the town of Kamo in Fukuoka Prefecture in southern Japan, where he presently serves as the vice-abbot. After graduating from the Ryukoku University Graduate School of Practical Shin Buddhist Studies, he joined the certified NPO Sotto: the Kyoto Suicide Prevention Centre, where he currently serves as a director. He is also a part-time lecturer at So-ai University and a member of the Jodo Shin-shu Hongan-ji denomination Children and Youth Connection Promotion Committee. This year, he presided over the “International Expo Temple” 万博寺 event at the Osaka-Kansai Expo, which brought together priests from various sects.

[1] The original article included this sentence in the introduction: “With an eye on the future a thousand years hence, it [Tera Energy] focuses on disaster prevention to foster a spiritually rich, secure, and safe way of life.” As noted later in the interview, disaster prevention is a popular topic among Buddhist temples in Japan. Thus, the publisher seems to have wanted to attract the attention of readers through this sentence, which is a rather limited way of depicting Tera Energy’s mission. The translator has augmented this introduction by connecting Tera Energy’s original mission to suicide prevention.

[2] Liberalization of Japan’s electricity industry began in stages, starting with wholesale market opening for Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in 1995, followed by retail deregulation for large industrial users in 2000, then expanding to medium-sized businesses by 2005, and culminating in the full liberalization for all consumers (including homes) in April 2016.

[3] Such a mechanism had already been created in Japan by another Buddhist priest named Rev. Okochi Hidehito in Tokyo around 1999. During the establishment of Tera Energy, Rev. Takemoto was introduced to and visited Rev. Okochi’s temple. The two are now both members of INEB’s international Eco-Temple Network.

 

]]> Keundeul Artists Village in South Korea https://www.eco-temple.net/keundeul-artist-village-in-south-korea/ Wed, 31 Dec 2025 10:44:46 +0000 https://www.eco-temple.net/?p=5478

A Village Built on Practicing Korean Arts and Storytelling

by Linus Dolfini

Bern, December 27, 2025

Keundeul is the name of an arts and culture village, a unique engagement in the southern part of South Korea. It is located approximately two hours north of Busan in a rural mountainous area. One of our Eco-Temple and ICE members – Jungin – was involved in this community as a non-member resident for one and a half years. She was first introduced to Keundeul in 2012 when she was teaching in an alternative school. The community was interested in getting involved in the WWOOF program – worldwide opportunities for organic farms – for educational and cultural exchange where people can sign up for what is basically a working holiday abroad. They wanted to host foreigners and therefore needed someone who speaks English fluently. This is how Jungin first started working with them.

She explains that the community was established in the 1980s, initially as a percussion group. Back then a majority of university students in South Korea were involved in some form of activism, fighting for democracy, which eventually came in 1987. The Keundeul group was an activist group as well and they used percussion instruments and played what Jungin describes as farmers’ music. The solidarity between the group members was very strong and they decided that asking for social justice was not enough for them. They rather wanted to go further and establish something beyond activism, focusing on creating beauty and art together. Eventually, they started getting into performance arts and taught themselves a form of Korean modern theater called Madanggeuk.

Madanggeuk also has its roots in activism. These days it is often labeled traditional theater because it incorporates Korean folk tales in its storytelling, but in reality, it is a style of modern theater. Translated, the term means yard-theater. This form of performance came out of the student activist movements in the 1970s and 80s and was popularized by groups such as Keundeul. It blends traditional folk stories with modern social criticism and performances are often set in open spaces, such as yards or on campuses with the audience surrounding the performers and actively being part of the performance by singing along or joining in. By teaching themselves the Keundeul group evolved more and more into a community, as their work involved learning how to create scripts, acting, making costumes, and more. They ended up living together, sharing meals, practicing, and experimenting for 20 years after first coming together in the 1980s. Jungin explains that they did not specifically seek to become a community or create a village but gradually they realized that other people were starting to call them a community and were saying that what Keundeul was doing was actually community living.

