Based on the Sutras of the Perfection of Wisdom, this study investigates if there is a Buddhist philosophy of nature and how the Buddhist tradition develops its environmental ethics. In an effort to add to our overall understanding of the Buddhist environmental ethics, this study focuses on the idea of the purification of the Buddha Field, and begins with an examination of the ways the Sutras of the Perfection of Wisdom relate themselves to the natural world. Two kinds of attitude toward the natural world can therefore be distinguished. One is in compliance with the natural world, and the other is actively engaged in transforming the natural world. Finally, I concentrate especially on discerning the four characteristics of the Buddhist environmental ethics: nonpossessive, nondominative, noncoercive, and nonpatronizing.
