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Inner Activism & Response-Ability - Ayya Santacitta

The following talk was given by Ayya Santacitta at Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA on January 28, 2024. Please visit the website www.audiodharma.org for more information.

Inner Activism & Response-Ability

Settling-In Meditation

I'm going to do a little bit of a different sequence today: just a settling-in meditation for a few minutes, then a reflection, and then a guided meditation to illustrate and bring into our experience what I'm speaking about.

Allow your breath to take you into the body, arriving here at the IMC. Take a screenshot and see what you are bringing with you today. Do you feel a little bit stressed, or do you feel tired, or do you feel energized? Just notice how you feel.

Know that you're here with so many others in this welcoming space. Maybe you have been here many times before, or maybe it's your first time here.

Land here. Notice the weight of the body on the cushion or on the chair. Gravity is gently pulling you towards the Earth underneath this building, showing us where the work lies. The work is embodied. Our bodies are instruments for sensing our present-moment experience, rather than thinking about it.

Inner Activism and the Planet

A few months ago, I was asked what I would like to speak about today, and I said I would like to speak about inner activism and response-ability—the ability to respond from a connected place. Not just from the thinking mind, but from our full being, understanding that our body is actually a direct line into a much bigger intelligence that we can call Planet Earth.

Planet Earth is a self-regulating, intelligent process. At this time in history, it calls out to us in many ways to get our attention. We are coming more and more to the limitations of what the biosphere can sustain with the number of human beings living on the planet and the way they live. In particular, in the so-called Global North, the lifestyle is taking a very big toll on our resources. All of us are starting to notice this more and more, but there is a lot of confusion around how to meet that calling and how to respond to it from a connected place.

Instead, it often sends us into numbness, into disconnection, or into trying to solve the issue from the exact same level of consciousness that created it. There is a lot of speaking about this these days—how that doesn't really work. It needs grounding in direct experience. Through the bodies we have, which are made of the five elements, we actually have a direct lifeline into this much vaster intelligence because these bodies and the planet consist of the same elements: the Earth element, Water element, Fire element, Wind element, and Space element.

This is something we might theoretically know, but we have to really bring it into our own experience on a regular basis so that it can start to sink in deeply. Through this direct experience, our assumptions and our narrative about who we are and what it means to be alive will change. We start to attune with this truth, which is always functioning but is hidden in plain view. We frame our experience very much through a narrative of separation. So when we hear these callings from the Earth, we get triggered into numbness, dissociation, and feeling overwhelmed because there is a sense that this is all so much. We don't know what to do, and our systems are not really able to make the depth of change required to turn this around.

We have to really work on our own minds and the narrative we tell ourselves about what it means to be alive. This inner work—this reconnective work—is what I call "inner activism." It is the basis for outer activism to really work well. We have to come from a different understanding. We have to understand that these bodies are sacred land. They are pieces of the planet walking around as human bodies. Any life forms we find here emerge out of those elements, and when the time comes, they dissolve back into them. It is a constant process.

We need to do what we can to recognize the truth that we are really not separate. We are like waves on the top of the ocean, emerging, existing for some time, and then going back into it. There is an energetic connection through eating, drinking, breathing, sweating, crying, and going to the bathroom. There is a constant exchange happening. That is easily overlooked because what our eyes show us makes us look like separate entities walking around. But if we start contemplating it, it sinks in and starts to change us. That is exactly what is needed right now: a willingness to attune to our own bodies in a different way, resonating more and more with the fact that these bodies emerge out of the planet and are a part of it.

In the beginning, it sounds a bit artificial. But when we do the meditation, it gives us a direct taste of that truth, and something else starts to open up—like a door or a window opening. If you take an interest, go there, and open that door again and again, it starts to change your way of thinking. If our way of thinking changes, our speech and actions will change from there as well.

It is a training. Like any meditation training, it needs to be done on a regular basis, and then it will slowly but surely have an effect on the way we are in the world. In the Canon, we find the basic teaching of early Buddhism on the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta¹, the four establishments of mindfulness. The first of those four is meditation on the body. Three different meditations are mentioned: meditation on the elements, meditation on the body parts, and meditation on death. Today, I want to attend to the meditation on the elements, because it is such a straightforward practice. It comes to us from Iron Age India—a really ancient practice—and it has a lot of applicability in this day and age where we are meeting the limits of the biosphere.

