Touching the Earth is a series of eight meditations, which we perform as bows. Bowing to the Earth, touching the Earth with hands and forehead, is an ancient archetypal way to acknowledge our elemental connection to the source of our life. We begin by standing, and then at the start of each meditation we bow, and bring our palms, shins, and forehead to rest on the ground. If it is hard to bow like this, then you can bow in any way that is comfortable and practical. The exact form is not as important as the intention to engage the body and heart, to touch the Earth. Someone with a back problem, for example, can adapt the exercise to find the appropriate form for himself or herself, whatever it might be.

We bow as a way of recognizing the ways we are connected, through the Earth, to some of the elements of our life. We bow in gratitude and acknowledgement. We know that it is hard for the body to lie. We call it “touching the Earth” because it is not a way of reinforcing an idea of hierarchy. We, who are already part of the Earth, touch the Earth to remember who we are.

First we bow to honor the body itself, our life. Then we touch the Earth for our parents and blood-ancestors. Next we touch the Earth for our cultural and spiritual ancestors, whether they come from a secular or religious tradition. Then we touch the Earth for the land and the ancestors of the land— and for the sweetness of Earth extending from where we are in every direction, for mountains and deserts, forests, rivers and oceans. We touch the Earth for our friends and the communities that sustain us. We touch the Earth for our enemies and adversaries who challenge us to find resources within ourselves that we might not otherwise have known. We acknowledge that they are sometimes our most powerful teachers. We touch the Earth for the generations not yet born, who are nevertheless implicitly present in our actions, intentions, and in our bodies and in the world. Finally, we touch the Earth to acknowledge the Dharma, the truth of life itself, the miracle of mind itself, and all the ways we are open to experience transformation in our lives.

We begin by lighting incense and offering it to the altar, or if there is no altar to whatever we designate—an image of the Buddha perhaps, or whomever or whatever we esteem, or our teachers, or of the ocean, the sun or moon, a hill, an open window.

 

Three Sounds of the Bell

Part 1: Touching the Earth for the Body

For this body I touch the Earth.

Bell (bow, kneeling to touch the Earth with palms and forehead)

For the myriad cells dancing in exquisite intricacy, each one itself a world of complexity and perfection. Form and function always matched. Refined in the crucible of time, passed down in an unbroken line from the simple elements and the amino acids that formed in the primordial sea, when the Earth was young, before there was life here. Adapted and refined, generation by generation, echoing all that was. Continuing still to adapt to the circumstance of our life, flowing through us, a stream of energy, fluid, always changing, always adapting, moving through us to all the generations of all future time.

For the elements themselves, iron, magnesium, copper, zinc, calcium . . . created out simple elements as ancient stars exploded into supernovae, to become clouds of gas, stretching across unimaginable distances of interstellar space, then pulled together over billions of years into new stars, planets, life forms, into this body, for a brief moment of cosmological time. This day, today, on planet Earth.

For the energies that flow through the various systems of the body. The mystery we call life, the life force, breath, Chi, Prana. My lungs breathing, my heart beating, oxygen transmitted to every cell and organ. My digestive system taking in food and water, taking in the world, transforming it into the actions, words and thoughts that are unique to each of us. My nervous system, connecting every part of me and through my senses connecting me to the world. For my eyes and the miracle of perceiving light and shape and color. For my ears and the miracle of hearing, for sound, song, music, cries, shouts, words. For smell and taste, the miracle of flavor and fragrance, and the subtleties by which we know each other, sometime beneath the threshold of awareness. For touch, texture, warmth and cold, smooth and hard and rough and soft. For the response of another's touch. For the careful fingers that can rescue a moth from a flame, or soothe another's pain. For muscles and limbs, bones for the sexual organs that bring such power with them to our lives. For lovemaking, for celibacy. For feet, hair, earlobes, collar-bones, ribs. For the ways we adorn ourselves, in modesty or celebration. For infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, maturity and old-age. For you, this body, I bow, I touch the Earth.

For the healing capacity that moves within our body; finely tuned, responding to the circumstances of our life, informing me, guiding me. For sleep and rest, fatigue and sickness, for birth and death, for energies that drive me, activity, and the instinct for movement, concentrated repetitions, for spontaneous once-in-a-lifetime dances, I bow.

For the precious gift of being human, of the limitless sophistication of this self-organizing human body and mind, anticipating its own transformation and expression. For this capacity for blossoming heart of compassion, understanding and joy. In gratitude I bow. I touch the Earth.

Bell (stand)

Part 2: Touching the Earth for Parents And Blood-Ancestors

For my parents and ancestors I touch the Earth.

Bell (bow, kneeling to touch the Earth with palms and forehead)

(There may be more than two people who were parents to you). You who brought me into the world, and you who raised me. Protected me. Guided me. Informed me. You did the best you could. Passing on to me what you knew of the world, and the all the ways you had of living in it. Handed down to you from those who came before you; your parents, their parents, and all the others in unbroken line of succession. Human, primate, mammal, reptile, fish. . . For you, my parents and ancestors, I bow, I touch the Earth.

