How environmentalist is Buddhism?

This article examines some of the presuppositions underlying contemporary Buddhist support for an environmentalist ethic. It shows that canonical texts do not always support such claims, and that the notion of nature itself sits uncomfortably within a Buddhist framework. The paper concludes by suggesting that the process of Buddhist/Christian dialogue has contributed to a significant shift in the way that Buddhists must now see themselves as beings-within-the-world and wonders whether this innovation can be sustained by traditional Buddhist cosmology.