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The growing concern about the absence of Love and Compassion in daily life, in schools, at work, and in the healing professions, preoccupies many citizens and scholars in the new millennium. These same issues were examined with great clarity and depth by the awakened mind of the Buddha, 2600 years ago. His teachings are timeless, as relevant to the modern world as they were when first spoken. The Buddha talked in particular about a set of ethical guidelines - the Five Mindfulness Trainings - as a design for living. There are many ways to discuss them. Guidelines To Recreate Our World places an emphasis on global ecology, and post Columbine violence in schools, as contexts where these ethical principles can be applied. I make the point that we do not know how to behave, and draw on the well of Buddhist ethics for guidance - in particular the work of Thay Nhat Hanh and his discourses on the Five Mindfulness Trainings. |