Prayer to Mother Earth
Sunday, 01 January 2012 00:57 | 
Written by dharmaputra | 
New Year Prayer to Mother Earth
and all Our Ancestors
and all Our Ancestors
Dear Beloved Mother Earth,
Dear Ancestors, both Spiritual and Genetic,
We present ourselves before you at this solemn moment of the New Year to express our awareness, our gratitude and our aspiration as a spiritual family. We know that our ancestors are always alive in us and that we can always take refuge in you and in our ancestors.
Dear Mother Earth, breathing in, we see that we and all of our ancestors are your children. With your patience, stability, endurance and creativity you have raised us and guided us through many lifetimes. You have given birth to countless Great Beings, Buddhas, Saints, and Boddhisattvas. You are the great Earth, you are Terra, you are Gaia, you are this beautiful blue planet. You are the Earth Refreshing Bodhisattva–fragrant, cool, and kind. We see that though we and our ancestors have made many mistakes, you have always forgiven us. Each time we return to you, you are ready to open your arms and embrace us.
Because of our wrong perceptions and discrimination we have lived a life of separation, hatred, loneliness, suffering, and despair. We have allowed individualism to prevail, and it has caused a lot of damage and hardship to you and to ourselves. We have run after fame, wealth, power, and sensual pleasures and have forgotten that these pursuits could never bring us true happiness.
We have spent many lifetimes not able to recognize your presence as the Pure Land, as the Kingdom of God, as the most wondrous home that we have. We have run after a distant Promised Land, in heaven or in the future. This has caused us and you much suffering. Tonight as we touch the Earth, we let go and offer you and our ancestors our true presence. We have arrived. You are our home, our only home.
We have learned that only love and compassion can make our lives meaningful, allowing us to protect and preserve your beauty, and allowing us to heal ourselves. We can learn to live as one family -- as a community of brothers and sisters, all children of the same Great Mother Earth, giving our descendants a chance for a healthy and a bright future. We know that only through building brotherhood and sisterhood in the present moment can we make this future a reality.
Dear Mother, tonight, on the occasion of the New Year 2012, we make the vow to learn to live in harmony and peace, in the very heart of our family and our community, just as bees in the same beehive and cells in the same body. We promise that we shall remain openhearted and capable of communicating with the members of our family and our community. We promise to always listen deeply and to use peaceful and loving speech. We shall learn to listen to your voice, Mother Earth, to understand you deeply and to hear your guidance and the guidance of our ancestors. We vow also to listen to our brothers, our sisters, our friends, and to our children so that we may live in peace and harmony with them. We promise to learn to see the happiness and well-being of our family and community as our own happiness and well-being.
Dear Mother, with great reverence, we give rise to the deep aspiration to begin anew. We promise to you and also to our children: that we shall learn to breathe and walk mindfully each moment of our daily life, to use the eyes and ears of the family and community in order to understand, to live simply and to love without discrimination, as you do. We promise to stop running from our suffering, but to recognize, embrace and transform it. Only by understanding our suffering can we heal and touch true happiness, and at the same time, restore your beauty and freshness. You have been calling to us, and some of us have heard your pain. You have been asking us for many lifetimes whether you can count on us. Tonight, with palms joined and with one heart, we say “yes, Mother, you can count on us.” We shall practice for you and for all our ancestors so that joy, peace and harmony will become possible again. Please accept our offerings of incense, flowers, fruit, tea, and our love. Yes Mother, we will be faithful to you.
Dear Ancestors, both Spiritual and Genetic,
We present ourselves before you at this solemn moment of the New Year to express our awareness, our gratitude and our aspiration as a spiritual family. We know that our ancestors are always alive in us and that we can always take refuge in you and in our ancestors.
Dear Mother Earth, breathing in, we see that we and all of our ancestors are your children. With your patience, stability, endurance and creativity you have raised us and guided us through many lifetimes. You have given birth to countless Great Beings, Buddhas, Saints, and Boddhisattvas. You are the great Earth, you are Terra, you are Gaia, you are this beautiful blue planet. You are the Earth Refreshing Bodhisattva–fragrant, cool, and kind. We see that though we and our ancestors have made many mistakes, you have always forgiven us. Each time we return to you, you are ready to open your arms and embrace us.
Because of our wrong perceptions and discrimination we have lived a life of separation, hatred, loneliness, suffering, and despair. We have allowed individualism to prevail, and it has caused a lot of damage and hardship to you and to ourselves. We have run after fame, wealth, power, and sensual pleasures and have forgotten that these pursuits could never bring us true happiness.
We have spent many lifetimes not able to recognize your presence as the Pure Land, as the Kingdom of God, as the most wondrous home that we have. We have run after a distant Promised Land, in heaven or in the future. This has caused us and you much suffering. Tonight as we touch the Earth, we let go and offer you and our ancestors our true presence. We have arrived. You are our home, our only home.
We have learned that only love and compassion can make our lives meaningful, allowing us to protect and preserve your beauty, and allowing us to heal ourselves. We can learn to live as one family -- as a community of brothers and sisters, all children of the same Great Mother Earth, giving our descendants a chance for a healthy and a bright future. We know that only through building brotherhood and sisterhood in the present moment can we make this future a reality.
