佛教與生態：臺灣「慈心有機農業發展基金會」的生態理念與實踐=Buddhism and Ecology : The Ecological Belief and Practice of the“Compassion Foundation for Organic Agriculture Development”in Taiwan
宗教與生態=Religion and Ecology; 臺灣佛教=Buddhism in Taiwan; 慈心有機農業發展基金會=Compassion Foundation for Organic Agriculture Development; 生態理念=Ecological Belief; 生態實踐=Ecological Practice
This study is focused on Compassion Foundation for Organic Agriculture Development (CFOAD, also called Tse-Xin Foundation) of Buddhist Fu wisdom group. The aims of the study are to explore the relationship among Buddhism and ecology. Firstly, the establish background of Tse-Xin Foundation is presented. Secondly, the research discusses the ecological philosophy and implementation of the foundation. In-depth interview questionnaires are used to examine the influence of the foundation in society. Lastly, the difficulties in development of the foundation are addressed. The findings show that the establishment of the foundation originated from the rise of environmental protection awareness. Farming methods to be changed was necessary for human health, the sustainable development of agriculture and the steady of ecology system. Moreover, foreign countries had already engaged in organic agriculture and promulgated related policies and decrees. The organic agriculture area has expanding trend. In contrast, organic agriculture is not popular in Taiwan. Difficult to get land, small production scale, high temperature and humidity, inefficient labor force factors and so stalled the organic agriculture of Taiwan. The establishment of Tse-Xin Foundation is due to the disciples donated land and the Buddhist Master Jih-chang awared the harm of pesticide and chemical fertilizers to human, animals and environment and could not bear killing of beings, so he promoted drug-free organic agriculture. His ecological philosophy is to rise human compassion, experience all creatures are born equal and cherish their lives. He can not bear creatures to suffer, and pitiful to all creatures. No matter the creatures has affections or not, they all have the same value of existence, and should be treated equally. The research found the implementation of Tse-Xin Foundation has their steps. They established educational farm, Leezen company, certification institutions first and then be consultants for farmers, and promoted clean water, eating vegetables to save the earth and green conservation plans. We discovered that the development process of Tse-Xin Foundation is from single to multiple dimensions. From in-depth interviews, the results show that the promotion of organic agriculture earned the recognition form consumers. Consumers gain confidence to buy organic products and arose the awareness to protect the ecology on earth. The difficulties encountered in the process appeared gradually. Problems include the methods to grow, to gain organic recognition, to get certification, marketing, pesticide residues and ecological conservation. However, Tse-Xin Foundation showed positive attitudes to overcome the obstacles and worked hard to find broaden paths for organic farmers. They participate in International Organic Agriculture Organization to make organic agriculture sustainably. To the problems have faced by Tse-Xin Foundation, the researcher provides the following suggestions. First, to the bad looking