The Keundeul Village

Based on this, they began to change their vision for themselves and started to actively focus on building a village for their community. In 2020 they purchased the land on which they are located now. In collaboration with the local government – which funded the process partly – they built 30 houses, laid electricity and water lines and established their own base. These days there are 35 adults living together in the village, half of whom are focused primarily on arts, as actors, musicians, painters, or directors, while the other half is responsible for the administrative process. Since the community is focused mainly on creating art, they are not self-sustaining. They have started to do some rice farming, but performance art is at the heart of what they are doing, and receiving support from the local government for their cultural engagement is part of their financing strategy. When it comes to Buddhism, Keundeul does not label themselves a Buddhist community. However, since Buddhism is deeply rooted in South Korean society, the community still identifies with Buddhist teachings and values and very much tries to live accordingly.

The community is also involved in alternative education, which Jungin says is another result of activism in the country. In South Korea, the education system is extremely competitive, and young people suffer enormously from the pressure that is put on them. Accordingly, some parents and teachers came together and spoke out against the system. The alternative curriculums that they came up with, for example, entail classes on how to craft things such as clothes, carpentry, how to farm, or how to run a store in a cooperative way. Jungin describes how these schools are beautiful places where teachers and students are allowed to practice, teach, and learn in what they believe in. Unfortunately, the government does not recognize this form of alternative education. Therefore, the graduates of these schools find themselves in a very small minority after they graduate and without any officially recognized certification. Within Keundeul there are currently seven people in their twenties who all went to alternative schools and now are part of the community, some as artists and some to support the village in other capacities.

The case of Keundeul is interesting because towards the outside they only advertise their art and they understand themselves as an arts community. They do not promote their way of community living and they do not label themselves as Buddhist or sustainable. For them it is about creating art, not about showcasing an alternative livelihood model that is rooted in Buddhism or sustainability. Yet, in some way this is what they are doing, despite it not being their goal. According to Jungin, the way the community is living together goes beyond one specific form of activism. Much of it is about the reflection of our relationships to one another and how to live together. Keundeul is promoting art in the spirit of guarding humanitarian values. This way of preserving Korean culture in the context of modern society is what drew Jungin to them in the first place. And even though the community is not advertising their livelihood model to the outside, they are still very conscious about their way of living together and they put a lot of effort into conflict resolution and they stress compassion within their village. In a sense, everything that they do reflects Buddhist and environmental values, yet they do not explicitly use those labels.

Keundeul – despite being quite a small community – has become popular in South Korea. The village itself counts 35 members currently, plus a few children, but has around 2’500 supporters who donate money to them on a monthly basis – Jungin being one of them. The motivation behind the support is to help Keundeul continue their work of preserving Korean art, culture, and joy in an authentic way. All the members of the community have grown up in the same region outside of the big metropolitan centers. None of them aspire to move to one of the large cities and follow the urban lifestyle that is very much influenced by Western values and cultures. What they do instead is promote local values and cultures and show a different side of Korea apart from the mainstream. Besides the private donations from their supporters, Keundeul also receives money from the local government through small art funds for example. The connection between them and the local people is very much based on the art they create. Despite having some progressive values and leading an alternative life, the village is located in the countryside where most of the population are elderly and very conservative. Therefore, Keundeul does not advertise their political ideas, they simply use their art to tell stories and build connections to the local people outside of the village. Through this, they become friends and find common ground besides political beliefs.

Keundeul is a great example of a community that has established an alternative way of living together based on a shared passion for art and preserving traditions. The village’s strength seems to come from not choosing to label themselves as religious or trying to promote their livelihood model to the outside world. They instead focus on their core values and goals and through this have become an integral part of the local community.

]]> Amrita Zen Life: Good Things and Good Deeds in Daily Life https://www.eco-temple.net/amrita-zen-life-good-things-and-good-deeds-in-daily-life/ Mon, 10 Nov 2025 07:56:28 +0000 https://www.eco-temple.net/?p=5349

