| The Zen Environmental
Studies Institute (ZESI) is a religious nonprofit
corporation of
the Mountains and Rivers Order, located at the
Zen Mountain Monastery on Tremper Mountain in upstate
New York. Applying the Buddhist precepts to our
relationship with the natural world, ZESI is dedicated
to cultivating love and concern for the environment
by recognizing the wisdom of the insentient
and wild. Through workshops, retreats, courses,
and research projects, ZESI promotes spiritually-grounded
nature study and environmental advocacy. ZESI programs
are conducted at training sites, wilderness camps,
and retreat centers located within the Zen Mountain
Monastery Nature Sanctuary, the Catskill Mountains
Forest Preserve, and the Adirondack Mountains Forest
Preserve. In addition to wilderness skills training,
ZESI offers nature meditation retreats and programs
grounded in Zen Buddhist meditation practices on
a wide range of topics including: natural history,
nature arts, and environmental ethics.
In cooperation with the
Zen Center
of
New
York City, ZESI
sponsors urban environmental programs in Brooklyn
to encourage nature appreciation and environmental
advocacy in urban settings. The Green Dragon Society,
ZESI’s environmental advocacy team, includes
environmental scientists, lawyers, river engineers,
bioethicists, and media representatives. ZESI has
recently launched an Environmental Monitoring Program
in the Adirondack and Catskill mountains to monitor
water, air, and soil quality as well as a wetland
Breeding Bird Census. ZESI membership includes
a subscription to the quarterly newsletter, The
Green Dragon Howl, and discounts on ZESI programs. |
| Buddhism |
United States of America
(New
York) |
2001–Present
|
The origins of the
Zen Environmental Studies Institute can be traced
back to 1980 when the
Zen Mountain Monastery, home of the Mountains
and River Order, was founded at Tremper Mountain.
At
this time, the Abbot and Board of Directors designated
eighty percent of the Monastery’s 250-acres
as a permanent nature sanctuary in order to manifest
the community’s
commitment to include all insentient beings on
the property as members of the sangha. During
the 1980s, wilderness appreciation and exploration
became a central theme of the Monastery’s
retreats and training sessions. In 1991, the “Born
as the Earth” program was launched to integrate
meditation practice with nature appreciation.
The Green Dragon Council was formed in 1992 in
order
to protect the wetlands of the Esopus River and
soon turned its attention to other vulnerable
or threatened natural sites and entities. The
Zen
Environmental Studies Institute was established
in 2001 in order to promote the development of
green Buddhism through expanded programs in the
Catskills, Adirondacks, and New York City. Since
its founding, ZESI has developed a broad range
of workshops, retreats, courses, and research
programs focused on integrating Buddhist
practice with
nature study, wilderness skills, and environmental
advocacy.
|
| “The Zen Environmental
Studies Institute is part of the Mountains and
Rivers Order of Zen
Buddhism and is a nonprofit religious corporation
that exists to provide training, education, and
practice of Zen Buddhism and its relationship to
the environment. It sponsors and conducts workshops,
training, and research on the environment and the
teachings of the insentient. It provides space,
facilities, and opportunities for teachers, students,
and researchers in environmental work and ecology
to interface and practice meditation, study nature,
and to study the teachings of the insentient in
relationship to the teachings of Buddhism. The
direction of
Zen Environmental Studies Institute programs
arises from a trust in the inherent intelligence
of wildness. For almost four billion years, our
Earth has been functioning as an intelligent self-organizing,
self-maintaining organism that supports life-sustaining
relationships. If left undisturbed, this web-of-life
ultimately creates an ecological balance for life
processes. It provides diversity and balance
without producing non-degradable waste nor contemporary
society’s abusiveness and exploitation of
people and places.” |
Zen Center of New York
City
Society of Mountains and Rivers |
| None Listed |
| None Listed |
| None Listed |
Zen Environmental Studies Institute, Ltd.
P.O. Box 24
Mt. Tremper, NY 12456
Ph: 845.688.7993
Fax: 845.688.7995
Email: zeneco@mro.org |
