EarthCare Update - February 24, 2024

Hi Earth Care Friends,

Our next meeting will be Monday, March 18th, 2:30-4pm at Santa Cruz Zen Center in the Sangha House.

In our last meeting, our friend Tenzin Chogkyi from Insight Santa Cruz led us in practicing deep listening with others about the challenges of climate change. 

A few key points of this practice: 

• We reflect back back the content, feelings, and values of the speaker.

• We check with the speaker that we’ve understood them.

• We ask open-ended questions to invite them to go deeper into key issues. 

• We are not problem solving, offering advice, or having a conversation.

• We offer our full presence and zazen mind to both the speaker and ourselves as listeners.  

Our plan is to go to the Farmer’s Market and offer Listening Stations this spring. By doing this, we give people an opportunity to express their concerns, grief, and anxiety about the multiple environmental crises. 

Simply being listened to with full presence is a gift we can offer as part of our Buddhist practice, and can reduce the suffering people are holding. People often begin to feel spacious enough to engage in these difficult issues after being listened to; it is healing. 

Before our next meeting, perhaps we can all look for opportunities to practice these skills with the people in our lives. As mentioned, these skills also make us good friends! 

Finally, I’d like to share an article that Tenzin shared with me. It speaks powerfully about the importance and practice of reducing suffering caused by systems of oppression, as the Buddha did. It offers a framework for why our Earth Care work is so important. 

Deep bows,

Steve