Mary will facilitate Monday night.
Dear Thay, dear sangha,
This Monday night following sitting and walking meditation, we will enjoy a guided meditation practice. I am delighted to share a 1990’s version of Plum Village’s Three Touchings of the Earth. A bow of gratitude to Mitchell at Stillwater for sharing this version. Click here for the 3 Touchings
I was struck by the depth of the commentary that Thay/Thich Nhat Hanh expressed in his introduction. I include some excerpts of this commentary at the bottom of this reading.
Touchings of the Earth is a very deep practice of transformation. The first touching of the earth encourages us to reconnect with our roots, both spiritual and family/blood ancestors and descendants. The second touching expands to reconnect us with all people and all species everywhere. In the third touching, we are invited to let go of the historical dimension that we are our body and that our life span is limited...to let go in order to liberate ourselves and allow us to touch the ultimate dimension of no separate self with no birth, no death- no beginning, no end.
I recently volunteered for a Leatherback Sea Turtle research project. The researchers were all young marine biologists.I was astonished by the depth of their love and devotion to these turtles. These young researchers were tireless to patrol the beaches all night long, day after day, month after month. Their passion for this work seems generated by their deep feelings of connection to this stream of life dating back 110 million years. From this deep connection, tender loving care flowed easily to each baby turtle/hatchling. Witnessing their devotion and love touched me deeply. They are determined to do all they can to prevent these oldest of all turtles from disappearing. It made me question our role as humans, quite young inhabitants of Earth.
How can we practice to reconnect with our ancestors, our planet and all the species with whom we inter-are?
Do we recognize we are all part of one constant stream of life?
Touching the Earth practice is a deep practice that supports this realization. I am always amazed how powerful Touching the Earth practice is for me. Each time I feel a release of emotions, renewed connections, and gratitude to all the good as well as the difficult people in my past, present and future. I feel a sense of calm, peace, and vitality-- being nourished by the earth and remembering I am part of the stream.
During the guided meditation, please be mindful to listen to your body. If you prefer to sit or lay down during the three touchings, you can visualize the touchings in your mind. If you feel comfortable going down to the floor, we will demonstrate how you may choose to touch the earth either with your lower legs and arms or to touch your full body. We are so fortunate in our lovely new room that enough space and props are available to support this lovely practice.
Thay says, “In the practice of touching the earth you use your body, not only your mind, your spirit. Body and mind are perfectly united for you to touch your ancestors, to touch your descendants, to touch all forms of life in the present moment, and also to touch the ground of your being.”
I look forward to reconnecting with you on Monday night and learning from your sharings. This rich practice will be strengthened by us all doing it together!
Much love,
Mary
Below are excerpts from Thay’s commentary on the Three Touchings/Prostrations:
“When we feel disconnected with our source of life, with our ancestors, with our traditional values, we begin to wither, and become a hungry ghost, going around looking for someone to help revive us, looking for a source of vitality again. Someone who is alienated feels that she or he is a separate entity that has no connection with anyone.There is no real communication between him or her with the sky, with the earth, with other human beings, including her father, his mother, brother, sister and so on. Those who feel cut off like that have to learn how to practice so that they will feel connected again with life, with the source of life that has brought him or her here. The practice of the three prostrations helps you to dissipate the feeling of being cut off. That practice by itself can bring you into the heart of life and remove all kinds of fear. That practice will help you to see that you are closely connected with everything and everyone.
...When we practice the first prostration, we have to be able to visualize our blood/ family ancestors and our spiritual ancestors at the same time. Some of our ancestors have done beautiful things, and others have made big mistakes. But all of them are our ancestors, and we have to accept them all, those only 20 years older than us and those 2,000 years older, those who are wonderful, and those who are very difficult. Our parents and some of our ancestors may have made us suffer, but they are still our parents and our ancestors. Until we accept them, we cannot feel at peace. If we say, “That person is not worthy of being my ancestor,” we will suffer our whole life.
