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Love Letter To The Earth, “Can Mother Earth Count on Us?”

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“Love Letter To The Earth” is Zen Master and Peace activist, Thich Nhat Hanh’s passionate and personal call to develop an intimate relationship with the source of all life. He shares why our personal happiness is intricately tied to the happiness of our planet and offers clear and concrete practices for connecting with ourselves, each other, and the world around us”

‘Dear Mother, wherever there is soil, water, rock or air, you are there, nourishing me and giving me life. You are present in every cell of my body. My physical body is your physical body, and just as the sun and stars are present in you, they are also present in me. You are not outside of me and I am not outside of you. You are more than just my environment. You are nothing less than myself…

‘...Your children include the clear lake, the green pine, the pink cloud, the snow-capped mountain top, the fragrant forest, the white crane, the golden deer, the extraordinary caterpillar, and every brilliant mathematician, skilled artisan, and gifted architect. You are the greatest mathematician, the most accomplished artisan, and the most talented architect of all. The simple branch of cherry blossoms, the shell of a snail, and the wing of a bat all bear witness to this amazing truth. My deep wish is to live in such a way that I am awake to each of your wonders and nourished by your beauty. I cherish your precious creativity and I smile at this gift of life…’

RIP Thich Nhat Hanh 

Born on October 11, 1926- Died on January 22, 2022

Photo: Alison Wright / Getty Images/ Via  Emergence

The Zen Buddhist monk, teacher, poet, writer,  storyteller, environmentalist, peace activist and ‘Father of Mindfulness’ Thich Nhat Hanh passed away on January 22 at the age of 95. He so deeply touched the lives of so many worldwide. His deep connection to Mother Earth was so eloquently expressed in his ‘Ten Love Letters to the Earth’, a profoundly moving collection of meditations in conversation with Mother Earth, our home. 

Thich Nhat Hanh, passionately known as “Thay”, or teacher – travelling, shared many ecological and cosmological teachings, as reflected in this opening passage from The Heart of Understanding: 

“If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper. Without a cloud, there will be no rain; without rain, the trees cannot grow; and without trees, we cannot make paper. The cloud is essential for the paper to exist. If the cloud is not here, the sheet of paper cannot be here either. So we can say that the cloud and the paper inter-are. ‘Interbeing’ is a word that is not in the dictionary yet, but if we combine the prefix ‘inter-’ with the verb ‘to be,’ we have a new verb, inter-be. Without a cloud, we cannot have paper, so we can say that the cloud and the sheet of paper inter-are.”

Ten Love Letters to the Earth

Earth seen from above.- Photo:nasa.gov

“[Y]ou are my loving mother, a living being, a great being—an immense, beautiful, and precious wonder. You are not only matter, you are also mind, you are also consciousness. Just as the beautiful pine or tender grain of corn possess an innate sense of knowing, so, too, do you. Within you, dear Mother Earth, there are the elements of Earth, water, air and fire; and there is also time, space, and consciousness. Our nature is your nature, which is also the nature of the cosmos.”

1- Beloved Mother of All Things

2- Your Wonder, Beauty and Creativity

3- Walking Tenderly on Mother Earth

4- Your Stability, Patience, and Inclusiveness

5- Heaven on Earth

6- Our Journey of Eons

7- Your Ultimate Reality: No Death, No Fear

8- Father Sun, My Heart

9- Homo Conscious

10- Can You Count on Us?

Read the Ten Love Letters to the Earth HERE

Love Letter to the Earth: A Must Read book by  Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh

Photo:orondeamiller.com

‘Dear Mother, there are those of us who walk on Earth but still wish to seek a Promised Land elsewhere, not knowing that you are the wondrous Pure Land, present in this moment. They are not able to see that the Kingdom of Heaven exists in their own hearts. They are not able to see that if their minds are calm and peaceful, then the very ground they are walking on becomes the Pure Land. We are able to play and enjoy this Pure Land day and night thanks to that insight, thanks to the practice of dwelling peacefully with mindfulness in the here and now. We have the Kingdom here and are no longer searching for it elsewhere. You have the capacity to carry us hundreds of millions of years into the future, after which you may manifest as another planet and we as other wonderful forms on you.

'Respected Mother, you have children who are proud of themselves as brilliant mathematicians, skilled artisans, gifted architects, but few are able to see that you are the greatest mathematician, the most accomplished artisan, and the most talented architect. We only need to look at a branch of cherry blossoms, the shell of a snail, or the wing of a bat to see this truth. We have talented artists, but how can our paintings be compared to the works of art that you reveal to us in the four seasons? How can we paint such compelling dawns or create such radiant dusks? Our musicians are geniuses, but how can our songs measure up to your wondrous orchestra of Earth and Sky, or the magnificent sound of the rising tide? We have brave soldiers, knights, and heroes who have endured extreme heat and cold and traversed mountains and rivers, but how many of us have your patience and capacity to embrace? We have great love stories, but who among us has your immense love that includes all beings without discrimination?’- Adapted from Love Letter to the Earth by Thich Nhat Hanh- Continue to read HERE

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Photo: SHUTTERSTOCK / MIKE VER SPRILL

GCGI is our journey of hope and the sweet fruit of a labour of love. It is free to access, and it is ad-free too. We spend hundreds of hours, volunteering our labour and time, spreading the word about what is good and what matters most. If you think that's a worthy mission, as we do—one with powerful leverage to make the world a better place—then, please consider offering your moral and spiritual support by joining our circle of friends, spreading the word about the GCGI and forwarding the website to all those who may be interested.

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