For the instincts and patterns you wove into me, woven through countless generations. For the dreams, and skills. For the intelligence, the stories, embedded in our bones, passed down through unimaginable stretches of time. Your love as well as you fear, for your clarity as well as confusion, for understanding, for ambitions, for likes and dislikes that I learned from you, accepted or rejected. For all I continue to learn from you. For the primate ways that are still wired into our essential nature. For all the qualities I learned from you, for ways I learned to use them or transform them. For joy, generosity, disappointment, safety and danger . . . for the gift of life itself, for my place in the tapestry of living being, for our unbreakable connection to all of life. I touch the Earth.

Bell (stand)

Part 3: Touching the Earth for Spiritual and Cultural Ancestors

For my spiritual ancestors I touch the Earth.

Bell (bow, kneeling to touch the Earth with palms and forehead)

For the religious and secular traditions that informed me and inspired me, and those who went before. For our sacred roots, the roots of my family and ancestors. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, or Buddhism; for the sacred practices of Africa, first Nations of Turtle Island, for the secular philosophies that were inspired by aspirations towards social justice, the democratic traditions, the revolutionary traditions. Woven into our collective past. For you I bow . . . I touch the Earth.

For the wisdom of Moses, Solomon, Jesus, Frances, Mohammed, for the Kabbalah, the Alchemists, the Christian fathers, for the women saints, for those burned as heretics. For the lineage of scientific and artistic pioneers who helped shape our world view. For those who were holders of the traditions and passed it on to us, sometimes falteringly, or partially. For the wisdom contained there. Passed down for centuries, inspiring and guiding our ancestors. For you I bow . . . I touch the Earth.

For theologies and doctrines however clumsily they may have pointed the way back to the heart, to what is whole, holy, unafraid and loving.

For the pagan traditions that are woven in. Classical, Celtic, Nordic Asian. For the common Paleolithic tradition that weave together to form all of our roots, sparked in us by our collective experience over hundreds of thousands of years.

For the stories we were told as children, for the stories we tell. For the all that is handed down. For the Mysteries, for storytelling, for sacraments and celebrations, for rites of passage. For the creation stories born, in our time, through scholarship and research. May they add to our wisdom. For the ancient mind of instinct. For all I carry of the past. I touch the Earth.

Bell (stand)

Part 4: Touching the Earth for The Land and the Land Ancestors

For this land, this place and all the ancestors of this land I touch the Earth

Bell (bow, kneeling to touch the Earth with palms and forehead)

(This is how we might practice in Los Angeles. You can adapt it to reflect the place where you are)

For this coastline, this bay, this wetland river basin . . . I bow. I touch the Earth. For the Los Angeles river, captured in concrete. For all that has been bulldozed and destroyed, I bow. For the light of this basin, this coast. For the air and climate that always drew people to you. For the native grasses and trees, animals and birds. For scrub-jay and coyote. Grasslands and oaks. For birds migrating who stop here on their way. For the Ballona Wetlands and those who threaten them. For the newcomers; human, animal and plant. I bow.

For the Chumash and Cahuilla people who were here before, for their spirits, for their love of you, for their love of home, I touch you; I touch this Earth.

For the Santa Monica mountains, the Santa Anas, the San Gabriels and San Jacintos. For the shape of the land that contains this place. For the Mojave Desert to the east and the Sonoran Desert to the south. For all that drew people to you. For the forgotten place-names and forgotten stories. For the great Pacific Ocean, more vast than anyone understands. For ocean breezes, winter storms and summer heat.

For the great city you have become. For all who live here, for their aspirations and hopes. That they came here for freedom, for their safety, for peace. I bow. I touch you. I touch this Earth.

For the North American continent, called Turtle Island by those who were here before us. For the vision expressed by First Nation people in their resistance to incursion. For the voices of Chief Joseph, Chief Seattle, and women and men of all tribes. For democratic aspirations, for the League of the Iroquois, for the Bill of Rights, I bow, I touch the Earth. For the newcomers who sensed the possibility of a truly New World, a new relationship to a wild land, John Muir, John Wesley Powell, Cesar Chavez, Harriet Tubman. For first nation teachers whose names are not recorded. For their spirit living on in writers, artists activists, in all of us today.

For the promise of a New World, for the possibility of a truly democratic revolution, I bow. I touch this  Earth.

Bell (stand)

Part 5: Touching the Earth for Friends and Community

For my friends I touch the Earth.

Bell (bow, kneeling to touch the Earth with palms and forehead)

You who keep me company. Who love me. Advise me. Guide me. Warn me. You, without whom life would be unthinkable, and meaningless. To you I bow, I touch the Earth.

You, who kept me company long ago. You who were with me when we learned life's early lessons together. You who accompanied me on our early explorations. As a children, as an adolescent, as an adult. I trusted you with my secrets. You trusted me with yours. You gave me confidence and support. Without you I would not be who I am. The same is true for you and I am reminded of our power by it; the power of friendship.

You who teach me the generosity that comes with giving and receiving. You who taught me strength by betrayals and misunderstandings, by reconciliation and separation.