...After that, we get in touch with our descendants – our younger sisters and brothers, our disciples, our grandchildren, and our students. Some of them are beautiful. Some may argue with us. Some may be rude to us. When we practice the first prostration, we have to accept all our children, those who are good and those who are difficult. That is the only way to find peace. The Three Prostrations are not just a devotional practice. They are a practice of insight, of looking deeply. We see that we are part of a stream of life comprised of all our spiritual and blood ancestors. We transcend our personal self, which is a basic Buddhist practice, and see what is meant by “no self.” When we realize that we are our ancestors and our descendants, our “self” dissolves and we accept everyone, however wicked or wonderful they have been. If we do not have that insight when we prostrate, we are still caught in the individual self, a self apart from the Sangha. We think we are not our brother, our sister, or our teacher. If we think like that, we are not ready to go out and teach other people. We have a theory about no-self, but we do not yet have the insight.
...You only have peace if you know how to accept both your strengths and your weaknesses. We know that we have received the best but we have also received the weaknesses of our ancestors. We learn how to accept both, because it may be that we will transmit not only the best things that we have to our descendants, but we may transmit our weaknesses to them as well. We have to refrain from fighting, from blaming, from rejecting anything in us including our weaknesses in order to really have peace. Acceptance is our practice. In this prostration you develop much tolerance and acceptance, both to the people before and the people after you in the line of time.
...In the second prostration you touch all that is alive in this present moment. As with the first, you dissipate the feeling that you are a separate being. When you bow down like that you see your sister as yourself, you see your brother as yourself, your father, your son, your mother, your daughter as yourself.
...The third prostration is to be in contact with the no-birth, no-death nature of yourself. You will succeed easily if you have succeeded in the first two prostrations. All that you experience during the the first and second prostrations leads to your understanding of the third. When you make the prostrations, you surrender yourself. You remove the notion that this body is me and this 70 years, 80 years, 90 years is my lifetime. During the first prostration you already realized that you are the stream, a stream of beings. You are your ancestors, you are also your children and your grandchildren. You are in them and all of them are in you. Therefore it is no longer correct to identify this body as yourself.
...It has been said that the highest realization in Buddhist practice is to free yourself from birth and death. Those of you who are new to the practice, who are young, may think this is a very hard thing. But it is something you can realize in this lifetime. Because birth and death first of all are ideas of our mind. Since there is no self, life is without boundaries and you can see you everywhere, in every form of life. Then transcending birth and death is something you can do. It is realizable with some practice, especially when you have succeeded in the first two prostrations.
There are those of us who are so busy making a living, we may not have time to put aside to practice deep looking. We need to have time to look deeply in order to recognize that life is one, that we are in the other person, that we are everything, everything is interconnected, that it is impossible to be born, it is impossible to die, nothing can be created, nothing can be destroyed. This is the cream of the Buddha’s teaching which prostrations can help us realize. We use our bodies to touch the ultimate, we use our body to touch the ground of being, we use our body to touch nirvana.”
The First Prostration
The Stream of Life
Touching the earth, I connect with ancestors and descendants of both my spiritual and blood families.
