Dear Friends,
This Monday evening we will enjoy the Five Earth Touchings together (see full text below). The Earth Touchings are a Buddhist meditation practice where we bow down and surrender to the Earth. Also called the Five Prostrates, we join the mind and body to help us "return to the Earth and to our roots, and to recognize that we are not alone but connected to a whole stream of spiritual and blood ancestors. We touch the Earth to let go of the idea that we are separate and to remind us that we are the Earth and part of life. When we touch the Earth, we breathe in all the strength and stability of the Earth, and breathe out our suffering – our feelings of anger, hatred, fear, inadequacy and grief. This is a wonderful practice." (From Plum Village web site.)
This practice of the Earth Touchings has come at an important time for me to take a moment to come back to myself in mind and body. I became very distraught and sad, and felt extremely helpless and overwhelmed at the recent destruction of life and land from hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas and other areas of the Southeast. I read many articles of families who lost everything including family members, homes, and hope. And most recently I learned of their being turned away, as many others have been turned away in the past, from finding refuge here in our own country. I continue to feel and hold on to their suffering and my anger, but at the same time in my mind I want to block it out and just run away from it like it didn’t happen and still isn’t happening. My suffering is doing nothing to help theirs.
The Earth Touchings’ meditation has given me the opportunity to calm my thinking, release tension and anxiety in my body, and look deeply into myself and this situation that has generated anger, fear, and despair in me. As I give myself permission to free myself from all this despair – I will hopefully find ways to nurture more compassion in myself, others, and our earth. One article I read was just the encouragement I needed to really embody more understanding and compassion. A native fisherman in the Bahamas who lost his home, business, and most likely friends, said he will come back to the island. He said “I wouldn’t want to go anywhere else. This is my land, where I was born and raised, where I have worked and raised a family, where my parents and their parents lived and loved the land and appreciated it’s beauty and all it gave us. I wouldn’t want to go anywhere else.” The land gave to him and his ancestors, and they gave to the the land. As Thay says, “we are the earth and the earth is within us”.
In Thich Nhat Hanh’s book “Love Letter to the Earth”, he talks about bringing your mind back to your body. He says “When you touch the wonder of your body, you have the opportunity to touch Mother Earth within you as a wonder, too, and healing begins right away – we don’t need to wait ten years for healing to take place. Many of us have become sick because we’re alienated from our body and from the body of the earth. So the practice is to go home to Mother Earth and to get the healing and nourishment we so desperately need. Mother Earth is always ready to embrace us and help nourish and heal us. And as we heal we are helping the Earth to heal at the same time.”
When I read Thay’s words and participate in meditation practices like The Earth Touchings, I find I am able to release some of the anger, frustration, and despair I hold with all of these challenging events and have more space and openness. I can even continue to hold on to and feel that connection with Mother Earth no matter what she has in store for us.
The Earth Touching practice will involve bowing down or prostrating to the Earth, if this does not physically work for you – please honor your bodies and allow yourselves to be in a comfortable position – whatever that might be.
I invite you to join us for the Earth Touchings on Monday night and I’m hoping they will bring nourishment and healing. I look forward to being with you and hearing of your experience with this practice.
In light and love,
Camille
The Five Touching's of the Earth
Modified from Plum Village Chanting Book 2002
- I -
In gratitude, I bow to my ancestors, my mother, my father and all generations of ancestors.
(Bell)
(All touch the earth)
I see my mother as a young woman, smiling, vibrant, alive, innocent, with so many ideas and plans for the future. I can feel her energy in me fully. I see my father as a young man, fresh, at ease, determined, engaged, wanting to contribute to the world. I can feel his energy in me. I feel their eyes looking out of my eyes now.
I see my grandmother and grandfather on my mother's side and how they worked to raise my own mother in the best way that they could, and my grandmother and grandfather on my father's side and all of the difficulties that they faced. And I see all of my ancestors streaming back in time, whether they lived on this same land or another land, and I know that they worked hard in their lives in order for me to live my life now. I feel their joys and their sorrows, their expectations, and hopes, which have been passed down to me, in my very bones.
I carry in me the life,blood, experience, wisdom, happiness, and sorrow of all of these previous generations. I open my heart, flesh, and bones to receive the energy of insight, love, and experience transmitted to me by all my ancestors. The suffering and all the elements that need to be transformed, I am practicing to transform. I see all of their beautiful intentions and I feel love, compassion and sorrow for their hurts. I pour out all of the negative habit energies and experiences I have received from my ancestors, into the support of Mother Earth beneath me, leaving only their inner goodness -- their Buddha nature -- in me.
I know that parents always love and support their children and grandchildren, although they are not always able to express it skillfully because of difficulties they themselves encountered. As a continuation of my ancestors, I bow deeply with gratitude for all that my parents, grandparents, and ancestors went through to provide me with life today. I open myself to allow their energy to flow through me and I ask them for their support, protection, and strength.
(Pause)
(Bell Tap)
(All stand up)
- 2 -
In gratitude, I bow to all of the beings who have supported me on my spiritual journey.