Just reading about it in the newspaper or hearing about it on different channels is not enough. We really need to bring it into our direct experience. Otherwise, it is so easy to just numb out, because that is what the system does when it is overwhelmed. That is something to respect and bring kindness to, but it's important to notice that it isn't necessarily equanimity. It is a pulling back because of overwhelm. We need to recognize that and bring something to it that can help us do the work of reconnecting with who we are and what we are called to work with at this point in history. Our practice is always connected to what is happening right now in the world, in our lives, in our families, and in our societies.

It is about being able to respond, not react. Responding means slowing down and becoming conscious of what is there with kindness, acceptance, and interest. If there is a sense of numbing and disconnection, do not override it or push through it. Just notice it for what it is. It is an intelligent response. It is a mind state that needs to be noticed: the inability to connect. Know it for what it is, and then start to bring in a different way of working with it, so we are more able to resonate with the truth that these bodies and Planet Earth are one and the same process.

Our bodies are so much huger than what we usually think. They are deeply networked with the planet, with the more-than-human world, and with all of us. We are all together in this, and we are called to take an interest in that now so that we will be changed from the ground up, passing that on to the younger generations. This evolutionary threshold is a new narrative wanting to be integrated. We can no longer put ourselves into the center of everything. We are just one species amongst many, and we all participate in the same process. It is amazing to consciously stand on that threshold and participate in that shift by personally practicing in that way, together with others.

When we look back in history, there have been so many times when the worldview had to change. When we noticed that Planet Earth is not the center of the solar system, that was a struggle to enter the mainstream. At times, human beings thought the earth was flat, and that changed. Now we are again on such a threshold, forced by circumstances to drop deeper. We have to drop the assumption that we are masters of nature, that we are masters of this planet, and that we can control all of this. We must come down to the ground and notice that we are not different from the planet. We have arisen from it, we are constantly kept alive by it, and we are it. We are this one and the same process.

As we build up that resonance by attuning to that truth, a response can emerge that is attuned to reality, rather than trying to fix it from the same narrative that created the problem in the first place.

Guided Meditation on the Elements

So we can start by noticing the breath again. The Wind element.

The wind element stands for movement, expansion, and contraction. You can sense that in your torso with the in-breath and the out-breath. Let the air come in through the nostrils, into your lungs. With the out-breath, allow it to take you down into the ground below your seat.

Like sending down roots into the soil.

Just notice if your awareness can go down with the out-breath. No need to put pressure on it; just notice whatever is happening. Slowly allow your awareness to drop down with those roots, meeting the soil. Let any stress or doubt be received by the Earth.

Meeting all the other root systems, the mycelium, all the data flow happening in the body of the Earth. It consists of so many different ancestor beings—bodies of humans, animals, plant bodies, mineral bodies. It's an aliveness, and we are a part of that.

If we do not participate in the earthiness of the Earth through eating food grown out of it, this body cannot live for more than one or two months. We take in that food to build up the body. It is said that within about seven years, all the cells of a body are replaced. You've had many bodies since you came to this birth. That in itself is awesome.

Allow that vibration, breathing up the earthiness of the Earth. That direct experience allows it to resonate with the Earth element in your own body: the bones, the nails, the hair, the teeth. Earth element internally and Earth element externally is exactly the same Earth element. The Earth element is empty—empty of a self. In a wordless way, just resonate with that.

As we send down our roots, we also meet the Water element. Our bodies consist of about 70 to 75% water. All through the body, many different liquids are coursing through. We can sense it in the softness of the flesh. The water element stands for cohesion, fluidity, and wetness.

The water element in the Earth body—the surface of the Earth, the rivers, lakes, and oceans—is exactly the same water element found in our bloodstream and other liquids. If we don't drink water for five days, the body shuts down. The water element is empty—empty of a self. We never cut the umbilical cord towards the planet. There is a constant exchange. Allow the whole system, in a wordless way, to resonate with that.

It is like updating a computer. These bodies are sophisticated biocomputers developed over four billion years. By simply changing the framework of how we experience that, something else becomes available. Information starts to inform us; our form gets changed through a different way of opening to experience.

