To Live as a Lotus among the Flames …: Buddhist Awakening in the Middle of the Climate Crisis

Śāntideva’s (fl. 8th c) most celebrated work, the Bodhi-caryāvatāra (A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life) provides practical, contemporary insight into the climate crisis. His spiritual practice—the practice of the bodhisattva as nurse for the human condition—encourages reframing delusion into understanding. It thus reveals the antidotes to the causes of the climate crisis, such as greed and anger. Above all, the “wicked” nature of the climate crisis is an opportunity for a new world to emerge. If we look honestly at the changing planet it will reflect back to us the truth of who we are.