Engaged Buddhism and Sustainability in Rural Japan

by Linus Dolfini

Bangkok, November 10, 2025

Amrita Zen Life: 688-3 Nishino, Kimino-cho, Kaikusa-gun, Wakayama Prefecture

As I meet with Chisa Yamashita over Zoom, she is sitting in her family temple in the Kinokawa city, a rural area of Wakayama Prefecture south of Osaka. Chisa is the founder of Amrita, a small business consisting of a tea shop as well as a store that is located in the district next to the one, she grew up in. Based on the concept of “Good Things and Good Deeds in Daily Life” Amrita focuses on selling organic and sustainable products that support the lives of both producers and customers. The store offers an all-encompassing range of eco-friendly products such as clothes, accessories, kitchenware, sanitary products, or groceries. The products mostly come from Southeast Asian countries such as Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam and by purchasing them, people support small sustainable initiatives rooted in local communities. The items that are sold at Amrita are personally selected by Chisa, based on which products make people feel good and enrich their daily lives. The physical store opened in 2020, and in 2021 she launched an online shop named Amrita Zen Life as well.

Chisa Yamashita, Founder of Amrita Zen Life

Chisa comes from a Buddhist background. She grew up in her family’s temple, where her father served as a priest. These “family temples”, as she explains, are quite unique to Japan since Japanese Buddhist priests are not expected to lead a celibate life, unlike in other Buddhist traditions. When she was 29 years old, Chisa ordained as a Japanese Buddhist priest herself. Her ordained name is venerable Kacho. According to Japanese Buddhist tradition she would be eligible to take over her father’s temple. However, her younger brother also ordained and while she is focusing on further establishing her business, he is expected to take over the temple in the future. 

In Japan, more so than in other Buddhist countries, there is a disconnect between the monastic community and laypeople. Most Japanese do not actively practice Buddhism besides participating in rituals during important occasions such as funerals. At the same time Buddhist temples are not very engaged with people outside their own communities and are generally not very involved in addressing social issues. Chisa explains that while studying at Tokyo Metropolitan University, she noticed how many of her friends from non-monastic and non-religious backgrounds were struggling with similar issues – such as stress, isolation, and mental health issues – while also being disconnected from spirituality.

At the same time, Japanese Buddhist temples who “want to do good” often solely focus on conducting immediate responses to the problems they observe. They meet for example for a day at the beach to pick up plastic waste and garbage or they distribute bento boxes to homeless people. These are their ways to address issues such as pollution or homelessness. Chisa mentions that back when she was a graduate student, she joined many activities organized by Buddhist communities that were aimed at supporting homeless people. It was part of her studies. While there is nothing wrong with directly addressing these issues and trying to ease the immediate suffering, such actions do not tackle the underlying structural problems. They do not solve the root causes of homelessness or pollution.

In 2011 Chisa first encountered the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB), during a conference at Bodh Gaya in India. There, she discovered socially engaged Buddhism for the first time. She describes how at first, she was surprised to see so many laypeople being actively engaged in a Buddhist network. In Japan meetings of Buddhist networks or organizations are usually only attended by members of the monastic community. Even in 2025 Buddhist temples that are interested in social engagement do not work together with laypeople. At the INEB conference in 2011 however, she saw people from all kinds of backgrounds – Buddhist or not – attend and join forces on social initiatives. INEB’s active engagement and the networks openness motivated her to learn more and establish further connections.  

The disconnect within the Japanese society led Chisa to think about ways to create some sort of connection point between the monastic community and laypeople, to reintroduce everyday Buddhism and spirituality into her community. In 2016 Chisa moved to Sri Lanka for two years to work with the Sevalanka Organic Seeds Company whilst staying at a Sri Lankan Buddhist temple. During her time there she met Amanda Kiessel who is also an INEB member and one of the minds behind the Good Market initiative. Good Market is a curated community of social enterprises, cooperatives, responsible businesses, civic organizations, networks, and changemakers. It started out in Sri Lanka and has now members who are active in 122 countries. Almost 5’000 different Good Market approved enterprises are working in various fields such as farming, food, fashion and more. While living in Sri Lanka and working with Amanda, Chisa learned how to create a business strategy and how to implement a thought-out concept in real life. 

Chisa in Sri Lanka

Another source of inspiration during her time in Sri Lanka was seeing how Buddhism there was integrated into people’s daily lives. She describes how Sri Lankans would get up in the morning, have some tea, pick up flowers and make small offerings to the temple before starting their daily business. These small daily practices, as Chisa states, have largely disappeared in Japan, hence even for her as the daughter of a Buddhist priest it was a new discovery to witness those traditional lifestyles. Experiencing the way Buddhism was practiced and lived in Sri Lanka and meeting Amanda who was helping to coordinate a global effort to promote sustainability inspired Chisa to eventually establish her own business back in Japan.

