Artwork by Magda Cabrero
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On Monday, August 15, Magda will guide us to practice the Five Touchings of The Earth, a guided meditation to contemplate what has been transmitted to us by our blood and spiritual ancestors. Participants will be able to participate in their chair if they prefer.
Magda will also read some excerpts from Thich Nhat Hanh’s book Love Letter to The Earth. Magda shares,
TALKING TO THE EARTH
HONORING AND FOLLOWING THE EXAMPLE OF CREATURES
Throughout history people have apprenticed themselves to particular earth creatures, mimicking their calls and intricate movements. They often honored these creatures in the form of song and dance.
INCANTATORY ORAL EXPRESSION
Human vocal communication may have begun with attempts to imitate the singing of birds. But at some point, perhaps, we forgot how we are indebted to nature- how, for instance, without air we would not be able to speak. We have also forgotten that human utterances are just one form of expression among many in the natural world.
In Becoming Animal, David Abram writes that humans increasingly neglect the invocational use of oral expression as a way of bringing ourselves into deep rapport with the beings around us, and of calling the living land into resonance with us. Entranced by the denotative power of words to define, order and represent, we overlook the songful dimension of language, the rhythmic, melodic layer of speech by which other earthly creatures overhear us.
TALKING TO THE EARTH
Whether they sang or spoke, our ancestors found ways to talk to the earth before heavenly spirituality replaced earth spirituality. They talked to the earth and other elements of nature with reverence, engaging in what we might consider a form of prayer.
When I was a child, conventional religion instructed me to forget my inborn understanding that soil is the very foundation and source of life. Instead I was taught a dichotomous worldview that demeaned the value of soil. Soil was associated with hell and decay, best not pondered at all.
My spirituality has changed significantly from the days when I was instructed to pray to entities I had never seen. In fact, soil has come to have a great deal of value to me. My spirituality has become much more earth- and ancestrally-based. I speak to visible or once-visible things and people- to the earth and its myriad manifestations, and to my forebears. I honor the earth and my ancestors most of all because I deeply understand that, without both, I would not be alive. And because they are indisputably a part of me.
The place where I feel the most connected to the earth is Ghost Ranch, my sanctuary in the high desert of New Mexico. At Ghost Ranch my talking to the earth never comes to an end. I experience the earth through all of my senses, from the loam I walk on to the rock formations that surround me, all the ranch’s undulated surfaces, escarpments and intricacies.
LETTERS TO THE EARTH AND EARTH TOUCHINGS
Thich Nhat Hanh’s Letters to The Earth in Love Letter to the Earth and The Five Earth Touchings are a meaningful and refreshing reminder of the value of the earth in our lives. Both feel like a reverent form of prayer to me. They remind me to resume the traditions of our indigenous brothers and sisters by talking to the earth. By doing so we can reconnect with the earth and heal. Thay’s teachings acknowledge and validate my earth and ancestral spirituality.
CREATURELY EXPRESSIONS
According to Abram, the sense of inhabiting an articulate landscape - a natural world that speaks in its own way - is common to indigenous, oral cultures on every continent. He describes his Native American friends as taciturn, as short on words. While they are versed in oral tradition and use stories as medicine, they have traditionally considered human expression just one form among many in the animate environment that surrounds them. When they have good reason to, they talk in harmony with nature, choosing their words with great care so as not to offend or insult the other beings that might be listening.
I love the resonance of silence at Ghost Ranch. In it I sense a much older and deeper kind of communication.
TOUCHING THE EARTH MINDFULNESS
Like Baruch Spinoza, who was excommunicated for challenging his community’s dichotomous beliefs, I see the divine in the holistic creative dynamism and intelligence of nature around me.
When I first arrive at Ghost Ranch, I feel that the terrain overwhelms and exceeds me. After a day or two I feel I am an extension of the land. I am surrounded by earthly sentience that senses me back. I am in an unmediated exchange with the animate desert wilderness. I am ensconced, cocooned by the earth. I feel as though I am in an adobe home.
When I walk at Ghost Ranch, the magnetism of the earth makes me feel fully grounded, as though I have a direct connection with the land. I sense much more than I think. My mind is subjugated to my body. I am immersed in the ranch’s genius loci. Telluric energy overpowers all my senses. My sentient body is entangled in the elemental forces that enfold me. I feel in tune with the rhythms of the earth. I feel small and whole.
At Ghost Ranch my skin goes through a transformation. It itches when touched by mineral-filled whirlwinds. I feel as though it could suddenly become feather, fur, scale, soil, sand, or bark.
BIRD-LIKE-EMISSARIES
Numerous ancient cultures have honored birds as emissaries from a more expansive field of intelligence. In our forgetfulness of the deepest sources that sustain us, we may need to hear the messages of emissaries like these. They would remind us to renew our connection to the earth and to develop a more holistic view of the universe; to continue talking to the earth and all its ancestral creatures.
While walking one morning at Ghost Ranch, I was pondering my strong urge to write about the earth. Very soon a young astrologer, with whom I had exchanged a few words the day before, found and joined me in a remote area where I was retreating.
While Carli could read the stars, she was well grounded. She was deeply spiritual, having begun meditating and practicing vegetarianism of her own accord at the age of five. She lived in a tepee (with a wolf-like dog I had a chance to meet) in front of the Rio Grande Gorge, a place where she felt free from fear and at one with nature’s rhythms. Her eyes had a luminous quality I have seen in only a few people.
Our conversation soon turned to our shared fascination with soil. She told me some things I will never forget and validated my strong desire to write about the earth. We could have gone on talking forever as ‘soilmates’.
Her most important message was that humans have an obligation to bring holistic perspectives back, to narrow the gap between the heavenly and earthly spiritual traditions. I view Carli as my emissary.
THICH NHAT HANH’S HOLISTIC MESSAGE
Thich Nhat Hanh’s message is a healing one, a message of reverence, gratitude and connection to the earth and our ancestors. Like my ‘soilmate’ Carli and the philosopher Spinoza, Thay serves as an emissary who narrows the gaps and divisions that unsettle our universe. He brings back the ancestral ways of talking to the earth with humility and helps us remember that, without the earth and our ancestors, none of us would exist.
You may explore the following questions for dharma sharing:
What do you find most meaningful in the Five Earth Touchings?
What are your reactions to Thich Nhat Hanh’s Love Letter to The Earth?
Describe a place you feel deeply connected to the Earth.
How can we bring holistic and healing practices to our planet?
The Five Touchings 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 seem 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.)