Metta & Tonglen For The Earth

This guided meditation was recorded in September 2020 during the West Coast fires. This practice begins by connecting us to our physical place on the planet. After this, we practice both Metta and tonglen for the suffering of the earth.

Transcript

Hello everyone and welcome.

My name is Brad and it's my honor to be offering this guided meditation for you today.

In this guided meditation we're going to focus on Earth,

On Gaia.

The other day I listened to a meditation that was recorded in 2019 in the midst of the Australian fires.

Early in the meditation I found myself becoming fixated on the statement the teacher made.

She said that these fires in Australia are a wake-up call.

My immediate reaction was,

This if this is a wake-up call you've been hitting the snooze button for a long time now.

So if you're joining me live it's September 2020 and wildfires are decimating acres across California,

Oregon,

And Washington.

Currently the air quality outside my home here in Seattle is above 150 sometimes drifting up above 200 which would all be too welcome in other areas of the West Coast.

This isn't a wake-up call.

Many people have been asleep for years and not recognizing and attending to the suffering of the planet.

My practice,

My work is called the breath space and I talk about how each of us breathes into our lives and what a year for breathing it has been.

If it wasn't bad enough that we had coronavirus affecting our lungs and breath,

This year we also were confronted by another event that sadly is not a wake-up call either.

People of color being suffocated and not being able to breathe at the hands of those law enforcement agents who are charged with protecting us.

And now we have literal fires blazing up and down the West Coast making it impossible to breathe outdoors as well as in.

It's happening other places in the world too.

Breathing has become difficult and breath is life.

So I'm hoping that everyone listening to this,

Everyone joining me today is safe.

I know many of you listening to this through zoom right now are in Seattle and I hope you're indoors and have air filters.

Yet I know not all of you do.

So what do we do when none of our normal ways of fixing and resolving things in the immediate work,

When none of our ways of mobilizing will solve our suffering or the suffering of the planet,

What do we do?

What do we do when the fires are raging right outside our front door and there is nowhere we can go and no way to extinguish them?

Well what we do is the same that we do for the infant who is crying even after we've changed them and fed them and held them or the pet who due to some injuries experiencing pain.

When there is nothing we can do in this very moment to change our circumstances,

To change the reality of what is.

What do we do?

We offer our attention.

We offer our undivided presence.

We offer our compassion.

Now if you've been joining me for these morning meditations you know I often talk about us being held by the earth,

Being held by Aya,

Gaia,

By the earth forever doing that job of cradling us.

But today let's switch roles.

As we sit here in our place let's begin by naming our place where we are in the world and acknowledging the earth's suffering.

So let's start by really taking a moment to connect with our physical space,

Our physical location on this planet.

To really connect with the earth look around you and if you have a window just look outside.

As I look outside my window right now the trees and the hills that are normally within view even on a cloudy Seattle day are blocked by a layer of smoke and ash.

So to connect with place I acknowledge that where I currently live in Seattle or Lake Forest Park is land where the Coast Salish,

The Stilla-Guamish,

The Duwamish,

And the Suquamish people all called home long before settlers arrived.

If you don't know the people,

Animals,

And plants that once graced the land where you now find yourself that's okay.

Perhaps after listening to this today you might be inclined to do some research about those who stewarded the land on which you now reside.

Let's take a moment to notice where we are on the earth,

Where we are in place.

If you feel so inclined you could close your eyes right now just allow them to close gently if that feels comfortable and safe.

Otherwise you can just look down and keep your gaze soft.

Hopefully by now you found a comfortable spot on which to rest.

While I suggest trying this meditation in a seated posture if lying down is more comfortable for you today feel free to do so.

Yet in whatever posture you find yourself right now bring your attention to those areas where your body makes contact with the surface upon which it is resting.

So feel your connection with your chair,

Your cushion,

Your bed,

Or the floor.

Just allow the mind to settle here.

Notice those connection points.

Feel the quality of connection between you and the surface on which you're resting.

Now slowly begin to move your attention,

Your focus,

Toward your abdomen.

In your mind's eye draw an imaginary line from your navel to your pubic bone,

From one hip to the other,

And from the front of your body to the back.

Imagine that intersection point of all these lines right in the middle of your lower abdomen.

See a beautiful spherical bright light glowing in the center of this area.

With every breath in and every breath out this sphere expands and contracts,

Expanding and contracting gently with the breath.

Connect with this energy center in your lower abdomen.