In 2019 she founded Amrita and opened her little tea shop as well as the organic shop next year. By opening her business, she intended to create a connection point between “the temple society and our modern society”. In the beginning her customers did not know she was an ordained priest. After learning about the idea behind Amrita, customers were often wondering how sustainability, Buddhism, and community engagement were connected. Chisa explained to them what the concept of sustainability means and how it relates to Buddhism. People often showed great interest and were eager to learn more about the philosophy behind her efforts. In this way, Amrita has been helping people to gain new perspectives. This approach also distinguishes the business from other sustainable shops, which promote sustainability, but do little to engage people or build community. Chisa, however, is committed to reintroducing people to alternative ways of addressing social and individual issues.

For her it is important to state, that her tea shop is not a place where she tries to spread any particular religious values. The shop is open to everyone who wants to buy something or sit down and enjoy a cup of tea. However, if they are interested in learning more about Buddhism, sustainability, or the ideas behind Amrita, then Chisa is happy to engage in a conversation and tell them about her ideas and the stories behind the tea shop or the products sold at the store. Unlike other Buddhist priests, she tries not to talk about Buddhism like a scholar. At temples, priests often use difficult language, complicated theories, and big words when speaking of Buddhism. For Chisa, this misses the point. She states that it is more important to bring Buddhism closer to the people and show them how it can be part of their daily lives again. At Buddhist temples visitors will often receive a lecture first. Afterwards tea is served. At Amrita it works the other way around. Chisa explains that people need to enjoy tea first, with a free mind. Then they may be engaged in a conversation. This way Buddhism feels more intimate again and not like a foreign concept.

When it comes to finding ingredients and products, Chisa relies mostly on the Good Market platform. There she finds organic producers who sell her spices, handcraft and more. Any fresh products she needs, such as herbs, she cultivates herself back at her family temple, where she has a small garden. Every morning before opening the tea shop, she takes care of her harvest and brings the fresh products to the shop which is located around 15km away in a more rural area. The temple and the tea shop are not officially connected. However, it happens from time to time, that people who visit the temple learn about the tea shop and stop by, while others learn about the family temple while having a drink and decide to have a look at another time.  

The business is deliberately located in a rural area, to serve as an example of how our modern ways of life can be connected to traditional rural lifestyles. It is a place people from the city can visit on the weekend to relax while spending time out in nature. Chisa even describes a movement among younger generations – people in their 30s and 40s – who feel overwhelmed by urban life and choose to move to more rural areas. Nowadays, moving back to the countryside is easier, as many people work remotely, and Chisa notes that there are already some who have recently settled down on the area. With a few of these “new generation” residents, she has collaborated on small agricultural projects and other community initiatives.

Building her business over the past five years has opened doors for Chisa, and when asked about her future plans, she explains that establishing her shop and tea shop was only the first step. At the shop, people normally spend between 20 minutes and two hours. This initial interaction can serve as an introduction to the ideas behind Amrita. Yet, building a deeper connection and fostering a sense of community needs more time. To further connect people and help them rediscover Buddhist traditions, Chisa is planning to open an Amrita retreat in the area. A place that is based on the business’s values where people can relax for a couple of days, enjoy nature, and practice mindfulness. She says that for her it is about moving forward slowly but steadily. “Similar to our lives, we cannot do the big, big things from the beginning, we need to learn step by step.” Taking this next step will take her engagement further and will help to strengthen the connection between the monastics and the laypeople within the local community.

