Moving toward Atonement, Advocacy, and Communion with Earth
Dharma teacher, activist, and author Thanissara led this EcoDharma Exploration on February 26, 2023. A recording is available below. We welcome your support for this program.
In an age of unprecedented strain on the Earth’s systems, it’s clear that there’s no shortage of work ahead of us. An emphasis on action on behalf of life is admirable and appropriate—and at the same time, without deep understanding of ourselves as part of the planet’s life force, our efforts may be misguided or counterproductive.
In this EcoDharma Exploration, Thanissara invites us to connect more deeply with the felt, direct experience of being within the sacred web of life. From this place of belonging, we can move into ceremonial relationship with nature, from which we’ve never been separate. Situated in relationship, both viscerally and symbolically, we can find the time and space to atone for harms done while contacting a clearer sense of voice, advocacy, and solidarity with the living Earth community.
Thanissara (she/her) started Buddhist practice in the Burmese school in 1975. She was inspired to ordain after meeting Ajahn Chah and spent 12 years as a Buddhist monastic as a founding member of Chithurst Monastery and Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. She has facilitated meditation retreats internationally for the last 30 years and has an MA in Mindfulness-Based Psychotherapy Practice from Middlesex University & the Karuna Institute in the UK. With Kittisaro, she co-founded Dharmagiri Sacred Mountain Retreat and helped initiate and support a number of HIV/Aids response projects in South Africa. Together, they also co-founded Sacred Mountain Sangha in California. She has written several books, including two poetry books and Time To Stand Up, An Engaged Buddhist Manifesto for Our Earth.
This program is donation-based, with no required registration fee. We welcome your contributions to support this program and the work of One Earth Sangha.
Support this Offering
One Earth Sangha and our featured speakers offer these explorations on a donation basis, with no required registration fee. We invite you to participate in the tradition of offering dana, or generosity. Your support makes these gatherings possible, and any amount offered is greatly appreciated.
Another way to support us is to share what this exploration has meant to you in a way that we can use in our materials. We invite you to share a “testimonial” here! (select “EcoDharma Exploration Participant” from the dropdown menu.)
What can open up for the beleaguered heart and mind when we slow all the way down and just breathe? What does this body already know about the magnificent compassion of this Earth, even as we might struggle to receive it?
What if we better understood each other? We have a responsibility to investigate our own perceptions about how others are feeling the challenge of existential crises. What possibilities might such understanding open up for us all?
In a time of war, polarization and isolation, what do the teachings and practices of Right Speech offer as support? In this meditation and discussion, Rhonda Magee shares reflections on her efforts to continue working to increase connection and conversation in a time when free speech, commitment to human rights and other supports for speaking truth are under attack.
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