As the bee collects nectar and departs without injuring the flower, or its colour or scent, so let a sage dwell in his village.
A shared theme
Living in & Caring for Nature
The earth is spoken of as God's, as mother, as the body of the Divine, or as the Tao made visible. The traditions teach both how to live within nature, learning from it and in step with its seasons, and how to look after it, held in trust rather than owned.
Buddhism
4 versesChristianity
7 versesThou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.
Confucianism
4 versesThe Master angled,—but did not use a net. He shot,—but not at birds perching.
Hinduism
1 verseALL this, whatsoever moves on earth, is to be hidden in the Lord (the Self). When thou hast surrendered all this, then thou mayest enjoy. Do not covet the wealth of any man!
Islam
4 versesO Children of Adam! wear your beautiful apparel at every time and place of prayer: eat and drink: But waste not by excess, for Allah loveth not the wasters.
Jainism
3 verses"He who thoroughly knows living beings, whether they move or not, and does not injure them in any of the three ways, him we call a Brâhmana.
Judaism
6 versesAnd the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
Sikhism
3 versesAir is the Guru, Water is the Father, and Earth is the Great Mother of all. Day and night are the two nurses, in whose lap all the world is at play.
Sufism
2 versesEat in proportion to thy hunger; how can he give praises who scarce can breathe by reason of his gluttony? He whose stomach is full is void of wisdom. The prey is entrapped in the snare because of its greed. …
Taoism
3 versesThere is the great Mass (of nature);--I find the support of my body on it; my life is spent in toil on it; my old age seeks ease on it; at death I find rest in it;--what makes my life a good makes my death also a good. …
Where the traditions differ
'Stewardship' is itself an Abrahamic frame — humanity as khalifa (Quran) or appointed keeper of the garden (Genesis). Hindu, Jain and Buddhist texts tend instead toward kinship: the earth as mother, all beings as fellow travellers. Taoism goes furthest, treating nature as the teacher rather than the ward. Sikhism's 'air is the Guru, water the father, earth the great mother' is a kinship image within a theistic faith. The practical ethic — do not waste, do not harm needlessly — converges.