Welcome to Emergence Magazine's podcast. I'm Emanuel Vaughn Lee, executive editor of Emergence

Magazine, located on the unseated ancestral lands of the Coast Mewalk people of present-day

Marin County. Each week, we feature a new interview, narrated essay, or story, exploring the threads connecting ecology, culture, and spirituality.

The Vietnamese Buddhist monk and Zen master, Tithna Han, died nearly one year ago on January 22nd, 2022. He was 95 years old. Teethna Han was globally

revered as a peace activist and poet, and is widely credited with bringing the Buddhist practice

of mindfulness to the West. He was also a pioneer in the field of spiritual ecology,

applying ancient Buddhist texts and philosophy

to his decades-long efforts to come to the aid of a planet in crisis.

To honor his passing, we are resharing his 10 love letters to the earth, a series of meditations

that engage us in intimate conversation with our earth.

I wanted to read these letters for the emergence podcast, not only because they are deeply

beautiful, profound, and inspiring, but also because they were composed as a living

dialogue and have an added potency when recited. As we approach the one-year anniversary

of his death, we offer these recitations in remembrance.

One, beloved mother of all things.

Dear Mother Earth, I bow my head before you as I look deeply and recognize that you

are present in me and that I'm a part of you. I was born from you and you are

always present, offering me everything I need from my nourishment and growth. My mother, my father,

and all my ancestors are also your children. We breathe your fresh air, we drink your clear water,

we eat your nourishing food, your herbs heal us when we're sick. You are the mother of all

beings. I call you by the human name mother, and yet I know your mothering nature is more vast and ancient than humankind.

We are just one young species of your many children. All the millions of other species who live, have lived on Earth are also your children.

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