]]> A Sri Lanka – Japan Collaboration https://www.eco-temple.net/into-the-21st-century-with-holistic-buddhist-development-for-urban-spaces/ Wed, 01 Oct 2025 04:13:30 +0000 https://www.eco-temple.net/?p=5334

Into the 21st Century with Holistic Buddhist Development for Urban Spaces

by Jonathan S. Watts

September 28, 2025

A Holistic Buddhist Development Lineage

For three days in early September 2025, the holistic Buddhist development world came full circle at a workshop entitled “Urban Dhamma in Action: Empowering Temples for Sustainable Community Development”, co-hosted by the Sri Lanka Network of Engaged Buddhists (SriNEB) and the Japan Network of Engaged Buddhists (JNEB). The meaning of “full circle” encapsulates the almost 70 year history of the holistic Buddhist development movement, starting with the Sarvodaya Shramadana movement founded by Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne in 1958 in Sri Lanka. This movement spread into Thailand in the 1970s when the leading founder of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB), Sulak Sivaraksa, sent a monk named Luang Pau Nan from Thailand’s impoverished Northeast to study with Sarvodaya. Nan went on to become the beacon of the Thai Development Monk movement, which continues today with monks like Phra Sangkom Thanapanyo Khunsiri who also hails from Luang Pau Nan’s native area of Surin. In the 1980s, the leader of the Japanese Buddhist NGO Movement, Rev. Jitsujo Arima who founded the Japan Soto-shu Releif Committee (JSRC) (now called Shanti), encountered Nan and greatly inspired, published a book about his work in Japanese. In the 1990s, Prof. Jun Nishikawa, a professor of development economics at Waseda University, published a collective study of the Thai development monk movement and coined a new term for holistic Buddhist development in Japanese, called kaihotsu, in contrast to mainstream development, called kaihatsu.[1]

Alas, the holistic Buddhist development movement has been slow to grow in Japan. This has been due in part to conservatism in the Buddhist world as well as mainstream society and the reluctance to criticize the nation’s development model. In the postwar era, this model created great material prosperity but for the past three decades has stagnated into what is now called the Disconnected Society (mu-en shakai), rife with suicide and mental illness. It also seems that Japanese Buddhists have not been able to fully understand the message of Rev. Arima who called for a horizontal solidarity of learning and exchange between Japan and southern Asia. This is a way to not only heal the wounds of Japan’s imperialism but also to chart a new path of development beyond the Western dominated models of capitalism and communist socialism. Instead, while many of the Japanese Buddhist NGOs that emerged in the 1980s and 90s have delivered emergency aid to areas in southern Asia, the paradigm has remained one of a “wealthy” northern nation coming to the aid of “lowly impoverished” southern ones.

Holistic Buddhist Development in Urban Japan

There has been one priest in particular, however, who has taken Rev. Arima’s message and the work of Sarvodaya and the Thai development monks to heart. Rev. Hidehito Okochi, a priest of the Jodo Pure Land denomination, was one of the founding members of the AYUS International Buddhist Cooperation Network in 1993, which remains today one of the more dynamic of the Japanese Buddhist NGOs. Rev. Okochi’s experience travelling abroad on AYUS activities as well as study trips radicalized him in a different way than others. Rather than just focusing on the emergency needs in these countries, which he saw as symptoms of a larger illness, he used the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths to investigate more deeply into the causes of these needs and the suffering of their people. His analysis exposed the culpability of the United States, Europe, and Japan in their colonial and neo-colonial exploitation of these areas. Moving into the 3rd and 4th Noble Truths, Okochi saw that he not only needed to support such people in solidarity but to work inside Japan on development issues that have led to the same kinds of suffering in his own country, for example, the debacle of nuclear energy development that goes well beyond the Fukushima disaster. As the abbot of two different temples inside of Tokyo city, Okochi has studied and learned from the south and has developed a wide variety of community development activities, not as a heroic, charismatic dharma master but in solidarity and cooperation with local and regional citizens organizations.

From this background, Rev. Okochi has been creating more connections with like-minded Buddhists across Asia through the INEB Eco-Temple Community Development Network, founded in 2016 with his active participation. In May, another of Okochi’s groups in Japan called the Buddhism Social Ethics in Contemporary Japan Study Group hosted INEB Chairman Harsha Navaratne, who helped build Sarvodaya in its early years, for a talk in Japan on “Religion and Civil Society in Japan and Asia: Learning from the Theory and Practice of Buddhist Development (kaihotsu)”. From this event, a collaboration between SriNEB and JNEB was born for this full circle moment: Rev. Okochi introducing a new brand of urban holistic Buddhist development to compliment the well-established form of rural holistic Buddhist development.