You who live inside me, whose voice I hear at times when I miss you. You, by whom I measure the changes of my life. Through you I have come trust life. Through you I have found myself.

You, whose joys I celebrate, you whose sorrows I mourn. I bow. In gratitude, I touch the Earth.

Friends of other kinds. Animals, trees, rocks and places. Wherever I am safe and feel my strength again. Friends in books and friends in music. Friends in pictures friends in memories, stories and sensations. The weave that memory binds us with. Loosely, with all the room we need to move. I touch the Earth.

Bell (stand)

Part 6: Touching the Earth for Enemies and Adversaries

For my enemies and adversaries, you who oppose me or shame me or antagonize me I touch the Earth.

Bell (bow, kneeling to touch the Earth with palms and forehead)

You, who by deception deliberately engage in the destruction of the environment for you own profit, and show me how much I value what is honest, what is generous, what has been clearly thought through, what is expressive of love for this planet home, our fellow beings, human and other, I bow to you in gratitude and touch the Earth.

You bring forth in me the passion and love I feel for this land, this soil, the passion I feel for strong community, sustainability, integrity. Because of the strength with which I resist your actions, I have seen how strong my love and passion really are. I bow to you and touch the Earth.

Because the pain I feel when I allow myself to witness the pain of the world is no less than your pain--you, who perpetuate destruction, who wreck this Earth, who have cut yourselves off from the generations of the future, I bow to you ingratitude and touch the Earth.

Because the pain of greed, alienation, and fear are no less than the pain of sorrow and mourning for what is lost, I bow to you in gratitude and touch the Earth.

For the power of my anger, transforming itself into love for what I see and hear, the bright energy of my passion, my love of all that lives, I bow to you in gratitude and touch the Earth.

Because we all want to be happy, to feel ourselves intact and part of a single whole, for that shared longing, I bow to you in gratitude and touch the Earth.

Because you challenge me by your actions, demanding that I release my attachment to the take my understanding, my perspective, is the correct one, I bow to you in gratitude and touch the Earth.

For you who teach me that the mind is a limitless source, a miracle capable of manifesting as love, as greed, as fear, capable of clarity or delusion, blind to the consequence of action or open to the boundless coherence of all that I do and experience in life. For you who show me what I myself am capable of when I let my life be governed by fear and greed, great awesome teachers, I bow to you in gratitude and touch the Earth.

In awe of the mind's capacity for delusion and alienation that calls me so urgently to understanding and joy, I bow to you in gratitude and touch the Earth.

With the understanding that all this will pass and with love in my heart, I bow to you in gratitude. I touch the Earth.

Bell (stand)

Part 7: Touching the Earth for Future Generations

For the generations of the future, those who are yet to be born.

Bell (bow, kneeling to touch the Earth with palms and forehead)

You who are not yet born. You who help me to see the destruction of the earth in these times, the destruction of water, air, soil, the disappearance of animals, plants, places, things that will be gone from the earth and forgotten by the time you are alive. Please guide me. You who must rely on us to see, hear, think, feel, act on your behalf. You who will walk in our footsteps and see us as your ancestors. I invoke you and walk in your footsteps. May I act skillfully on your behalf, may I always remember you in everything I do. I bow to you in gratitude and touch the Earth.

May you be present in my life so that I can hear you. You who do not yet have voice. May you be present in my life so that I can see you. You who do not yet have eyes. May you be present in my life so that I can work with you always in my heart. You who do not yet have hands. May you be present in my life so that I can remember you. You who do not yet have form or individual existence. May we be awake so that you can live. May we all be awake so that you can remember us as your friends.

I hold you in everything I do. May you teach me. Remembering that we share the Earth with you, that it belongs to no single generation, I bow to you in gratitude. I touch the Earth.

Bell (stand)

Part 8: Touching the Earth for The Dharma

For the Dharma, for the truth as it reveals itself to me in my life I touch the Earth.

Bell (bow, kneeling to touch the Earth with palms and forehead)

For the qualities within me that compel me towards new understanding. For my instinct for what is true, healing, expressive of, supportive of my integrity, my kindheartedness and love, my energy. For you I bow. I touch the Earth.

For the circumstances of my life that have enabled me to come into contact with the Dharma, in all the forms I find it. For my teachers. For the communities that have supported me and helped me, directly or indirectly. Nearby and far away. For all those who have preserved the teachings, lived the teachings and passed them on. For the generosity and dedication of those who came before me. For the privilege and responsibility by which, through my life and practice, I do my best to preserve, live and pass the teachings on.

For all that supports the teachings in our times. For the challenge and gift of living in these times. For all that helps me recognize the value of the teachings, for all that distracts me from the teachings and by doing so challenges me, makes me question, gives me confidence in my own resources in the Dharma. For that I bow. I touch the Earth.

For the teachers who have touched me directly, for those I only know indirectly. For their teachers, and the ones before them, going back in direct line of succession to the time of the Buddha. To Buddhas before that, archetypal seeds of awakening present in all corners of the cosmos. For the great mystery of limitless Mind. I touch the Earth.

Bell (stand)

Bow once standing