[invite the bell] [touch the earth]
(To be contemplated while touching the earth) My spiritual ancestors include the Buddha, the bodhisattvas, the noble Sangha of Buddha’s disciples, and my own spiritual teachers still alive or already passed away. (substitute names of other spiritual ancestors). They are present in me, because they have transmitted to me seeds of peace, wisdom, love, and happiness. They have awakened in me my resource of understanding, and compassion. When I look at my spiritual ancestors, I see those who are perfect in the practice of the precepts, understanding, and compassion, and those who are still imperfect. I accept them all, because I also see shortcomings and weaknesses within myself. Aware that my practice of the precepts is not always perfect, that I am not always understanding and compassionate, I open my heart and accept all my spiritual descendants. Some of my descendants practice the precepts, understanding, and compassion in ways that invite confidence and respect, but there are others who come across many difficulties and are constantly subject to ups and downs in their practice. [3 breaths]
In the same way, I accept all my blood ancestors on my mother’s and father’s sides. I accept their good qualities and virtuous actions, and also their weaknesses. I open my heart and accept all my blood descendants with their good qualities, their talents, and also their weaknesses. [3 Breaths]
My spiritual ancestors and my blood ancestors, my spiritual descendants and my blood descendants are all part of me. I am them and they are me. I do not have a separate self. All of us are part of a wonderful stream of life. [three breaths] [invite bell] [stand up and with joined palms enjoy breathing]
The Second Prostration
The Wonderful Pattern of Life
Touching the earth, I connect with all people and species that are alive at this moment in this world with me. [Bell] [touch the earth]
(To be contemplated when touching the earth) I am one with the wonderful pattern of life that radiates out in all directions. I see the close connection between myself and others – how we share our happiness and our suffering. I am one with those who were born disabled or who become disabled because of war, accident, or illness. I am one with those who are caught in war or oppression. I am one with those who find no happiness in their families, who have no roots or peace of mind, who are hungry for understanding and love and who are looking for something beautiful, wholesome, and true to embrace and believe in. I am someone at the point of death who is very afraid, not knowing what will happen. I am a child who lives in poverty and disease, whose arms and legs are like sticks. I am the manufacturer of bombs that are sold to poor countries. I am the frog swimming in the pond, and I am also the snake that needs the body of the frog to nourish itself. I am the caterpillar or the ant that the bird is looking for to eat, but I am also the bird that is looking for the caterpillar or the ant. I am the forest that is being cut down. I am the river and air that are being polluted, and I am also the one who cuts down the forest and pollutes the river and the air. I see myself in all species, and I see all species in me. [Three Breaths]
I am one with the great beings who have realized the truth of no-birth and no-death and are able to look at the forms of birth and death, happiness and suffering with calm eyes. I am one with those people -- who can be found a little bit everywhere -- who have sufficient peace of mind, understanding and love, who are able to touch what is wonderful, nourishing and healing, who also have the capacity to embrace the world with a heart of love and arms of caring action. I am someone who has enough peace, joy and freedom and is able to offer fearlessness and joy to sentient beings around themselves. I see that I am not lonely and cut off. The love and happiness of great beings on this planet help me not to sink in despair. They help me live in a meaningful way with true peace and happiness. I see them all in me and I see myself in all of them. [Three Breaths] [Bell] [stand up and with joined palms to enjoy your breathing]
The Third Prostration
Limitless Time and Space
Touching the earth, I let go of my idea that I am this body with a limited life span.
[Bell] [touch the earth]
I see that this body, made up of the four elements, is not me, and I am not limited by this body. I am part of a stream of life of spiritual and blood ancestors that for thousands of years has been flowing into the present and flows on for thousands of years into the future. I am one with my ancestors. I am one with my descendents. I am life that is manifested in numberless different forms. I am one with all people and all species, whether they are peaceful and fearless or suffering and afraid. At this very moment, I am present everywhere on this planet. I am also present in the past and in the future. The disintegration of this body does not touch me, just as when the plum blossom falls, it is not the end of the plum tree. I see myself as a wave on the surface of the ocean. I am in all the other waves, and all the other waves are in me. My nature is water. The appearance and disappearance of my form as a wave does not affect the ocean. My Dharma body and wisdom life are not subject to birth and death. I see myself before my body manifested and after my body disintegrates. Even at this moment, I see how I exist elsewhere than this body. Seventy or eighty years is not my life span. My life span, like that of a leaf or a Buddha, is limitless. I have gone beyond the idea that I am a body that is separated in space and time from all other forms of life.
(Three Breaths] [Bell] [stand up with joined palms to enjoy breathing]