ENVIRONMENT & RELIGION
1. Buddhism
2. So with a boundless heart should one cherish all living beings, radiating kindness over the entire world, spreading upward to the skies, and downward to the depths, outward and unbounded.
~Metta Sutra, "Loving-kindness"
3. If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.
~Siddhartha Buddha, The Tipitaka, 80 B.C.
4. Rajah Koravya had a king banyan tree called Steadfast, and the shade of its widespread branches was cool and lovely. Its shelter broadened to twelve leagueshttp://suprememastertv.tvhttp://suprememastertv.tv None guarded its fruit, and none hurt another for its fruit. Now there came a man who ate his fill of fruit, broke down a branch, and went his way. Thought the spirit dwelling in that tree, "How amazing, how astonishing it is, that a man should be so evil as to break off a branch of the tree, after eating his fill. Suppose the tree were to bear no more fruit." And the tree bore no more fruit.
~Anguttara Nikaya iii.368
5. As a bee gathering nectar does not harm or disturb the color and fragrance of the flower; so do the wise move through the world.
~Lord Buddha, Dhammapada: Flowers, verse 49
6. The forest is a peculiar organism of unlimited kindness and benevolence that makes no demands for its sustenance and extends generously the products of its life and activity; it affords protection to all beings.
~Buddhist Sutra
7. Confucianism
8. All people are my brothers and sisters, and all things are my companions.
~ Chang Tsai, Xi Ming
9. If hatchets and axes are permitted in the forests on the hills only in the proper seasons, then there will be more timber than they can use.
~Mencius I.A.3
10. Respect the old and cherish the young. Even insects, grass and trees you must not hurt.
~ T'ai-shang kan-ying p'ien
11. Even Heaven and Earth cannot exist without the innate knowledge that is inherent in man. For at bottom - Heaven, Earth, the myriad things, and man form one body. The point at which this unity manifests in its most refined and excellent form is the clear intelligence of the human mind. Wind, rain, dew, thunder, sun and moon, stars, animals and plants, mountains and rivers, earth and stones are essentially of one body with man. It is for this reason that such things as the grains can nourish man and that such things as medicine and minerals can heal diseases. Since they share the same material force, they enter into one another.
~ Wang Yangming, Wang Wen-ch'eng Kung ch'uan-shu n 2448
12. Taoism
13. Respect the world as your self: The world can be your lodging.
Love the world as your self: The world can be your trust.
~Lao Zhu, Tao Te Ching, 13
14. Tao gives life to all beings. Nature watches over them, develops them, shelters them, nurses them, grows them, ripens them, completes them, buries them, and returns them.
~ Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, 51
15. Giving birth, nourishing life, shaping things without possessing them, serving without expectation of reward, leading without dominating: These are the profound virtues of nature, and of nature's best beings.
~ Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, 51
16. Follow Nature and place perfect principle in the forefront. If we follow it, there will be fortune, and if we disobey it, there will be misfortune.
~ Lao Tzu, Wing-Tsit Chan, Chapter19
17. In harmony with the Tao, the sky is clear and spacious, the earth is solid and full; all creatures flourish together, content with the way they are, endlessly repeating themselves, endlessly renewed. When man interferes with the Tao, the sky becomes filthy, the earth becomes depleted, the equilibrium crumbles, and creatures become extinct.
~ Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching 39
18. A horse or a cow has four feet. That is Nature. Put a halter around the horse's head and put a string through the cow's nose, that is man. Therefore it is said, "Do not let man destroy Nature. Do not let cleverness destroy the natural order."
~ Chuang Tzu 17
19. When the Yin and Yang act awry, Heaven and Earth are greatly perturbed; and on this comes the crash of thunder, and from the rain comes fire, which consumes great locust trees.
~ Chuang Tzu, Chapter 26: What comes from Without
20. Baha'i
21. Man is organic with the world. His inner life molds the environment and is itself deeply affected by it. The one acts upon the other and every abiding change in the life of man is the result of these mutual reactions.
~ Mirza Husayn Al, Bahá'u'lláh
22. Nature in its essence is the embodiment of My Name: the Maker, the Creator.
~ Bahá'u'lláh Bahá'í
23. http://suprememastertv.tv.Do all in your power to be as one, to live in peace, each with the others:
for ye are all the drops from but one ocean, the foliage of one tree,
the pearls from a single shell, the flowers and sweet herbs from the same one garden.
~ Bahá'u'lláh Bahá'í
24. Hinduism
25. Do not cut trees, because they remove pollution.
~ Rig Veda, 6:48:17
26. Do not disturb the sky and do not pollute the atmosphere.
~ Yajur Veda, 5:43
27. Destruction of forests is taken as destruction of the state, and reforestation an act of rebuilding and advancing…
~ Charak Sanhita
28. If there is but one tree of flowers and fruit within a village, that place is worthy of your respect.
~ Mahabharata
29. Earth is our Mother and we are all her Children.
~ Vedic dictum
30. One who plants one peepal, one neem, ten flowering plants or creepers, two pomegranates, two oranges, and five mangoes does not go to hell.
