Encyclopaedia of Buddhism: A World Faith (Volume IV)

The natural environment sustains the life of all beings of the world. The world is a sanctuary in which humanity and nature can live together in harmony. The Buddhist attitude is one of contentment, and there may be some connection with our attitude towards the environment. Buddhists believe not to indiscriminately consume. They put a limit on their consumption. They admire simple living and individual responsibility. They considered themselves as part of environment. Ancient scriptures speak of the container and the contained. The world is the container–our house–and we are the contained–the contents of the container. From these simple facts we deduce a special relationship, because without the container, the contents cannot be contained. Without the contents, the container contains nothing, it’s meaningless.