Date of Award

1-1-2015

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Organizational Unit

College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, Anthropology

First Advisor

Richard Clemmer-Smith, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Erick Gould, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Alejandro Ceron Valdes

Keywords

Buddhism, Buddhist practice, Colorado, Ecology, Environmental concerns

Abstract

The human community is paying more attention to our growing environmental crisis. Religious beliefs are often proposed as effective ways to address environmental ethics. It is often supposed that Buddhism is a "green" religion because of its intimate associations with nature. My research focuses on whether or not Buddhism in Colorado influences Buddhist practitioners' environmental awareness by identifying and evaluating Buddhist ecological attitudes and values. My research questions include: (1) what aspects of Buddhist practice refer to the elements of natural environment, (2) do Buddhist practitioners profess different attitudes and behaviors than non-Buddhist practitioners, and (3) If so, how does Buddhism influence Buddhist practitioners' environmental consciousness? Through a case study of Shambhala Meditation Center in Denver, Colorado, I seek to answer my research questions to understand if Buddhism in Colorado is"green" and how Buddhist practice connects with the natural environment. I also conducted a comparison of environmental attitudes and behaviors between Buddhist practitioners and non-Buddhists to analyze whether (1) Buddhist practitioners have more environmental concerns about the earth, and (2) their daily activities reflect their pro-environmental behaviors.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Mengye Liu

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

85 p.

Discipline

Religion, Ecology

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