Gyalwang Karmapa Launches His Booklet: Environmental Guidelines for Karma Kagyu Buddhist Monasteries, Centers and Community
Gyalwang Karmapa’s booklet, Environmental Guidelines for Karma Kagyu Buddhist Monasteries, Centres and Community went on sale at the end of Kagyu Monlam. So far the booklet has been published in English and Chinese; the Tibetan edition should be available in February/March 2009. His Holiness briefly described the booklet and his own deep concerns about the environment on the second day of the Western teaching.
He explained how he had first spoken about environmental concerns at the end of the 25th Kagyu Monlam. He had mentioned his worries again in his concluding speech at the 26th Kagyu Monlam. He then detailed the five sections of the booklet, by highlighting the destruction of forests in India and Tibet, the danger to water supplies, the protection of wildlife, the need for waste management, and the threat of global warming and climate change.
He admitted the culpability of some monasteries in cutting down trees to be sold as timber. This had to be stopped and those forests replanted.
Glaciers and snow melt in the Himalayan region are the source of water and thereby the source of life for millions of people throughout Asia, rivers from Tibet flow to China, Burma, India and Pakistan, so it was essential to both protect the source and prevent the Read the rest of this article
