Tonglen For The Earth: A Meditation By Kokuu Andy Mclellan

In this practice, Kokuu Andy McLellan introduces the Tibetan Buddhist technique of taking and sending (tonglen), applied to Earth's various ecosystems like polar areas, mountains, forests, grasslands, deserts, and bodies of water. The meditation will invite the listener to create a space to work, with rather than be overwhelmed by, our emotions in addressing the threats faced by each one of these ecosystems.

Transcript

We now move into the first stage of the Tonglen practice and what I'd like you to do is imagine the polar regions of the earth, The Arctic and Antarctic ice caps and all the islands that are within those regions and all the sentient beings that live there. At present those regions are under strain due to climate change with ever-shrinking ice caps and habitats for the sentient beings and the humans who live there. So we do the Tonglen practice by imagining the suffering and the environmental strain of those regions as black toxic smoke and we take that in on the in-breath and then we send out white light as love, Compassion and healing on the out-breath. For this next stage of the practice we bring our attention to the mountainous regions of the world, The Alps, Himalayas, Rockies and we imagine all of the harm that's done to those regions again through climate change and human activity and we think of suffering of the sentient beings that live there, Whether human or animal, And we continue to do Tonglen in the same way for those montane regions of the earth. We now bring our attention to the forested areas of the earth. Most commonly we might think of the Amazonian rainforests and the destruction that's happening there for logging and the clearing of land for both agriculture and the grazing of cattle. But there's other forested regions of the earth including vast tracts of boreal forest and we can practice with those now, Imagining taking in their suffering of the forests themselves and the sentient beings that live there and in return sending out love, Compassion and care. We now turn our attention to the grasslands and plains. Grasslands, Plains, Steppe, Savannah, They cover a vast area of the earth and a home to many sentient beings including human beings. However, Through our use of pesticides, Artificial fertilizers and growing monocultures, Often to feed livestock not just humans, We've turned many of these grassland areas into virtual ecological deserts. We can now practice Tonglen for these regions. On the in-breath we take in the suffering of the people, Sentient beings and the regions themselves. And on the out-breath we send out loving kindness, Compassion, Care and healing. The desert areas of the earth are places that we may often think of lacking in life and relatively that is true. Yet they're still home to large numbers of sentient beings including human beings. Desert regions are often under stress due to the lack of water and climate change is clearly making the situation worse, Making it harder for plants to grow and for animals and human beings to thrive. We can think of the desert, Sorry, We can think of the desert regions now in terms of our Tonglen practice, Taking in the suffering on the in-breath and sending out love, Compassion and care on the out-breath. In this sixth stage of our practice we're going to focus on the rivers, Lakes and oceans of the world. The earth is 70% covered by water and these aquatic environments are home to vast numbers of sentient beings. Although as human beings we tend not to directly live in the oceans, Rivers and lakes, We rely on them heavily for water, Food, Travel and recreation. Sadly we also rely on them heavily to take our waste and as such we cause pollution and damage to that ecosystem and those ecosystems. We also have a history of overfishing and overwhaling. So now we practice Tonglen for the water regions of the earth, Taking in the suffering experienced in those regions and sending out love, Care and compassion. In this final stage of the practice we take the whole earth as the object for our Tonglen, Working with all of the ecosystems and all of the sentient beings who live there. Once again taking in the suffering as black toxic smoke on the in-breath and sending out loving kindness, Care, Compassion and healing on the out-breath. We will now end with the short One Earth Sangha dedication of merit. May all places be held sacred. May all beings be cherished. May all injustices of oppression and devaluation be fully righted, Remedied and healed. May all wounds to forests, Rivers, Deserts and oceans, All wounds to Mother Earth be lovingly restored to bountiful health. May all beings everywhere delight in whale song, Bird song and blue sky. May all beings abide in peace and well-being. Awaken and be free. Thank you so much for joining me for this practice. May you go well.