~Varaha Purãna
31. The rivers are the veins of God, the ocean is His blood, and the trees the hairs of His body. The air is His breath, the earth His flesh, the sky His abdomen, the hills and mountains the stacks of His bones, and the passing ages are His movements.
~Srimad Bhãgavatam 2.1.32-33
32. Five sorts of kindness are the daily sacrifice of the trees. To families they give fuel; to passers by they give shade and a resting place; to birds they give shelter; with their leaves, roots, and bark they give medicines.
~Varaha Purãna 162.41-42
33. Sikhism
34. Creating the world, God has made it a place to practice spirituality.
~Guru Granth Sahib (1035)
35. Men, trees, pilgrimage places, banks of sacred streams, clouds, fields. Islands, spheres, universes, continents, solar systems. The sources of creation, egg-born, womb-born, earth-born, sweat-born, oceans, mountains and sentient beings. He, the Lord, knows their condition.
~Shri Guru Granth Sahib (466)
36. The Creator created all creation in which He is manifest. You Yourself are the bumble-bee, flower, fruit and the tree. You Yourself are the water, desert, ocean and the pond. You Yourself are the big fish, tortoise and the Cause of causes.
~Shri Guru Granth Sahib (1016)
37. The Lord infused His Light into the dust, and created the world, the universe. The sky, the earth, the trees, and the water - all are the Creation of the Lord.
~Shri Guru Granth Sahib (723)
38. Air is guru, water the father and earth the great mother. Day and night are two male and female nurses in whose lap the entire world plays.
~Shri Guru Granth Sahib (8-10)
39. Zoroastrianism
40. "Whoever teaches care for all these seven creations does well and pleases the Bounteous Immortals; then his soul will never arrive at kinship with the Hostile Spirit. When he has cared for the creations, the care of these Bounteous Immortals is for him, and he must teach this to all mankind in the material world."
~Shayasht ne Shayast (15:6)
41. Clean environment and health are the best for the living world.
~Gathas (Y48.5)
42. Ahura Mazda created the water and earth, plants and animals, the stars, moon, and sun, and all prosperity whose origin and effect are from the manifestation of righteousness.
~Bundahis
43. That nature alone is good which refrains from doing unto another whatsoever is not good for itself.
~Avesta, Dadistan-i-dinik 94:5, from the Zoroastrian tradition, circa 600 BC
44. Christianity and Judaism
45. Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food."
~ Genesis,1.29 Jewish Talmud and Old Testament of Christian Holy Bible
46. They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
~ Isaiah 11:9, Jewish Talmud and Old Testament of Christian Holy Bible
47. Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land.
~ Lev. 25:23-24, Jewish Talmud and Old Testament of Christian Holy Bible
48. The mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. All this will be a memorial for the Lord, a sign that for all time will not be cut off.
~ Isaiah 55:12-13, Jewish Talmud and Old Testament of Christian Holy Bible
49. But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. In His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all humanity.
~ Job 12:7-10, 1:21, Jewish Talmud and Old Testament of Christian Holy Bible
50. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof."
~Psalms 24:1, 1:21, Jewish Talmud and Old Testament of Christian Holy Bible
51. The time has come for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great - and for destroying those who destroy the earth.
~Revelation 11:18, New Testament of Christian Holy Bible
52. The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to serve and preserve it.
~Genesis 2:15, Jewish Talmud and Old Testament of Christian Holy Bible
53. If you follow in my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. . . and I will grant peace in the land.
~Leviticus 26: 3-4,6 , Jewish Talmud and Old Testament of Christian Holy Bible
54. Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must foul the rest with your feet?
~Ezekiel 34:18-19, Jewish Talmud and Old Testament of Christian Holy Bible
55. We are partners in God's creative enterprise, called to 'renew the face of the earth' until there is peace and harmony, sparkling life-giving water, the 'trees of life' that give health and the messianic banquet that can be shared by all the inhabitants of the earth. Then the curse of destruction will be abolished.
~Revelation 22: 1-3, Jewish Talmud and New Testament of Christian Holy Bible
56. The Lord Reigns. . . Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy.
~Psalm 96:10, 12, Jewish Talmud and Old Testament of Christian Holy Bible
57. God speaks to us, not just through his word, but also through his creation.
~ Psalms 19:1-4, Romans 1:20, Mat 6:28-29, Christian Holy Bible
58. We should care about the kind of world our children will inherit.
~ Proverbs 13:22a, Christian Holy Bible
59. "Hurt not the Earth, neither the Sea, nor the Trees"
~ Revelations, The Holy Christian Bible
60. Islam
61 .The world is green and beautiful, and Allah has appointed you his guardian over it.
~ Prophet Muhammad
62. O children of Adam! Eat and drink: but waste not by excess for Allah loveth not the wasters.
~ Qur'an 007.031
63. It is He who produceth gardens with trellises and without and dates and tilth with produce of all kinds and olives and pomegranates similar in kind and different in variety: Eat of their fruit in their season but render the dues that are proper on the day that the harvest is gathered. But waste not by excess, for Allah loveth not the wasters.
~Qur'an 006.141
64. Those who take undue advantage of other species break the Divine Law of equilibrium in nature - and nature never forgives.
