Climate change is a growing issue for many in our society and world. As a Buddhist monastery, we are responding to this issue in several ways.

• First, as individual monks, we follow a simple lifestyle of traditional Buddhist monastic livelihood and regulation including ethical precepts, simplicity, vegetarianism, and being content with what we are given.
• As a community we have a keen awareness of the impact of our lives and activities on the environment. Grounded in Buddhist teachings on compassion and responsibility, the care for natural resources, the environment, and all of the earth’s inhabitants is integral to how we practice today and was taught extensively by our late founder, Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett. Here are two articles expanding on our many years of practice with and her teaching on these concerns:

Conserve, Respect, Preserve, Revere: Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett’s Teaching on the Environment (summary of a discussion in 2015)

and

Environmentally Sustainable Practices in the Shasta Abbey Kitchen.

• Compounding the problem of climate change are greed and fear and our basic practice helps in working with these mind states. We couple the practice of compassion with that of wisdom, or wise discernment, which is cultivated through the regular practice of meditation. We engage in the daily practice of serene reflection meditation and offer many teaching venues and practice opportunities at no charge to all who wish to learn and train with us.
• Lastly, we hold out to everyone the possibility of finding a true and lasting refuge which can enable us to respond calmly and creatively to the troubles and vicissitudes of life in a changing world.