Pure Land Foundation, a UK-based advocacy organization, has announced that it has partnered with the Harmony Project on a video series that explores humanity’s dysfunctional relationship with nature. The new series, titled “Why Do We Need Harmony?” aims to demonstrate how cultivating a profound connection with nature can improve mental health and foster a more balanced life.
“We live in an age of overlapping crises,” Pure Land Foundation told BDG. “The climate crisis is unfolding before our eyes. The biodiversity crisis deepens as life on land, in rivers, and across our oceans disappears under the weight of polluting economies. At the same time, the mental health crisis is accelerating, with many, especially young people, struggling in a world increasingly dominated by screens and social media. To bring attention to this, Pure Land Foundation and the Harmony Project have collaborated on a joint initiative that teaches how we can grow using the principles of harmony.”
Founded in 2015 by philanthropist and LGBTQ+ advocate Bruno Wang and inspired by Buddhist values, the Pure Land Foundation is aimed at alleviating emotional and psychological suffering within diverse communities and fostering well-being at the individual and collective level.
The foundation states that it “champions spiritual insight, emotional resilience, and the transformative power of inner awareness. Through original digital content, including teachings, reflections, and practical tools, the foundation aims to guide individuals toward greater clarity, connection, and calm, supporting not only personal healing, but also societal harmony.” (Pure Land Foundation)
Speaking on the new video series, Wang observed: “It is important that we share with young people the value of connecting with nature. We can encourage a sense of balance in life, reminding them not to become overly absorbed in social media, while also nurturing an awareness of the importance of caring for their mental health.”
Harmony Project founder Richard Dunne appears in the series, guiding viewers through an exploration of principle of harmony with nature: Oneness, Geometry, Adaptation, Balance, Diversity, Cycles and Interdependence.
Filmed against the backdrop of a serene woodland, where Dunne spent much of his childhood, the videos call attention to the importance of nature in our lives, and examines how nature can offer us connection, peace, and tranquility, and help us live a more balanced and positive life.
“Currently, humans’ relationship with Nature is failing,” said Dunne. “For all that we are more connected to one another than ever through digital technology, we are more disconnected from nature than we have ever been, and this separation is causing many problems both for Nature and for us.”
In the video series, now available to watch on the Pure Land Foundation YouTube channel, Dunne also challenges the industrial model of education—of being sat at desks, reading from textbooks—and encourages a system that allows for expanded views, creating a mindset of interconnectedness.
The Harmony Project is an education charity working with schools and educators in the UK and elsewhere to bring a curriculum inspired by nature into schools. The charity works to support teachers in taking learning beyond the classroom and giving children more opportunities to learn in nature.
See more
Pure Land Foundation
Pure Land Foundation (YouTube)
The Harmony Project
Related news reports from BDG
Buddhist Education: Middle Way Education Announces Radical Global Open-Source Learning Framework for Young People
Pure Land Foundation Celebrates London Pride with Video Series Featuring Japanese Buddhist Monk Kodo Nishimura
Buddhist Education: Middle Way Education Announces New Director
Middle Way School in New York Opens Doors to New Students
Khyentse Foundation Announces Two New Buddhist Education Initiatives
Related features from BDG
Growing Up with the Dharma: A Window into Middle Way School
Dharma versus Buddhadharma at a Buddhist School
Introducing the Buddhadharma to Non-Buddhist Parents of School-age Children
A Buddhist Vision for Education Reform: The Blue Lion Preschool, Inspired by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
