KAHULUI - An environmental lawyer and author who advocates a global ethic based on beliefs of an ancient warrior Buddhist king in India will speak at 9 a.m. Sunday on "Buddhist Ethics and Global Economies" at Kahului Hongwanji Mission.
Bruce Rich, who has worked as senior counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund and the National Resources Defense Fund out of Washington, D.C., has authored several books, including "To Uphold the World, A Call for a new Global Ethic from Ancient India."
The author got the inspiration for his latest book during a visit to an archaeological site in Southeast India, a news release said. He came across a stone inscription, written by Ashoka, an Indian warrior king, who had won a battle at the site where 100,000 people were killed. Inscribed in 260 B.C., the king wrote of the suffering, his remorse and his new policy of nonviolence.
Ashoka, who ruled one of the most powerful empires of his day, wrote that the greatest conquest isn't over the outside world but over one's self. The king became a Buddhist convert and ruled his kingdom with nonviolence and a reverence for life, the news release said.
Rich says people in the 21st century can take many lessons from a leader in the third century B.C.
The forward for his book was written by Amartya Sen, winner of the Nobel Prize in economics, and the afterword by the Dalai Lama.
Rich's resume also includes being awarded the United Nations Environmental Program Global 500 Award in 1998; authoring another book titled "Mortgaging the Earth," and writing articles and commentaries in The Financial Times, The Nation and The Ecologist.
After the Sunday services, Rich will appear at a 1 p.m. coffee hour. His appearances at the temple at 291 S. Puunene Ave. are open free to the public.
For more information, call Janet Shimada at 871-4732 or e-mail kahului-hongwanji@hawaii.rr.com.
