The Buddha and the Bodhi Tree
Over two and a half thousand years ago, in the wilderness of ancient India, a spiritual seeker sat beneath a tree in Northern India. He would become the Buddha. The Enlightened One. There, in deep meditation, he discovered Nirvana: a state of unshakable inner peace and freedom from suffering.
Today, at Bodh Gaya, the most important pilgrimage site for Buddhists, followers from around the world bow and chant before what is believed to be a descendant of that sacred fig tree, now known as the Bodhi Tree: the tree of Enlightenment.
Nature as Teacher
Thousands of years after the Buddha’s Enlightenment, the natural world that nourished this spiritual breakthrough continues to be at the heart of the tradition. Buddhism has a deep reverence for the natural world and all living things. Long before climate change the Buddha taught that all life is interconnected.
Every action we take has consequences for the natural world and other living beings. We cannot separate ourselves from it. What we do to nature, we do to ourselves.
Lovingkindness, Non-harm and Nature
The Buddha’s insight into life’s interconnectedness has powerful implications for how we treat the natural world on earth, its wildlife, and each other. Because we depend so deeply on nature and on one another, we recognise that all life is as valuable as our own.
This understanding inspires us to live by the principles of lovingkindness and non-harm. As the Buddha taught: when we harm another being, we also harm ourselves.
Buddhists in Action: Cafes, Retreats, and Green Living
Many Buddhists choose to be vegetarian or vegan, including wishes for the welfare of all animals in daily meditation: “May all beings be well, may all beings be happy, may all beings be free from suffering.” In the West, Buddhists, like myself, have often helped establish vegetarian and vegan cafés and restaurants.
Buddhafield, a Buddhist fellowship, runs a vegan café and teaches meditation at Glastonbury Festival. They also hold their own alcohol- and drug-free festival rooted in an ecological vision. For Buddhafield, nature’s beauty and the experience of interconnection form the heart of spiritual life. They steward their own land with biodiversity in mind and offer open-air retreats under canvas.
A Personal Reflection on Simplicity and Interconnection
Most Buddhists try to reduce their impact on the environment, knowing our actions ripple across the world. What I do today, here in my life, can have a significant result in future both here and on the other side of the planet. Cultivating contentment through meditation and living simply with fewer wants benefits both ourselves and other forms of life.
When the Buddha sat down under the Bodhi tree all those years ago, he had become peaceful, calm, satisfied and no longer had the need to consume, or hanker after things, power or prestige. It is my aspiration, as his follower, to know myself as profoundly and intimately connected with all life as Buddha and so become as calm, content and harmless as he was sitting under Bodhi Tree in ancient India, at one with nature, all living beings and creatures.
About the author: Garavachitta is ordained in the Triratna Buddhist tradition and lives in a community in Manchester where he teaches Buddhism and meditation.
This article is part of our blog series that explores various religious festivals and awareness days, showcasing diverse spiritual perspectives on our relationship with the natural world.