Meeting the Challenges of Urban Development in the South through Buddhism

As SriNEB explains, “Sri Lanka’s urban temples are vibrant centers of faith, yet their potential as engines of community transformation remains untapped. While rural temples excel in integrated development, our urban sangha faces unique challenges, such as: 1) limited social engagement beyond Sunday schools and rituals, 2) a lack of strategies for untapped resources, such as land and even solar panel installations, which can be used for broader community benefit, and 3) a lack of practical skills for young monks to address urban suffering and temple sustainability.” Indeed, while Buddhist temples in southern Asia have engaged in a variety of forms of rural development work, they have been slow to adapt to the new landscape of consumer-capitalist-driven urban environments, often getting drawn into this unskillful consumerist culture themselves, and resulting in the loss of trust and confidence by urban lay Buddhists. The three-day program with Rev. Okochi thus sought to provide an opportunity to learn from experiences in one of the most highly consumer capitalist economies in Japan while beginning to experiment with creative local responses in Sri Lanka.

The Four Noble Truths Socialized for Collective Change

The workshop revolved around temple mapping exercises using the Four Noble Truths and three learning modules related to Rev. Okochi’s work. On the morning of the first day, participants created extensive maps of their temples on large sheets of paper that charted buildings, land, social services, and human resources, while considering their levels of integration. There were 13 participants in total: 10 monks and 3 fully ordained nuns (bhikkhuni) from all three major sects (nikaya) in Sri Lanka. They came from three districts in the environs of Colombo, so are largely dealing with urban issues, although some are in suburban areas that are impacted by environmental destruction going on in adjacent rural areas. A more urban based, environmental problem common to group members is water: poor drainage and flooding in the rainy seasons, degradation and drying up of wells and the water table, pollution of local water increasing the rate of dengue fever, etc. These problems were often connected to others, such as garbage disposal and an increase in garbage from consumer lifestyles. Another main area of dukkha is “mental ecology” with high rates of drug addiction and suicide, especially among the young, as well as challenges in dealing with the elderly and end-of-life care.

In the afternoon, Rev. Okochi spoke about his life path and how he became conscientized to go beyond the typical view of providing charitable aid to the South. An essential part of this process was developing a sophisticated, contemporary understanding of the Buddha’s classical teaching of the Four Noble Truths. Dukkha, in this case, is not individualized as existential suffering but socialized into solidarity with the suffering of common citizens both within Japan and globally. This creates the impetus to “go forth” (pabbajja), as the Buddhist instructed his disciples, which in a contemporary context means the Buddhist monk leaving the friendly and comfortable confines of the temple and learning how to engage with suffering in the sometimes unfamiliar confines of the secular world. Samudaya, the causes of the dukkha, are also not limited to the psychological realms of greed-anger-delusion but are externalized as structural violence and its partner-in-crime, cultural violence, found in the values, beliefs, and rationalizations for creating systems of dukkha. As Rev. Okochi notes, this is the essential level of understanding and necessary wisdom needed before actions can take place. Without such deep investigation, nirvana as a vision “of the world to be aimed for” and magga as the path of action can fall into simplistic acts of charity and even well-intentioned but rather neo-colonial forms of “aid”. As a way of further contextualizing this teaching to the ordained monk and nun participants, the basic forms of emergency aid work known as Holding Actions are explained as shamatha, the first step in Buddhist meditation that calms the body and mind yet does not root out greed-anger-delusion, ignorance, and hence dukkha. Shamatha creates the space for the deeper work of vipassana or insight, which in this case translates into the creation of Alternative Social Structures and Shifts in Consciousness and Culture.[2]

Over the next day and a half, participants learned and worked on three modules based around three key areas of engagement in Rev. Okochi’s work (which have been documented in various articles and publications):

  1. creating local, solar energy projects as a basis for social enterprise to fund community development.
  2. using various properties and social assets owned by the temple for community-based education, medical welfare, and various forms of civic engagement as a new urban commons.
  3. linking the temple and urban consumers with alternative, rural development organizations for sustainable living, especially ecological housing.