Dear Mother, tonight, on the occasion of the New Year 2012, we make the vow to learn to live in harmony and peace, in the very heart of our family and our community, just as bees in the same beehive and cells in the same body. We promise that we shall remain openhearted and capable of communicating with the members of our family and our community. We promise to always listen deeply and to use peaceful and loving speech. We shall learn to listen to your voice, Mother Earth, to understand you deeply and to hear your guidance and the guidance of our ancestors. We vow also to listen to our brothers, our sisters, our friends, and to our children so that we may live in peace and harmony with them. We promise to learn to see the happiness and well-being of our family and community as our own happiness and well-being.
Dear Mother, with great reverence, we give rise to the deep aspiration to begin anew. We promise to you and also to our children: that we shall learn to breathe and walk mindfully each moment of our daily life, to use the eyes and ears of the family and community in order to understand, to live simply and to love without discrimination, as you do. We promise to stop running from our suffering, but to recognize, embrace and transform it. Only by understanding our suffering can we heal and touch true happiness, and at the same time, restore your beauty and freshness. You have been calling to us, and some of us have heard your pain. You have been asking us for many lifetimes whether you can count on us. Tonight, with palms joined and with one heart, we say “yes, Mother, you can count on us.” We shall practice for you and for all our ancestors so that joy, peace and harmony will become possible again. Please accept our offerings of incense, flowers, fruit, tea, and our love. Yes Mother, we will be faithful to you.
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This was so beautiful. Dwelling in beauty, a life well lived.
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written by Jim Pearson , January 04, 2012
A most simple and wonderful thought. I will carry it with me always.
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Dear Thay, dear four fold community: thanks for the inspiring transforming prayer to Mother Earth. The NYE dharma talk was very inspiring to us in Magnolia Grove right at the end of our holiday retreat. We have fastened our seatbelts and are ready for the giant bird to carry us into the new year... We are Going Home .. the gift of NOW! We have arrived ..we are home.. A new friend who experienced the miracle of mindfulness expressed the transforming retreat very nicely.
http://theblondeaquarius.blogspot.com/2012/01/magnolia-grove-monastery.html
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http://theblondeaquarius.blogspot.com/2012/01/magnolia-grove-monastery.html
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Thank you for this prayer. May all who view it carry it forward into their lives.
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I am deeply grateful to all of you for this prayer, which I will keep with me through this year.
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written by Mary-Maggie Tuteur , January 01, 2012
Deeply Grateful to you all.
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written by Thea Ellie Artemis , January 01, 2012
"...touch true happiness, and at the same time, restore your beauty and freshness. You have been calling to us, and some of us have heard your pain. You have been asking us for many lifetimes whether you can count on us. Tonight, with palms joined and with one heart, we say “yes, Mother, you can count on us.” We shall practice for you and for all our ancestors."
I am a seeker empath with Gaia Mother who has been suffering such ill health due to all our shared harms that this calling promise of healing community is what saved me today, keeps me saving others today and moving towards you and your holy blessed community. My human ancestors mostly died and I was seeking where to go aid others' suffering but our suffering is tied to healing Her now - her writhing warming agony is urgent to address. I am so eager to work in practice with you all now. Namaste. Thea
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I am a seeker empath with Gaia Mother who has been suffering such ill health due to all our shared harms that this calling promise of healing community is what saved me today, keeps me saving others today and moving towards you and your holy blessed community. My human ancestors mostly died and I was seeking where to go aid others' suffering but our suffering is tied to healing Her now - her writhing warming agony is urgent to address. I am so eager to work in practice with you all now. Namaste. Thea
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Thank you for filling the spaces in the net with such beauty. You are good and kind.
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I am meeting with my local meditation group later today to bring in the New Year together as a sangha. I will read this Prayer to Mother Earth to the group. Thank you and Happy New Year to Thay and all at Plum village and around the world, love niamh :-)
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Beloved Thay and Beloved community,
This prayer is so beautiful and so deep. Thank you for your special honoring of our Mother Earth at this time of great risk to her beauty and her safety from those afflicted by greed. Here in my home in the mountains of NY we are diligently trying to protect our land and our air and water from gas drilling that is dangerous and toxic to all living beings. We treasure this prayer as we take action to protect our town and our state. May our prayers be like rain and wash down upon our Mother Earth with love and protection for all her children now and future generations.
Love to my dear Sangha,
patricia
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This prayer is so beautiful and so deep. Thank you for your special honoring of our Mother Earth at this time of great risk to her beauty and her safety from those afflicted by greed. Here in my home in the mountains of NY we are diligently trying to protect our land and our air and water from gas drilling that is dangerous and toxic to all living beings. We treasure this prayer as we take action to protect our town and our state. May our prayers be like rain and wash down upon our Mother Earth with love and protection for all her children now and future generations.
Love to my dear Sangha,
patricia
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written by Solodad Maria , December 31, 2011
Beautiful.........blessings and love for 2012........thankyou........
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Very touching New Year prayer committing ourselves to the source of our existence and sustenance. Our Mother Earth needs us more then ever to care for her as she has cared for us. We must live as one family and transcend our insecurities. The great chain of being brings us to this very moment, each moment in motion. We honor our source and strive to care for her through compassion and loving one another as intended in our deepest heart of hearts. Thank you for your New Year message reminding us of what is truly important in our lives on our Earth and for setting the goal of mindfulness continuation.
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This is such a deep and heartfelt prayer. May we indeed learn to walk more simply, with respect for all our brothers and sisters, and this amazing Mother who has never given up on us. Thank you for ushering in this new year with a deep resolve that we need to be more respectful, honoring our Mother and feeling her pain deep in our bones, too.
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Last Updated (Sunday, 01 January 2012 01:02)