What is Buddhist Eco-Chaplaincy?
Buddhist Eco-Chaplaincy is a new field emerging from and grounded in millenia-old lineages of wisdom teachings and ways of living in sacred reciprocity with the more-than-human world. It is an interweaving of deep listening, rituals to reconnect humans to themselves, each other and nature, and action to protect the web of life.
Buddhist eco-chaplains are people who offer a friendly, nonjudgmental space to support groups or individuals as they navigate personal, community, and planetary challenges. We can help cultivate a deeper relationship with the natural world, personal resilience in hard times, and a sense of purpose and meaning.
What do Buddhist Eco-Chaplains do?
We provide support for eco-emotions
We help people across religious or spiritual identities to name, process, and find meaning in the emotional distress caused by ecological destruction, climate change, loss of biodiversity, and disasters. We may be a compassionate presence for pain and stress, a refuge for difficult emotions, and a reminder of one’s inherent belonging to the living world.
We cultivate stronger connections with nature
We may guide individuals and groups into a deeper sense of and connection with the Earth, all living beings, the elements, natural cycles, four-seasons.
We support resilience and agency
We may help people connect with their own sense of resolve and capacity for resilience as they navigate challenges and change. We hold true that resilient people increase the capacity for resilience in their communities.
We create rituals and ceremonies
We may design and facilitate events or experiences to mourn loss, celebrate life, mark thresholds, and honor important transitions.
We show up in times of need
When requested, we may offer a supportive, virtual or on-the-ground, presence for individuals and communities that have suffered from the impact of an ecological or climate disaster.
We work across situations and spaces
We are active in environmental organizations, governmental agencies, schools, social movements, and other spaces that may contain a considerable level of burn out, despair, stress, and hopelessness.
A history of Buddhist Eco-Chaplaincy
Chaplaincy has its roots in Christianity, dating back to the 4th century France, described then as “people of faith performing religious duties in a secular situation, creating chapels of refuge in the heart of the world.”
In more recent times, the practice of chaplaincy has evolved toward interfaith spiritual care. Today, chaplains have been trained in their chosen faith tradition, but serve all with compassion.
In “Towards a Definition of Buddhist Eco-Chaplaincy,” Jennifer Block defined spiritual support from a Buddhist perspective as:
Willingness to bear witness
Willingness to help others discover their own truth
Willingness to sit and listen to stories that have meaning and value
Helping another to face life directly
Welcoming paradox & ambiguity into care—and trusting that these will emerge into some degree of awakening
Creating opportunities for the people to awaken to their True Nature
The term eco-chaplaincy was coined by Sarah Vekasi, a student and practitioner of Joanna Macy’s Work that Reconnects. She described and defined the work of an eco-chaplain in the early 2000s as a form of secular and inter-religious spiritual support for social and environmental justice activists and other individuals and communities experiencing grief, despair, and confusion in the wake of environmental and social injustices.
Over the last two decades eco-chaplaincy training, offerings, and initiatives have formed at the Upaya Zen Center, The Chaplaincy Institute, Hartford University, The BTS Center, and BECA’s home program, the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies.