The Three Earth-Touchings

Before touching the earth, the practitioner reads the words below, either
aloud or silently. While prostrating, the practitioner contemplates the
text that follows. If practicing in a group, one person can read the text
aloud while the others touch the earth and contemplate.
F I R S T EA RTH -TO UCH I N G
Touching the earth, I connect with my ancestors and descendants,
from both my spiritual and blood families.
[bell]
[With the sound of the bell, the practitioner or the whole group
touches the earth.]
My spiritual ancestors are noble teachers, saints, and realized
beings throughout the ages, and also my teachers of this lifetime.
Whether you are still living or you lived long ago, you are all truly
present in me. You have transmitted to me the seeds of peace, wisdom, love, and happiness. You have awakened in me seeds of peace,
insight, compassion, and happiness.
When I look at you, my spiritual ancestors, I see those who are
perfect in the practice of the Mindfulness Trainings, understanding,
and compassion, and those who are still imperfect. I bow down and
accept you all as my spiritual ancestors, knowing that within myself
are shortcomings and weaknesses.
[Three breaths]
Aware that my practice of the Mindfulness Trainings is not always
perfect, and that I am not always as understanding and compassionate as I would like to be, I open my heart to my spiritual descendants
and accept you all. Some of you practice the Mindfulness Trainings,
understanding, and compassion in a way that invites confidence and
respect. There are also those of you who are struggling with many
difficulties and are constantly going through ups and downs in your
practice. Aware of my own weaknesses and faults, I open my heart
and accept you all.
The Three
Earth-Touchings
T H Í C H N H ẤT H ẠN H

[Three breaths]
In the same way, I accept all of you, my ancestors, on my father’s
side and my mother’s side of the family, with all your good qualities,
your talents, and your virtuous actions, as well as your faults and
your weaknesses.
[Three breaths]
You, my spiritual and blood ancestors and descendants, are all
present in me. I am you and you are me. I do not have a separate
self. We are all part of a wonderful stream of life constantly flowing
together.
[Three breaths]
[bell]
[With the sound of the bell, the practitioner or the whole group
stand up.]
S EC O ND E ART H -TO UCH I N G
Touching the earth, I connect with all people and all species that are
alive in this moment in the world with me.
[bell]
[With the sound of the bell, the practitioner or the whole group
touches the earth.]
I am one with the wonderful pattern of life that radiates out in all
directions. I see the close connection between myself and all people
and all species, how we share happiness and suffering.
I am one with the great beings who have transcended birth and
death. I see how we can look at all phenomena such as birth and
death, happiness and suffering, with a calm gaze. I am one with those
wise spiritual friends—who can be found a little bit everywhere—who
radiate peace, understanding, and love, who can touch the nourishing and healing wonders of life, who can embrace the whole world
with a loving heart and arms of caring action. I am one with those
who have enough peace, happiness, and freedom to be able to offer
non-fear and the joy of being alive to everyone around them. I do not
feel alone or cut off from others. I feel supported by the compassion
and joy of great beings, who help me not to drown in despair but to
live my life fully, with meaning, peace, and joy. I see myself in each
one of you and I see you all in me.
[Three breaths]
I am one with someone who was born disabled or who has become disabled because of war, accident, or illness. I am one with

someone who is caught in a situation of war, oppression, or imprisonment. I am one with someone who has never enjoyed happiness
and peace in family life. Cut off from my roots, I am hungry for understanding and love, and am always looking for beauty, truth, and
goodness, which can give meaning to my life and in which I can take
refuge.
[Three breaths]
I am one with someone who is at the point of death, and I am
very afraid because I do not know what will become of me. I am one
with a child living in a place where there is miserable poverty and
disease; my arms and legs are as thin as matchsticks, and I have no
future. I am also one with a manufacturer of armaments that are sold
to poor countries. I am one with the frog swimming in the pond, but
I am also one with the grass snake who needs to feed on the frog. I
am the caterpillar and the ant, and also the bird hunting for insects to
eat. I am the forest that is being cut down, the rivers and the air that
are being polluted. I am also the person who clear-cuts the forest and
pollutes the river and the air. I see myself in all species, and I see all
species in me.
[Three breaths]
[bell]
[Then with the sound of the bell, the practitioner or the whole
group stand up.]
THI R D EA RT H -TO UCH I N G
Touching the earth, I let go of all ideas that I am this body and this
limited life span.
[bell]
[With the sound of the bell, the practitioner or the whole group
touches the earth.]
I know that this body, made of the four elements (earth, water, air,
fire), is not truly me, I am not limited by this body. I am a river of the
life of spiritual and blood ancestors, which since beginningless time
has flowed to the present and will continue to stream onward into
the future without end. I am both my ancestors and my descendants.
I am life manifesting in thousands of forms. I inter-am with all people
and all species, whether they are peaceful and fearless or suffering
and afraid. In this moment, I am present everywhere on this planet.
I am also present in the past and in the future. The disintegration of
this body does not touch me, just as the falling plum blossoms do not
mean the end of the plum tree. I see myself as a wave on the surface
of the ocean. My true nature is the ocean water. I see myself in all the
other waves, and I see all the other waves in me. The appearance or

disappearance of the form of the wave does not affect the ocean.
My Dharma body and spiritual life are not subject to birth and
death. I see myself present before the manifestation of this body and
after its decomposition. Even in this moment, I see how I exist elsewhere than in this body. My life span is not limited to eighty or ninety years. My life span, just like the life span of a leaf or the buddhas,
is unlimited. I can go beyond the idea that I am a body separate in
space and time from all other manifestations of life.
[With the sound of the bell, the practitioner or the whole group
stand up.]
This is an excerpt from Chanting from the Heart, Volume 2 by Thích Nhất
Hạnh, published by Parallax Press. An expanded excerpt including the
explanation of this practice can be found at mindfulnessbell.org.
Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh is one of the most revered
and influential teachers in the world today. Born in
Vietnam in 1926, he became a Zen Buddhist monk at
the age of sixteen. Over seven decades of teaching, he
published more than one hundred titles on meditation,
mindfulness, and Engaged Buddhism, as well as poems,
children’s stories, and commentaries on ancient Buddhist
texts. After his exile from Vietnam in 1966, he became a
pioneer in bringing Buddhism to the West. He founded
the Plum Village tradition of meditation practice, which
today has ten monasteries and dozens of practice
centers in the United States, Asia, Australia, and Europe,
as well as more than 1,500 local mindfulness practice
communities. He built a thriving community of over seven
hundred monks and nuns worldwide, who, together with
his tens of thousands of lay students, apply his teachings
on mindfulness, peacemaking, and community-building
in schools, workplaces, prisons, politics, and businesses
throughout the world. Our beloved teacher passed away
peacefully on January 22, 2022, at Từ Hiếu Temple in
Huế, Vietnam, at the age of ninety-five.