One of the most common and enduring stereotypes in environmental literature is the idea that Eastern religions promote a sense of harmony between human beings and nature. On the other side of the stereotype stand the religions of the West, promoting the separation of human beings and nature and encouraging acts of domination, exploitation, and control. Roderick Nash gave classic expression to this contrast when he said: "Ancient Eastern cultures are the source of respect for and religious veneration of the natural world" and "In the Far East the man—nature relationship was marked by respect, bordering on love, absent in the West."¹ Y. Murota drew a similar contrast between Japanese attitudes toward nature and the attitudes he felt are operative in the West: "the Japanese view of nature is quite different from that of Westerners... For the Japanese nature is an all-pervasive force... Nature is at once a blessing and a friend to the Japanese people... People in Western cultures, on the other hand, view nature as an object and, often, as an entity set in opposition to mankind."²