What do Hinduism and Yoga Philosophy have to say about ecology and the environment? Christopher Key Chapple provides an in-depth analysis of the traditional texts and ideas that relate to modern concerns and conversations in the environmental movement. Chapple explains what ancient Indian texts, including the Vedas and Upaniṣads, tell us about the centrality of earth-awareness in early India. Chapple then also examines how contemporary eco-activists, such as Vandana Shiva, M.C. Mehta, and Sunderlal Bahuguna, are applying traditional teachings and methods to current environmental crises.
Embodied Ecology highlights how Hindu and Yoga ideals can address pressing environmental problems including global consumerism, the proliferation of plastic waste, species extinctions, and climate change. Chapple offers insights on how Yoga ethics can help us create guidelines for the modern ills of over-consumption and how meditation practices can help foster a greater connection to the environment, as well as alleviate distress brought about by eco-anxiety.
Under Chapple’s guide, students will gain familiarity with primary Hindu texts describing methods for understanding and connecting with the five primary elements and learn Yoga practices and lifestyle changes that can be applied to bring about positive change on both a global and individual level.
Christopher Key Chapple is Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology and founding director of the Master of Arts in Yoga Studies at Loyola Marymount University. He has published more than twenty books, including Karma and Creativity; Nonviolence to Animals, Earth, and Self in Asian Traditions; Yoga and the Luminous; and Living Landscapes: Meditations on the Elements in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain Yogas. Chapple serves on the advisory boards for the Forum on Religion and Ecology (Yale), the Jaina Studies Centre (SOAS, London), the Dharma Academy of North America (Berkeley), the South Asian Studies Association (Los Angeles), and the International School for Jain Studies (Pune).
The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies is an academy for the study of Hindu cultures, societies, philosophies, religions, and languages. The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies Mandala Publishing Series offers authoritative yet accessible introductions to a wide range of subjects in Hindu Studies. Each book in the series aims to present its subject matter in a form that is engaging and readily comprehensible to persons of all backgrounds – academic or otherwise – without compromising scholarly rigour. The series thus bridges the divide between academic and popular writing by preserving and utilising the best elements of both.
General Editor: Lucian Wong
Editorial Board: John Brockington, Avni Chag, James Madaio, and Valters Negribs
For information on Continuing Education Courses at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, visit www.ochsonline.org