If we continue to go down, we also come to the Fire element. At the center of this planet, there is a lot of heat. We also receive heat from the sun. The fire element is experienced as hot and cold inside the body and outside on the skin, where the air in the room touches it. Maybe you've had breakfast and you can sense the fire element digesting in the stomach.

These human bodies can only exist in a certain temperature range. If it gets too cold, it freezes. If it gets too hot, it evaporates. A delicate balance is needed for the body to live, and that balance on the planet is now starting to get out of sync more and more. We can do something about this when we are ready.

We have experienced the Wind element through the breathing process, the Earth element through the stability of the bones and the planet, the Water element as cohesion and wetness, and the Fire element as hot and cold.

Come back to the breath again. Consciously breathe up that energy resource just below your seats—that huge, vast Planet Earth, a living process calling for our attention. This is a way to attend to it with the whole body, rather than just thinking about it. It is a helpful balance. Grounding ourselves in the resonance between the body and the planet integrates the understanding that we are one process. We can draw on that intelligence if we have the humility to go down to the ground.

The word for Earth is humus—fertile, black earth. Humus, humility, and human—those three words have something in common. Humility is needed at this point in history to open up to an intelligence different from the intellect.

Humus. Humility. Human.

Breathe up that life force. Allow ourselves to be informed by it through wordless resonance. You might experience it in your own body as a vibration, as an aliveness. Breathe it up through the trunk of your body, through your organs, your neck, behind your eyes, all the way up to the crown of the head.

With the exhalation, open up the crown of your head. Now we can put out roots into the sky like branches of a tree. The sky is energetically connected with space and the oxygen coming to us from plant life on this planet. We have energetic roots into the unmanifest, the spaciousness we can't really see.

Send out these branches into the sky, drawing on that power beyond what we can see with our eyes right now. Extending into the cosmos, where there are billions of solar systems. On the in-breath, feel the root system in the Earth—the energy from the manifest planet and from that which is beyond.

We are a bridge between those two dimensions. Sense your heart as the nexus point between the manifest and the unmanifest. The heart feels called to evolve in order to respond to the situation. This urge to evolve is what brought you all here. That's why you meditate.

Sense into that calling. Honor it. You are sitting with many people who feel called in some way or another. Notice if you can sense something in your heart.

Bring in the Brahma-vihāra² of compassion, Karuṇā³.

May all beings be free from harm and the intention to harm.

As we become conscious of this evolutionary threshold where we need to go deeper to respond to so much complexity, notice that we already have the equipment for that. Through the Buddhist meditation on the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta and the Brahma-vihāras, we have what it takes to attune more deeply. We can't go back to Iron Age India, but we can bring this teaching into the present moment.

Rest in the boundlessness of the heart, which is able to respond from a place of compassion. Invite in the blessings of our ancestors who handed over these amazing bodies, so that we may develop new capacities of attuning and hand them on to the next generations.

Have the willingness to stand on the threshold. Through developing our capacity to resonate, we will be changed, and our contribution can emerge from that. Not to take something off a to-do list, but to be more human, with humility, and to bring in some humor. See the precision with which all of this is emerging—the mystery of this embodied life, and the choice we have to turn towards it.

[Bell rings]

When you open your eyes, try to stay connected with the body from the inside. Slowly notice who you are sitting with in the room.

Q&A

Questioner 1: I especially loved the part about how we are pieces of the Earth walking around, with roots going down and branches going up. It was wonderful, thank you. My question is about how knowledge gets transferred to the current body. If we have rebirths from previous janmas⁴, how does the current me get all the knowledge from the previous births? Shouldn't we have the smartness not to repeatedly do stupid stuff? Why don't we learn?

Ayya Santacitta: Consciousness is the sum total of what was cultivated before. When you see children in a family, they are all different because they have different consciousnesses. We are all here because we would like to do less stupid things and more wise things, but we have very strong habits and traumas. When we have had very hard experiences, those traumas are stored in the body. If we get triggered, we get overwhelmed. We might do, say, or consume something we actually don't want to, because we feel overwhelmed.

