Religions and the Environment

I really enjoyed learning about how the main religions connect with the environment. Some of the religions have a deep-rooted philosophy on how to treat the environment while others use more of their common sense. For instance, Daoism is the one that really impressed me. I could tell that the whole concept was based on living in harmony with nature as well as establishing the "proper balance" for the self and the environment. Judaism also astonished me. Thinking about the stereotypes that we hold about each other like "Jewish people are stingy"!!! I realized through doing this work that it was not about stinginess but more about finding proper ways to care and nurture the environment so as not to waste what's precious. Buddhism was a bit of a complicated subject I have to admit. Not that, buddhism does not talk about the environment. In fact, there is a lot of parallelism. However, depending on which sutra we put our focus on, the information might vary. If the group had based their presentation on the Lotus Sutra, which is Siddharta Gautama last writing, I think they could have made a better link between buddhism and the environment. The lotus sutra teaches equality of all living beings and the dignity of life. The lotus sutra uses the allegory of the lotus flower because it is the only flower that grows out of a muddy pond as to say that beauty can be found in fundamental darkness found in all living entities. Also, Islam used the metaphor of the "mirror" to say that the environment is our reflection. The same is true with the Lotus sutra. The more nasty we are with plants, nature and each other is a reflection of our darkest side as humans. The wars are a reflection of our own selves and so forth. I felt that a lot of these religions had a lot in common and it is positive because we are fighting so much to know who is right and who is wrong and in fact, no one has the key to the truth. I guess only us human beings can make a change for good.