Celebrated author, teacher and Buddhist philosopher David Loy applies the term ecosattva to the growing movement connecting dharma teachings to environmental activism. His 2019 book Ecodharma explicitly draws attention to the inherent questions prompted by this endeavor. Primarily, does Buddhism offer any special perspective on the ecological crisis?

Our ecological emergency is not something the Buddha or Zen masters talked about, but their teachings have important implications for how we understand and respond to the greatest challenge that humanity has ever faced.

The retreat will focus on three aspects of the eco-crisis: the importance of reconnecting with the natural world; the parallels between our usual individual predicament and our present collective predicament; and the ecosattva path.

Many people have suggested that the ecological crisis is as much a spiritual challenge as a technological and economic one. Does this mean that there is also a parallel between the two solutions? Does the Buddhist response to our personal predicament also point the way to resolving our collective one?