The compassionate feeling of Buddhist nuance in contemporary Vietnamese prose writing about animals

Abstract

In the current context of environmental degradation, returning to Buddhism’s “life-loving” philosophy has become a trendy solution to protect all things in the universe and to maintain the balance of the ecosystem. From the loving-kindness of the Buddhism, contemporary ecological Vietnamese prose writings have loaded an important message to establish the ecological humanism. Through the experience of Buddhist human life on the basis of compassion (sharing feelings of pain and suffering with all living beings) and kindness (a kind of story directed towards goodness), this article focuses on green messages and the characteristics of ecological humanism within the context of contemporary prose writing about animals. The article also emphasizes on the ability to connect the literature with the essential issues of mankind regarding human responsibility in sustainable development.