1. Care and Reverence for All Living Things
World Scripture
As a mother with her own life guards the life of her own child, let all-embracing thoughts for all that lives be thine.
Khuddaka Patha, Metta Sutta (Buddhism)
The mode of living that is founded upon total harmlessness towards all creatures, or upon a minimum of such harm, is the highest morality.
Mahabharata, Shantiparva 262.5-6 (Hinduism)
One should not injure, subjugate, enslave, torture, or kill any animal, living being, organism, or sentient being. This doctrine of nonviolence is immaculate, immutable, and eternal. Just as suffering is painful to you, in the same way it is painful, disquieting, and terrifying to all animals, living beings, organisms, and sentient beings.
Acarangasutra 4.25-26 (Jainism)
The Prophet said, “There is neither harm nor cause for harm in Islam.”
Majma’ al-Zawa’d 4.6536 (Islam)
A certain priest had been killed by the bite of a snake, and when they announced the matter to the Blessed One, he said, “Surely now, O priests, that priest never suffused the four royal families of snakes with his friendliness. For if that priest had suffused the four royal families of the snakes with his friendliness, that priest would not have been killed by the bite of a snake… Creatures without feet have my love, And likewise those that have two feet, And those that have four feet I love, And those, too, that have many feet.
Vinaya Pitaka, Cullavagga 5.6 (Buddhism)
Rear them, but do not lay claim to them; Control them, but never lean upon them, Be their steward, but do not manage them. This is called the Mysterious Power.
Tao Te Ching 51 (Taoism)
A horse or a cow has four feet: that is Nature. Put a halter around the horse’s head or put a rope through the cow’s nose: that is man. Therefore it is said, “Do not let man destroy Nature. Do not let cleverness destroy destiny [the natural order].”
Chuang Tzu 17 (Taoism)
In the land of Yamato there are many mountains; ascending to the heaven of Mount Kagu, I gaze down on the country, and see smoke rising here and there over the land, sea gulls floating here and there over the sea. A fine country is this, the island of dragonflies, this province of Yamato.1
Man’yoshu I (Shinto)
On the eastern side of this Himalaya, the king of mountains, are green-flowing streams, having their source in slight and gentle mountain slopes; blue, white, and the hundred-leafed, the white lily and the tree of paradise, in a region overrun and beautified with all manner of trees and flowing shrubs and creepers, resounding with the cries of swans, ducks, and geese, inhabited by troops of monks and ascetics.2
Jataka (Buddhism)
Come back, O Tigers, to the woods again, and let it not be leveled with the plain. For without you, the axe will lay it low. You, without it, forever homeless go.
Khuddaka Patha (Buddhism)
The moral person accepts as being good: to preserve life, to promote life, to raise to its highest value life which is capable of development; and as being evil: to destroy life, to injure life, to repress life which is capable of development. This is the absolute fundamental principle of the moral. A man is ethical only when life, as such, is sacred… that of plants and animals as well as that of his fellow man, and when he devotes himself helpfully to all life that is in need of help.
Albert Schweitzer
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
Unless you love nature and human beings, you cannot love God.
(70:182, February 9, 1974)
Those who cannot love nature cannot love human beings, the owners of nature. We should love nature and other people more than ourselves.
(375:20, April 13, 2002)
You love your wife, but do you love the air, sun, light, water and vegetation from which your wife is benefiting?…Unless you love nature, you cannot love yourself. If you eat the things of nature while mistreating nature, you may get sick.
(385:200-01, July 11, 2002)
Nature is the closest thing to our body. We should fulfill the desire of nature, which languishes in lamentation… If you love the natural environment of your hometown, you can know how to love your body. If you love your body, you can know how to love your own heart and mind. If you love your own heart and mind, you can know how to love God. Do so and you will not perish.
(14:102, June 20, 1964)
We should love the ocean. Yet how can we, when dangers abound and so much about the ocean is unknown? By searching it out and learning its secrets, our love for the ocean will grow and grow. Likewise, there are many dangers lurking in the mountains. Yet we want to explore the mountains and brave their challenges. Then our hearts will grow deeper and wider.
(391:218, August 26, 2002)
Only those who love the mountains can worship what is high. Confucius, Buddha, Jesus, and all the prophets loved the mountains… Indeed, many people treading the path of God's providence received comfort from nature.
(14:102, June 20, 1964)
New York City and the Washington D.C. metropolitan areas are truly dark, living hells. It is better to live on an island where you have to travel three miles3 before meeting another soul, and if you walk all day, you might see ten people at most. If you live in such a place, perhaps the eye of your original mind will open. Even in a rural area where you are with nature for 80 percent of your day and with people only 20 percent of the time, it is not easy to keep a balance. I recommend that city dwellers spend time in the wilderness. We must resolve the problems of air and water pollution; otherwise, how can humanity survive even 300 more years? Today we can enjoy a civilized life even in a rural area. With the Internet and the telephone, even if you were to live on top of a 7000-meter-high peak in the Rocky Mountains, you could still reach everywhere in the world. I am going to the jungles of South America. Although there are many mosquitoes, there is clear air, clean water and bright sunshine. Sometimes I go to an island in the Pacific Ocean, where the air is good and the water is clear. I go where the environment is good and there is no pollution, so I can converse with nature. When I am with nature, I am close to God.
(339:164, December 10, 2000)