Our Meditation Practice and Loving Our Earth
A growing field of dharma inquiry is Eco-Dharma, exploring the Buddhist teachings in relationship to nature, environmental justice, and the climate crisis. This inquiry goes deep, no less radical than reworking our entire world view in relation to the environment surrounding us. Through nature-based practices and deep feeling of our own place in this world, we learn to shift from a scientific materialistic view of the world as objective and separate from ourselves, and begin to rest in a world where all is interrelationship and co-participation. We challenge our stance of human supremacy, and soften into engagement with the beingness and agency of all beings – the crows, and the birch trees, and the supposedly inanimate rock that we pass every day on the path. This exploration lessens the stiff boundaries that we call our self, heals our species loneliness, and reminds us of our deep belonging in this world.
From this perspective of deeper connection and engagement, love grows. We feel how much and how deeply we love all of this, the sun that shines on us in the morning, the cool moon that spreads its calm light in the evening, the grasses that sway in the wind, the crickets that chirp their song, the boulders that manifest steadiness and stillness, the list could go on and on. From this love, care and desire to protect spring naturally. We open our eyes to the ways that we have harmed the Earth, and harmed each other in this desecration. We feel called to protect and to right injustices. We are fortified to become an earth protector, an EcoSattva.
Our view of the world shifts from human-centric to a wider and more inclusive life-centric perspective. I recently became aware of how human-centric my worldview is when we adopted a kitten from a shelter. Yeti Guapo* is a bossy young being who knows very clearly what he wants. He’s also rambunctious, energetic, and loves to get into trouble. Normal kitten behavior, but he takes it to an art. I have found myself thinking, did we pick the right kitten? Is he just too much? Then I realized it’s not just about us - it’s also about him. Maybe he picked us. Maybe he needs us. Maybe we’re the right humans for him. These thoughts changed my relationship to Yeti from one of being an owner to one of relationship and exchange between two beings each with their own agency. At the animal shelter he had been clearly distressed, trying hard to get out of his cage, and clinging when held. In his first days at our home, he was jumpy and frantic, traumatized by the move and perhaps also from trauma in his earlier life. Now he’s settling down, still an energetic kitten, yet more trusting and confident. Let’s say he chose us as the humans that could provide the calm environment that he needed.
As we get quieter and more connected with the natural world around us, we start to feel the agency of the oak tree that knows how to reach for sunlight, can decide which years are the best for dropping acorns, and seeks nutrients in a vast underworld web of microorganisms. Connecting with the agency of other beings, we understand their right to exist just like we do. We heal the division between self and all these others.
If you would like to connect more with eco-dharma, Insight Western Mass, through the generous support of the BESS Family Foundation, is offering One Earth Sangha’s EcoSattva training program starting on January 5, 2026, guided by me. I am also offering three eco-dharma retreats in 2026, in June at the stunningly beautiful Rocky Mountain EcoDharma Retreat Center in Ward, Colorado, and at the also beautiful Wonderwell Retreat Center in Springfield, New Hampshire, and in September at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts. Perhaps I will see you at one of these events as we deepen our love of our beautiful planet Earth and strengthen our aspiration to take care of her.
*Yeti means Bigfoot, and he is so named because he has an extra toe on each paw. And Guapo, because that’s what he is, he’s guapo. Pairs well with his older sister, Iris Bonita. For those of you who have heard of Sparky, he passed away peacefully in his sleep in September.