(Bell)
(All touch the earth)
I see in myself my teachers and friends, the ones who show me the way of love and understanding, the way to breathe, smile, forgive, and live deeply in the present moment. I see through my teachers all teachers over many generations and traditions, going back to the ones who began my spiritual family thousands of years ago.
I see the Buddha and the Bodhisattvas; Jesus and Mary; Moses and Abraham; Mohammed and the Sufi Masters; Krishna; Mother Earth and Father Sun, and the many wise and courageous women and men who have shown us the way. I see them all as my spiritual ancestors. Their energy has deeply transformed the world. Their energy has entered me and is creating peace, joy, understanding, and loving-kindness.
Without these spiritual ancestors, I would not know the way to practice to bring peace and happiness into my life and into the lives of my family and society. I open my heart and my body to receive the energy of understanding, loving-kindness, and protection from these awakened ones, and I send my deep gratitude to each and every one of them. Without them, I would not have the capacity to truly be there for my life and my loved ones.
I know that I am the continuation of their teachings, and of the community of practice over many generations. I ask these spiritual ancestors to transmit to me their infinite source of energy, peace, stability, understanding, and love. I will try my best to use this energy to practice so that I can transform suffering in myself and in the world, and to transmit their energy to future generations of practitioners.
(Pause)
(Bell Tap)
(All stand up)
- 3-
In gratitude, I bow to the Earth and all of the Beings who live on it with me.
(Bell)
(All touch the earth)
I see that I am whole, protected, and nourished by this Earth and by the living beings who have made life easy and possible for me through all their efforts. I see all those who have worked hard to build schools, hospitals, bridges, and roads, to protect human rights, to develop science and technology, and to fight for freedom and social justice, as well as those who have suffered as a result of being excluded from many of these institutions and the larger society.
I see myself touching all parts of this amazing planet - the blue sky and white clouds, the enormous beauty of the forests, the healing waters, and the solidity of the mountain ranges. I offer my intention to live in balance with all life on this Earth and I feel the energy of this land penetrating my body and soul, supporting and accepting me.
I vow to cultivate and maintain this energy and return it to support and protect the land, air, streams and oceans and animals. I will work to transmit this understanding to future generations. I vow to contribute my part in transforming the violence, hatred, ignorance and delusion that still lie deep in the collective consciousness of this society so that future generations will have more safety, joy, and peace. I ask this land for its protection and support and offer my gratitude for its wisdom, support, beauty, and for its infinite acceptance.
(Pause)
(Bell Tap)
(All stand up)
- 4-
In gratitude and compassion, I bow down and transmit my energy to those I love.
(Bell)
(All touch the earth)
All the energy I have received I now want to transmit to my father, my mother, everyone I love, and all who have suffered and worried because of me, and for me.
I know I have not always been mindful in my daily life, which may have caused my loved ones to suffer. I also know that those who love me have had their own difficulties. I see that they have suffered because they were not lucky enough to have an environment that encouraged their full development, and I feel compassion for their suffering. I transmit my energy to my beloved ones: my mother, my father, my brothers, my sisters, my husband, my partner, my wife, my daughter, my son; to the family of friends I have created around me; and to the husband, wife, partner, and children I may have in the future.
I transmit my energy so that their pain will be relieved, so they can smile and feel the joy of being alive. I want all of them to be healthy and joyful. I know that when they are happy, I will also be happy. I no longer feel resentment towards any of them. I ask my ancestors and spiritual teachers to focus their energies toward each of them, to protect and support them. I know that I am not separate from them. I am one with those I love.
I send my heart full of gratitude to those I love for their willingness hand-in-hand with me, even as imperfect as I am.
(Pause)
(Bell Tap)
(All stand up)
- 5-
In understanding and compassion, I bow down to reconcile myself with all those who have made me or those I love suffer.
(Bell)
(All touch the earth)
I open my heart and send forth my energy of love and understanding to everyone who has made me suffer, to those who may have destroyed much of my life and the lives of those I love.
I know now that these people have themselves undergone a lot of suffering and that their hearts are tight with pain, anger, hatred and delusion. I touch that pain and feel its sorrow and see that anyone who suffers that much will make those around him or her suffer. I know they may have been unlucky, never having the chance to be cared for and loved. Life and society have dealt them so many hardships. They have been wronged, abused and taught to hate. They have not been guided in the path of mindful living. They have been stripped of the innocence and joy of life. They have accumulated wrong perceptions about life, about me, and about us. They have hurt us and the people we love.
I ask my ancestors and spiritual teachers to channel to these persons who have made us suffer the energy of love and protection, so that their hearts will be able to open to receive love and blossom like a flower. I offer my deep wish that they can transform and experience the joy of living, so that they will not continue to make themselves and others suffer.
I see their suffering and do not want to hold any feelings of hatred or anger in myself toward them. I do not want them to suffer. I channel my energy of love and understanding to them and ask all my ancestors to help them to transform and to help me to forgive.
(Full Bell)
(All stand up)
(Bell to conclude the Touchings of the Earth.)
[This version of The Five Touching's of the Earth was adapted from the Plum Village Chanting and Recitation Book. Revised January 23, 2002, by the Still Water Mindfulness Practice Center and Annie Mahon, Opening Heart Mindfulness Community, November, 2015.]