https://www.bhantedhammika.net/nature-a ... nvironment
It is a dictionary/encyclopedia of all the plants and animals found in the Sutta and Vinaya Pitaka. It starts out with an essay about nature in the canon:
https://www.bhantedhammika.net/nature-a ... i-tipitaka
It weaves together ways that the environment influenced the Buddha's teachings. For example...
For me, I love finding out details about some plants and animals that we hear mentioned but we don't know about in the west. For example...Some of the rivers that flow through the Ganges plain are two, three or even more kilometers wide. When the Buddha and the monks and nuns who were accompanying him on his sojourns arrived at a river, they would often have to look for a boat or other craft or try to make a raft out of reeds and branches in order to get across (D.II,89; M.I,135-6). So for the Buddha, who spent much of his life traversing the country, rivers were, more than anything else, a challenging obstacle. It is not surprising, therefore, that he often used rivers and things associated with them as metaphors for the spiritual quest and its goal. He called the ordinary worldly state ‘this bank’ (ora) and Nirvana ‘the further bank’ (pāra). He named the first stage of enlightenment ‘entering the stream’, which would be a preliminary to swimming across a river. Attitudinal and emotional negativities like greed, hatred and desire were ‘torrents’ or ‘floods’ (ogha) that could sweep one away. He said of a monk who studied the Dhamma diligently that he is ‘one who knows a ford’ (titthaṃ jānāti, M.I,221). The cowherd Nanda assured the Buddha of his determination and ability to be a good monk by saying: ‘Lord, I will not get stuck on this bank nor will I get stranded on the far bank. I shall not sink in midstream and I shall not run aground on a sandbar. May the Lord accept me as a monk’ (S.IV,181). In one of his most famous similes the Buddha likened his teachings to an improvised raft, which, after it had been used, could be abandoned; the idea being that even something as precious as the freedom-giving Dhamma should not be clung to (M.I,136). Every time wayfaring monks or nuns found their progress blocked by a great river sliding silently along, or a simple cowherd like Nanda took his animals down to a river to drink, they would have been reminded of some aspect of the Buddha’s teaching.
And he weaves together how natural things are used and experienced. For example...Tagara. Hindi tagar, Tabernaemontana coronaria (Dhp.54; It.68; Ja.IV,286; VI,173). A small attractive tree with dark green leaves and a beautiful pure white flower. The flower’s perfume is imperceptible during the day but very noticeable at night. An incense was made from tagara flowers (It.68; Vin.I,203). The Buddha said: ‘Of all fragrances – sandalwood, tagara, blue water lily and vassika – the fragrance of virtue is the best’ (Dhp.55). The tagara is widely grown in gardens.
What I like about it most of all is that it reminds me how real everything was that we read about in the canon.Tiṇa. Grass, also saddala (A.I,145; D.II,19). Grasses are variable and widespread plants of the family Gramineae. More than a dozen species of grass are mentioned in the Tipiṭaka. The Buddha said that a monk or nun should not steal anything, not even a blade of grass (Vin.I,96). Various useful items were made out of grass. We read of grass mats (Vin.I,286) and of houses being thatched with grass (A.I,101; Vin.II,148). Growing amongst the crops, grass becomes a weed and a curse (Dhp.358). There is mention of whole jungles of grass (A.I,153; S.II,152) which sometimes caught fire so that many creatures died (S.II,152). This probably refers to the Terai-Duar grasslands ecoregion on the northern edge of the Ganges plain. The Buddha required his monks and nuns to stay put during the monsoon so that they would not tread down crops and grass and injure the tiny creatures that lived among them (Vin.I,137).
The Buddha mentioned that on retiring to the forest for meditation he would gather grass and leaves for a seat to sit on. (A.I,182). On one occasion a Brahmin had prepeared a bed of grass for the Buddha to sleep on in his fire hall. When the ascetic Māgandiya saw this he commented disapprovingly to the Brahmin: ‘It is a sorry sight indeed when we see the bed of the Master Gotama, that destroyer or growth’ (M.I,502). Perhaps Māgandiya belonged to a sect that considered even cutting plants to qualify as killing. Several of species of grass mentioned in the Tipiṭaka which cannot be identified include jantu, a pale-coloured grass (Vin.I,196), poṭakila, a soft grass (Ja.VI,508; Th.27; Vin.II,150) and kamala, a grass used to make sandals (Vin.I,190). Other types of grass were tiriyā (A.III,240) and eragu (Vin.I,196).