And this energy and light begin to expand.

As you see little tendrils begin to travel from the center in the abdomen,

They begin to move downward toward your tailbone,

Down your legs.

It's just some energy moving downward,

Down to the earth.

And perhaps your awareness,

Your attention,

Your focus follows that energy slowly descending down into the earth beneath you,

Just a foot beneath you at first.

And if that makes no sense to you,

The idea of energy moving down,

Just think of directing your attention,

Just dropping your attention down beneath the surface of the earth.

With each exhale slowly allow your energy and your attention to drop deeper into the earth.

Now if you're in a building,

Maybe you feel your awareness moving down through the floors of the building until it can rest on the earth.

Bring your attention fully to the earth beneath you and just rest your attention on that energy that's descending down to make contact with Mother Earth.

Gently and slowly sending your attention,

Your awareness or your energy,

Whatever word works best for you today,

Sending it down into the earth.

For some of you,

You might instantly connect to a feeling in your body.

Perhaps some of you feel an overwhelming sense of grief or sadness or loss.

This practice invites us to be present to whatever arises.

We send whatever arises,

Our attention,

Our presence and compassion,

Connecting with your own heart and that felt sense experience of cradling and soothing.

That same soothing that you would offer an infant or a herd animal,

Feel into your loving kindness and compassion and send that to yourself and send it down to the earth.

Let the earth know you care.

We can do several things here.

We can simply practice metta and loving kindness by connecting to our heartfelt wish for the planet and all living beings resting on her,

All the trees,

The tree nation,

The plant nation,

All the animals,

All sentient beings everywhere to be safe.

And we can silently repeat to ourselves with every breath in and every breath out as you send your energy,

Your loving compassion down into the earth.

May the earth and all her inhabitants,

May we be safe.

May the earth and all her inhabitants,

May we,

May we be healthy.

May the earth and all her inhabitants,

May we be at peace.

Imagine sending those heartfelt loving wishes down into the earth.

Imagine that your energy is part of the tree and its vast root systems.

The energy of your loving kindness can spread out across the planet.

It creates an energetic root system and in your mind see it connecting with all who share these wishes.

Everyone doing this meditation right now,

Everyone with the same heartfelt intention.

As our energetic compassionate roots connect,

They become fortified and strengthened.

The focus of our meditation becomes this visualization and these heartfelt phrases.

May the earth and all her inhabitants,

May we be safe.

May the earth and all her inhabitants,

May we be healthy.

May the earth and all her inhabitants,

May we be at peace.

Reciting these phrases or any phrases that best resonate with your heartfelt wish for Gaia.

And while doing this,

It's common for the mind to wander.

Other images and thoughts can pop up,

Often carrying us away.

Many times the mind ruminates and travels to images and thoughts of despair.

Whenever you notice the mind and thoughts have wandered,

Gently return back to the process of settling,

Settling,

Noticing where you are on the planet right now.

Connect with your energy and then begin to send these loving wishes down into the earth.

Sending love and compassion,

Sending heartfelt wishes of safety,

Health and peace to the earth and all her inhabitants.

May the earth and all her inhabitants,

May we be safe.

May the earth and all her inhabitants,

May we be healthy.

May the earth and all her inhabitants,

May we be at peace.

This act of sending meta,

Loving kindness to others and the planet,

When we can remain in that state of compassion and loving kindness,

It changes our nervous system.

And hopefully that changes our actions and interactions with everyone.

Now if you'd like,

You can stay here sending love and meta to the earth and all her inhabitants.

But if you'd like to go a step further,

I'd like to try a modified Tonglen practice.

Tonglen is the practice of giving and receiving.

Typically we imagine breathing in the suffering of others,

Transforming it into healing light and energy and then sending it back to the one who is suffering.

Traditionally it has been described of imagining the sufferers exhale as smoke,

Gray smoke that you breathe in.

Because of the state of the air right now,

This is not hard for us to imagine.

For those of us who are acutely aware of the fires outside our window,

It looks as if we're on another planet.

What we do is imagine breathing in the suffering,

The suffering of the planet and its inhabitants.

And I invite you to breathe it in through your heart.

Imagine here that the breath comes in and out,

Not through your lungs,

But through your compassionate kind heart.

Sitting in the center of your heart is a precious jewel,

A diamond.

And that is the seat of your love,

Your compassion,

Your equanimity.

So the visual is very simplistic here today.

I'm making it very simplistic.

