The Luce Initiative on Asian Studies and the Environment (LIASE) hosted an evening of spiritual contemplation led by Burmese environmental policy consultant, Yan Min Aung in Villalobos Hall. In his talk entitled “This Lotus in the Brownfield: Environmental Relevance of Buddhist Spirituality," Aung addressed the necessity to redirect our spiritual energies to achieve individual and social wellbeing without environmental and ecological sacrifices. “In order to transform our society’s way of material consumption and in turn gain environmentally motivated behaviors, we need to re-conceptualize our views behind human happiness,” Aung said.
Myanmar native Yan Min Aung has conducted research on the ecosystem services of Myanmar forests that has contributed to changes in national policies such as Myanmar National Land Use Policy, Myanmar Environmental Quality Guidelines (Industrial Emission), and Environmental Impact Assessment Procedures. Min expressed the meaning behind the title of his talk in which motivations can flourish like the Lotus in the Brownfields, “I’m hoping even out of pollution and degradations, our spirituality can flourish like the lotus flower,” Aung said.
During his talk, he expanded on the important Buddhist concepts to better understand how “generosity”, “merit”, “spirituality”, “happiness”, “rebirth”, and “nibbana” (nirvana) are conceptualized to escape the “hedonic treadmill” and move toward post-consumer social order. “Generosity, contemplation and virtue constitute spiritual skill and long lasting happiness and give us spiritual energy for activism,” Aung said. “This is a reference point to this Buddhist concept of Clearing Clouds from Sky-Like Mind where three broad categories of desire, illusion and delusion bring need for spiritual training where we must train our minds to get rid of these habits, grips called desire, illusion and delusion by letting go.”
During the open discussion portion of the talk, students asked Aung about how social media and technology drives our ego and supports consumption. “Under Buddhist ideology, we are individuals made of matter and physical processes and not a solid identity and because we are egoistic we are using that to benefit us,” Aung said. “We see sometimes that the kinds of emotions that are supposed to transcend ego are desire and fear but we need to redirect those emotions into something positive. We see that in order to face an environmental crisis that is threatening our survival is that we need to re-frame our message by bringing together our communities."
Francisco Campos '17, who attended the talk as part of his course of Education for Sustainable Development, was among the students who asked questions about the model’s ability to enhance societal involvement in economic, social political activities “I think the speaker really shed light about the relationship between spirituality and happiness and how it has the potential to create environmental change,” said Campos. “I found Aung’s model of spirituality, of breaking this cycle of happiness and desire addiction by letting go of one’s desires through pursuing generosity and virtue, to be fascinating.”
LIASE is a four-year project, where the College seeks to strengthen awareness and understanding of Asia and its environment through curricular and other pathways for students, faculty, and community learning. Specifically, the project encompasses interdisciplinary perspectives on the environment and sustainable development in various places in China, Hong Kong, and Myanmar.