~Qur'an 30:30
65. … not to allow any change to corrupt what Allah has created …
~Qur'an 30:30
66. On Doomsday, if any one has a palm-shoot in hand, he should plant it.
~Musnad of Ahmad, 5:440 & 3:184
67. The All-Merciful has … created man … the sun and moon … stars and trees http://suprememastertv.tv. set the balance. Transgress not in the balance, and weigh with justice…
~ Qur'an 55:1-2
68. Have you not seen that unto Allah pays adoration whosoever is in the heavens and whosoever is in the earth, and the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and the hills, and the trees, and the beasts, and many of humankind.
~ Qur'an
69. Whoever plants a tree and diligently looks after it until it matures and bears fruit is rewarded.
~ Prophet Muhammad, Hadith
70. If a Muslim plants a tree or sows a field and men and beasts and birds eat from it, all of it is charity on his part.
~ Prophet Muhammad, Hadith
71. The world is beautiful and verdant, and verily Allah, be He exalted, has made you His stewards in it, and He sees how you acquit yourselves.
~ Prophet Muhammad, Hadith
72. Jainism
73. All life is bound together by mutual support and interdependence.
~ Parasparopagraho Jivänäm
74. Environment is imbued with living beings. Therefore if we harm ONE,
we harm ALL living beings.
~ Parasparopagraho Jivänäm
75. One who neglects or disregards the existence of earth, air, fire, water and vegetation, disregards his own existence which is entwined with them.
~ Mahavira, Tobias
76. A monk or a nun, seeing big trees in parks, on hills, or in woods, should speak about them in this way: "These trees are noble, high and round, big."
Akaranga Sutras
77. A monk or a nun wanting to air or dry (in the sun) their clothes, should not do so on the bare ground or wet earth or rock or piece of clay containing life.
~ Gaina Sutras Part I
78. One should not injure, subjugate, enslave, torture or kill any living being including
animals, insects, plants, and vegetables.
~Mahavira (Acharanga, Ch. 4)
80. Judaism
81. When God created Adam… the Garden of Eden, God told him: Everything… has been created for your sake. Think of this and do not corrupt the world; for if you corrupt it, there will be no one to set it right after you.
~ Midrash Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7:13
82. You must not destroy (bal tashchit) its fruit trees. . . You may eat of them but you must not destroy the fruit trees.
~ Deuteronomy, 20:20, Jewish Talmud and Old Testament of Christian Holy Bible
83. The Earth is God's, and the fullness thereof; the settled land, and its inhabitants.
~ Psalm 24:1, Jewish Talmud and Old Testament of Christian Holy Bible
84. Righteous people http://suprememastertv.tv. do not waste in this world even a mustard seed. They become sorrowful with every wasteful and destructive act that they see, and if they can, they use all their strength to save everything possible from destruction.
~ Sefer HaChinuch 529
85. It should not be believed that all beings exist for the sake of humanity's existence http://suprememastertv.tv. rather, all the other beings, too, have been intended for their own sakeshttp://suprememastertv.tv.
~Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed III:13
86. The Torah commands us to safeguard nature: "Take care not to spoil."
~ Deuteronomy XX, 19, Jewish Talmud and Old Testament of Christian Holy Bible
87. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and a little child shall lead them…They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the Earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
~ Isaiah 11:6-9, Jewish Talmud and Old Testament of Christian Holy Bible
88. His compassion is over all that He has made.
~Psalms 145:9, Jewish Talmud and Old Testament of Christian Holy Bible
89. Behold, to the LORD your God belong Heaven and the highest heavens, the Earth and all that is in it.
~ Deuteronomy 10:14, Jewish Talmud and Old Testament of Christian Holy Bible
90. Native American
91. Treat the Earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children.
~Ancient Native American Proverb
92. The Great Spirit is in all things, he is in the air we breathe.
~Big Thunder Wabanaki, Algonquin Native America Tribe
93. The Great Spirit is our Father, but the Earth is our Mother. She nourishes us, that which we put into the ground she returns to ushttp://suprememastertv.tv.
~Big Thunder Wabanaki, Algonquin Native American Tribe
94. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth. Man did not weave the web of life. He is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.
~ Chief Seattle, Suquamish and Duwamish Native American Tribe
95. All plants are our brothers and sisters. They talk to us and if we listen, we can hear them.
~ Arapaho Proverb
96. We felt that all things were like people to us, down to small animals like the mouse and small things like wood. The wood is glad to the person who is using it, and the person is glad to the wood for being there to be used.
~Yupik Proverb
97. Every object in the world has a spirit, and that spirit is wakan. This the spirit of the tree or things of that kind are also wakan .
~Lakota Proverb
98. All things are waken (Great Spirit). So also is everything which exhibits power, whether in action, as the winds and drifting clouds, or in passive endurance as the boulder by the wayside. For even the commonest sticks and stones have a spiritual essence which must be reverenced as a manifestation of the all-pervading mysterious power that fills the universe.
~Osage Proverb
99. Take only what you need and leave the land as you found it.
~Arapaho Proverb