What is EcoDharma?
Eco abbr.adj [i kó]: 1. Abbreviated from ecological and pointing to the ecological or holistic worldview that underpins resistance to the destructive juggernaut of industrial growth society and strengthens the renewal of ways of living that support a creative and life affirming future. 2. Celebrates the fundamental interconnectedness of all phenomena and the fact that, as individuals and societies, we are embedded in the cyclical processes of nature. 3. Not just another misuse of the ‘eco’ prefix to simulate a light green aura around a product or service for the ethical consumer, but rather pointing to the radical change in consciousness and socio-economic structures required to address the crises of our time, as in Deep Ecology, Social Ecology and Radical Ecology. 4. A challenge to the human-centred assumptions that humans are somehow above nature and the source of all value, and which ascribes only instrumental or ‘use’ value to nature; and instead affirming the intrinsic value of all living beings, including humans as one unique strand in the web of life. 5. The realisation that the way we treat the environment, the way we treat other species, and the way we treat each other, are all interlinked; the ‘eco’ paradigm helps us make the shift from ways of living based on hierarchy, domination and control to those based on co-operation and partnership; to move from isolating assumptions about our nature to a life affirming connection in community with others and the living earth.
The Eco-Dharma Centre is situated in a beautiful and wild part of the Catalan Pyrenees. We offer courses, events and retreats which support the realisation of our human potential and the development of an ecological consciousness honouring our mutual belonging within the web of life – drawing on the Buddhist Dharma and the emerging ecological paradigms of our time. WildcampNewsletter Subscribe
Our courses and retreats take place in a context of sustainable low-impact living, closely woven within the web of elemental nature. These meditation retreats, study seminars and training camps are intended to help people to empower themselves to make changes in themselves and the world consistent with a life-affirming vision.
We seek to develop practices which honour the inseparability of the transformation of the self and the world; to support the shift from a destructive industrial growth society to a life-affirming future; to contribute to the creation of a movement of renewal and resistance; to evolve spiritual practice where courageous compassion and a deepening realisation of our radical interconnectedness helps us to live in solidarity with life.
Although we live in a time of ecological and social crisis, a truly life-affirming, creative and sustainable future is possible. Such a future depends upon a radical transformation of both our values and consciousness, and the socio-economic forms that currently condition both the individual and our society. The goal of the eco-dharma project is to support such radical change, to transform insights and understandings into a lived reality – from the spiritual to the social, the political to the personal, and the imaginative to the inspirational! Come to visit and enjoy the exploration.