Just imagine breathing in suffering through your heart.

That suffering,

That gray smoke touches the jewel in the midst of your heart.

And that gray smoke is transformed to brilliant golden white light that we then send back to the suffer.

We then send it to all the trees,

To the scorched earth,

To all the animals and creatures,

To all our friends who are unable to breathe in clean air.

Now typically we start small and I know I'm going big.

Some people ask,

Does this do something?

Let me just say,

Does sitting and ruminating and worrying do something?

And I could say,

Yes,

It actually does.

It does something to our nervous system.

The more agitated we become,

That doesn't help us become agents of change.

So we take these brief pauses from our daily life to see more clearly,

To set our intention.

And then when we go back to our daily life,

We can act differently.

So let's connect again.

Feel our energy descending down into the earth.

Those energetic roots of love and compassion connect with others and grow a deeper network.

And then if we want,

We imagine breathing in that suffering.

It comes into our heart.

That suffering often imagined as gray smoke,

Touches the jewel,

The jewel in the lotus of our heart,

Which is our compassion,

Love,

And we transform it to white gold,

Brilliant healing light that we send back out.

We only do what we can.

And sometimes what we do is remember to breathe in our own suffering.

We can transform our own suffering.

We feel it,

We sense it,

We breathe it in,

And we are breathing into our own heart.

So we don't have to take a deep breath today.

It doesn't have to be a full,

Big,

Deep breath for those of us in areas with poor air quality.

We just allow the suffering to come in,

Touch your heart.

That suffering doesn't stay here.

We don't take it in and on.

We don't hold on to it.

The practice is transforming it,

Transforming it.

Call to mind that hurt or scared child or pet.

Many times we get caught up in our own narrative,

That feeling of helplessness,

There's nothing I can do,

Why can't I do more?

And when we focus on that,

It takes us away from the others suffering.

So here let's face the suffering.

We open our heart and we share our love.

Let's take another minute here.

We send our energetic roots down and connect with others.

We imagine those energetic roots spreading out,

Connecting with others who right now are also sending meta to the planet and all its inhabitants.

We connect to our heartfelt wish for the planet and all her inhabitants to be safe,

To be at peace,

To be healthy.

And then if we want,

We imagine bringing in that suffering into our heart to transform it and send out healing.

So in this practice,

What I'm hoping we're recognizing is that meditation doesn't necessarily change the physical reality,

But it is a practice of learning how to be present to it.

I want to end by reading a quote by Joanna Macy,

Environmentalist,

Buddhist.

I invite you to listen to these words and reflect on how they ring true in our lives.

If we were to be given a pill to be convinced,

Don't worry,

It's going to be okay.

Would that elicit from us our greatest creativity and courage?

No,

It's that knife edge of uncertainty where we come alive to our truest power.

So today,

We realize that no one can tell us that it's all going to be okay.

But how do we want to embrace this moment?

How do we want to act when we go back to action?

For me,

I'd like to do with more compassion,

Equanimity.

Now I invite you to take just another moment to imagine how you want to do this,

You want to do this to take this experience off the meditation cushion or yoga mat and bring it into your daily life.

How do you want to move through your day today and your future days?

Is your heart open?

Are you more aware of what is happening in the world?

Whenever you feel ungrounded,

I invite you to connect with your place where you are on the earth.

Send your energy down to Gaia and connect with that energetic root system.

I so appreciate you all for joining me.

You are important.

Thank you for taking this time.

And may all of us,

All inhabitants on this earth,

May we all be safe.

May we all be healthy.

May we all be at peace.

And may all people everywhere go gently knowing their goodness.

Thank you.

Reviews

This feels very important. Mother Earth is suffering. Namaste.

I loved this! I had been praying for fog, for rain, for cooler temperatures, for more firefighters, for more support for firefighters, and for protection for the forests, the animals of the forests, and people’s homes. I would alternately feel useful and overwhelmed. Ultimately, all of these prayers were answered, yet the awareness of the tremendous suffering was at times hard to bear. This is an exquisite and powerful practice. Thank you. And, again ultimately, we must bring ourselves to practice tonglen for those profoundly suffering human beings whose attitudes and behaviors are contributing so strongly to global warming: those suffering from greed with little to no awareness of the devastating impact of their consumerism and policy decision-making on Gaia. For, the truth is that, if Humanity does not survive, Gaia will. And Gaia will recover from this cancer that we have created.
May You Walk In Beauty
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