In the breaks between Rev. Okochi’s presentations of these three modules, participants began to analyze their temple maps based on the Four Noble Truths process: first, identifying the real life, experienced problems of the temple and the community; second, struggling to figure out the various levels of causes and their interconnections; and then, beginning to chart a vision and plan of action as the 3rd and 4th Noble Truths.

In examining Rev. Okochi’s path, we see a common pattern in the way the 3rd and 4th Noble truths emerged that was instructive to the participants in designing their own plans. Generally, Rev. Okochi and his partners have created an initial study group to examine a specific set of issues of concern. This intensified inquiry into the 1st and 2nd Noble Truths becomes the first step of the 3rd and 4th in educational activities for community conscientization, a collective form of wisdom practice (panna). From this foundation, individual activities in daily life have been imagined, such as more ecological consumption, as a form of social virtue or discipline (sila). From this step, there is a major transformation that needs to take place in the shift to group activities to create new social systems—perhaps understood as the “concentration” (samadhi) of energy (virya), generosity (dana), and patience (ksanti) as all six paramitas emerge in the social development process. This step is indeed a great one that many religious-based organizations cannot envision or develop while remaining stuck in the efforts of individual virtue. For Okochi, the key to this transformation is a dedicated and deep inquiry into the 2nd Noble Truth. As the mechanisms of power and exploitation become clearer through analysis and critical thought, creative alternatives more naturally arise.

“Going Forth” Beyond Religious-based Charity to Social Transformation

Certainly, in such a short three-day workshop, an exhaustive analysis and comprehensive action plan could not be made by the participants. It was important, rather, that the participants began to develop an understanding of and skill in using the Four Noble Truths method. From this basis, they are being encouraged to deepen their understanding by creating study-action-praxis groups in their own communities. Further, the organizers have developed a post-workshop follow up plan to nurture each of these monastics as well as to work on common issues as a collective.

An initial step will be the physical gathering of participants in one month’s time to continue to work on their social analysis and action plans using the Four Noble Truths. This time will also enable for further solidarity and sharing among the group. From this, there will be online Zoom meetings with Rev. Okochi for further study and inquiry every month for three months (November, December, January). By February, there is a plan for the aforementioned Thai development monk, Phra Sangkom from Thailand, who is a founding member of the INEB Eco-Temple Network, to make site visits to temples that need support for water management and groundwater rejuvenation. The organizers also plan to conduct their own site visits and eventually expand the group of participants beyond the three districts around Colombo.

In conclusion, this event was very much a pilot one. It was the first time for Rev. Okochi and the JNEB network to present his work in a systematic three-day workshop. This required “skillful means” (upaya) at various points to ensure the participants remained engaged in the sometimes dizzying integration and complexity of Rev. Okochi’s work. Yet there is incredible potential benefit in this work and not only in helping monastics and temple communities grapple with the challenges of urban life. There is also the need to more deeply conscientize Buddhists in northern countries, who also have not learned properly from their southern brethren of the violence of what Joanna Macy called the Industrial Growth Society. In keeping with the 1st Noble Truth of dukkha, this issue should no longer be an East-West or North-South one but a collective one of our humanity.

follow up planning with SriNEB & JNEB members

Finally, the organizers would like to thank the Sri Devram Viharaya Temple and Ven. Kolonnawe Siri Sumangala Thero, Chief Incumbent, for their generous support in hosting the program for three days, and also Mr. Bandula Perera of Kaihatsu Management Consulting Lanka, whose tri-lingual interpretation of Sinhala-Japanese-English was invaluable in our communications.

[1] For more on the work of Rev. Arima and Prof. Nishikawa, see Watts, Jonathan S. Engaged Buddhism in Japan, Vols. 1 & 2. (Ottowa: The Sumeru Press, 2023).

[2] The concepts of Holding Actions, Alternative Social Structures, and Shifts in Consciousness and Culture were created by Joanna Macy, another pioneer in this field of holistic Buddhist Development. She, too, was was strongly influenced by the Sarvodaya movement, where she worked for a year studying Buddhist community organizing that significantly influenced her theories on power and social change.

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