We need to slowly work through and digest this undigested material with a lot of kindness and support. This undigested trauma keeps us disconnected from our good intentions. That is why I guided us in the meditation to do reconnective work. We are generally disconnected from the fact that our bodies and the planet are one process. We read it and say, "Yes, that's true," but the way we live is very different.

When we see what's going on in the world, the spinning of trauma has gone so fast. You can't get to that place just by talking; you get there by sensing. It's daunting work, which is why we must bring it down to simple practices of connection. When we do that, what we meet is all the undigested stuff—the "landfill." We can't just put it in the landfill and hope it's gone. Suppressed trauma explodes out as violence. We are starting to wake up to this as a species. It's daunting, but we know the planet is a self-regulating intelligence operating for billions of years. Why don't we intentionally connect with that and take our guidance from there?

Questioner 2: You were talking about how we think intellectually and should be deeper in the Earth. For me, conflict resolution is very important. There are major mediators who have gone into places like the Attica prison riots, or meetings between Israelis and Arabs. They bring people together to talk and agree on principles. I don't know if those mediators meditate, but there are people able to do this. Do you think your teaching could be combined with conflict resolution?

Ayya Santacitta: I'm sure those mediators have some kind of contemplative practice. We need collective spaces to digest this stuff together because we can't do it alone. You have a community here. It is about digesting the trauma that keeps us disconnected, waiting for some "Big Daddy" to come and fix it. That's the old narrative, and we are growing out of it.

There are great figures like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., and Thich Nhat Hanh who show us human potential, but we have to bring it back to ourselves and do this together. We have the information—the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta and the Brahma-vihāras are the basic building blocks. If we do that work and honor this urge to evolve, situations will emerge where we can work together. If we nourish that intention like a plant and trust the intelligence of the heart, it will grow. At the Aloka Earth Room⁵ in San Rafael, we offer in-person meetings where we do these meditations and sit in council together to work with these things.

Questioner 3: Thank you for the meditation. When we went through the elements, I felt a sense of peace, as well as a sense of sadness thinking about the wounded planet we live in. There is a lot of pain associated with that. What is it that I can do individually to bring this inner activism into a larger movement of care and prioritization for the planet?

Ayya Santacitta: By really doing these practices, attuning to the fact that the body and the planet are one process, and respecting this urge to evolve. Speak about it with other people. By becoming the medicine you are looking for, it will be contagious in some way. It's almost like walking a prayer. Continue to do that work and trust in its emergence. It doesn't mean we aren't "doing anything"—we notice opportunities and we act. It's a mysterious but very grounded process. The resonance that comes through us is in proportion to our openness, and the talents we have will be used by that process.

Questioner 4: I do a lot of climate activism, and I find that it's important to replenish my soul and take action from a place of joy. I do habitat restoration, sitting in the mud. As I'm digging, these beautiful earthworms come up, and it reminds me of your earthworm meditation. Could you say a few words about taking action from a place of joy as opposed to a place of fear?

Ayya Santacitta: I can't just tell people they need to be joyful, because sometimes we are not. But what I can access easier is a sense of awe—awe about the fact that my body and the body of the planet are one body. I can go back to that regularly. Sometimes sadness comes with that, or sometimes the mind just goes, "Wow."

Joy definitely has more buoyancy to it, and it feels good. But if there is no joy, start where you are and connect with that sense of awe. That helps make space so we can meet our grief. Sometimes, if the grieving hasn't been done, there's no joy. Joy is often the result of having done the work, allowing us to be more connected. If you have gone through the discomfort of rearranging parts of your life to walk your talk, that brings joy. There is renunciation connected with it, which is scary for a lot of people, but we just need to start where we are, one step at a time.

Dedication of Merit

I would like to share the benefits of our gathering today with all of us, so that we find the courage to do the reconnective work and be in resonance with what is asked of us on this evolutionary threshold.

May you have every good blessing. May all the devas protect you. By the power of all the Buddhas, may you ever be well. May you have every good blessing. May all the devas protect you. By the power of all the Dhamma, may you ever be well. May you have every good blessing. May all the devas protect you. By the power of all the Sangha, may you ever be well.

Thank you so much. I brought some seeds from the Aloka Earth Room; they are outside. You are welcome to take some. Thank you for the invitation.