The Mao Shan Declaration

茅 山 宣 言

——第三次中国道教宫观生态保护论坛

The Third Ecology Protection Forum of China Daoist Temples and Pagodas

公元两千零八，四川汶川地震，北京举办奥运。大悲大喜之秋，中国道教名山宫观、省市道教协会代表69人，聚首东南福地茅山，与国际环保组织对话，应对全球生态危机，共同致力建设美好家园。

In 2008, an earthquake hit Wen Chuan in Sichuan Province and the Olympics were held in Beijing. In this bittersweet autumn, sixty-nine representatives from Chinese Taoist temples and associations have gathered together in Mao Shan - a blissful place in Southeast China - to discuss ways to counter the global ecological crisis with international environmental organizations in order to build a better homeland.

道家道教，以生为贵，以自然为尊。视万物为平等，视全球为一村。一荣俱荣，一损俱损。今日寰宇，气候变化，灾害频仍，环境恶化，世人痛心。道教生态理念，渊源于老子，光大于道经，宫观生态历久弥新。适逢举国齐心，科学发展，共建和谐，道教与时俱进，继承传统，创新发展，势在必行。

The Daoist philosophy and Daoist religion both emphasize the values of life and nature. They see everything as equal, and the world as a whole, so that when one thing gets hurt, others will be harmed, and when one thing is protected, others will share the benefit. In today’s world, climate change, natural disasters and environment pollution have become our real concerns. But we are also in a good era, a time when the whole country is united, science has been greatly developed and harmony has become a shared goal. The Daoist faiths therefore recognize that it is necessary to inherit our old tradition, while also advancing with time, and to innovate and make progress.

Engaged Shinto? Ecology, Peace and Spiritualities of Nature in 

Indigenous and New Japanese Religions 

by John Clammer*

Shinto and Ecology

The Japanese scholar of religion Sonoda Minoru has described Shinto as “the ritual means by which early Japanese transformed their natural surroundings into a cultural landscape infused with religious and historical meaning” (Sonoda 2000:32).

This self-conscious positioning of Shinto as an ecologically sensitive religion does indeed have its basis in the characteristics of the religion. Japanese society in general has a relational view of the self – as being not a unique and individualistic essence, but as being the outcome of many forces, relationships and circumstances that shape any particular identity which is in itself dynamic and impermanent. This idea, which arises largely from Buddhism, is shared by Shinto which has as a central notion the permeability of identity. Thus the boundary between human and “nature” is not fixed – animals can be transformed into humans or humans into animals and humans certainly have the potentiality to become kami or gods/spirits. Kami themselves need not be “animate” in the usual Western sense, as in Shinto there are no “inanimate” entities – thunder can be a kami (naru kami or “sounding kami”), as can foxes, or trees, especially large and conspicuous ones, waterfalls and certainly mountains, of which Mount Fuji is only the largest and best known example. Fertility cults are also common as evidenced by the phallic symbols and festivals that occur at a number of well-known shrines.

Miyazaki, Shintoism & Ecology

Commencing yesterday and running through the 30th of this month, New York's Museum of Modern Art presents Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata: Masters of Animation. The retrospective's centerpiece will be the North American premiere of Howl's Moving Castle (2004), Miyazaki's latest, which will subsequently receive a limited national release starting June 10th. (For Minneapolis readers, the film will open on that date at the Uptown Theatre.)

As no great fan of animation, let alone animae, I will admit that I think of Miyazaki as something of an exception. His best films manifest many of the same qualities as the very best of the classical Hollywood system: that is, they succeed in addressing multiple audiences at once, both as organic works of art and as entertainments in their own right. Spirited Away (2001), for instance, is targeted at ten year-old girls, seeking to remedy their principle anxieties, while operating as a parable for the economic crisis for older viewers. Then again, those not within the former demographic are likewise given a glimpse into the young female's psychoses. It is in other words an art that operates on numerous levels, separately addressing different viewers.

Shintoism and ecology

Nature as Divine

Shinto tradition acknowledges a deep debt to the blessing of nature and the spiritual power which brings about life, fertility, and prosperity. This life-giving power was called Musubi (divine power of growth), and perceived in all the workings of nature. Since the Japanese people felt the divine within nature, they came to hold the ideal of a life that was in harmony with and united with nature. Mountains peaks, deep valleys, and the wide ocean were viewed as dwellings for the divine, and other natural objects such as evergreen trees and huge rocks were considered to be symbols of divine spirits.

Shinto and Agriculture

The Japanese way of life depends heavily on rice cultivation, the form of agriculture best suited to the Japanese climate. Rice is treated as a sacred and indispensable food. Matsuri festivals are traditionally held seasonally in each region to invoke the success of the rice harvest. Over thousands of years, the rituals and festivals associated with rice agriculture gave form to the religion of Shinto. Shinto is therefore both the indigenous folk religion of Japan, and the history of the Japanese people's way of life.