Coming Down to Earth
Original source: satipanya.org.uk
In this deeply personal essay, Noirin Sheahan explores her relationship with the earth element as part of Buddhist contemplative practice. Drawing from her experience with the 'Back to Beginnings' program by Tara Rokpa, she examines how awareness of the five elements (mahābhūta) can cut through the delusion of a separate self and provide a gateway to truth beyond opinions and prejudices.
The essay chronicles Sheahan's initial resistance to earthly, physical reality and her preference for the mental realm. Through honest self-examination, she discovers her tendency to dismiss concrete experience as 'beneath her,' preferring the energizing challenge of uphill struggles over the relaxing descent that 'promised nothing.' This resistance mirrors a broader pattern of clinging to ideas, dreams, and ideals while avoiding direct embodied experience.
As the author learns to acknowledge and work with her aversion to the earth element, she begins to trust physical reality and discovers the 'peaceful experience of non-opinionated flesh.' The essay beautifully illustrates the interconnection between mind and body, showing how mental resistance manifests as physical tension and how acceptance allows both to soften. Concluding with the Buddha's teaching about finding the entire universe within the body, this piece offers valuable insights for practitioners seeking to integrate meditation wisdom into embodied daily life.
Coming down to earth.
It helps me see to through the delusion of a separate, isolated self when I let go of
thinking and instead notice how experience can be felt in terms of the five elements:
earth, water, fire, air and space. This provides an exploration of life which is not so easily
clouded by my opinions and prejudices. Ironically, this more immediate encounter with
the world is showing me unacknowledged prejudices and testing my most cherished
opinions! It‟s a gateway to truth.
Earth is perhaps the easiest element to notice. Right now I can feel my feet pressing into
the ground and the hardness of the table that my elbow leans on. Sometimes I am more
aware of the earth element within myself – heaviness becomes very obvious as I race up
the steps at Connolly Station, and (especially if I miss the train) tension in my jaw!
But my relationship with the earth element began badly. As part of a therapy program
(the „Back to Beginning’s‟ program offered by Tara Rokpa – see www.tararokpa.org and
the book “Restoring the Balance” by Dr. Akong Tulku Rinpoche) some years ago, we
were asked to spend a month exploring each of the five elements, starting with the earth.
We were encouraged not only to feel heaviness, touching etc, but also to immerse
ourselves in the physical earth e.g. gardening, hill-walking or literally mucking about!
Although I could feel my feet touching the ground, I found I didn‟t much like to be
cognitively aware of the ground beneath my feet – even quite beautiful parkland. It
seemed somehow alien, even threatening, and I found myself dismissing it quickly as
„beneath me‟. Once I was running along some open ground and, despite being tired,
found I preferred the uphill struggles to the downhill stretches! I enjoyed the mental
energies generated by the uphill challenge e.g. a sense of power, determination,
anticipation of the summit. The easy run downhill called only for relaxation, promised
nothing. It felt like loss.
As I began to acknowledge my relationship with the physical earth I saw my preference
for the mental world and my disdain for more concrete reality. As always,
acknowledgement heralds change, and I am slowly coming down to earth! As I let go of
clinging to opinions and dreams and ideals, and feel my way through the fear and
sadness of their loss, I find it easier to relax physically, trusting the earth to support me
instead. I am more and more willing to explore that within me which is devoid of ideas,
and I‟m beginning to appreciate the peaceful experience of non-opinionated flesh! The
links between mind and body become more fascinating e.g. if I get a fright I can feel a
wall of tension solidifying in my jaw, as my mind pushes away from the body saying „No,
not this, no, no, no!‟. And then I feel waves of sourness chipping away at the wall as I
acknowledge my aversion. Eventually I sense the quiet joy of acceptance as I relax and let
the wall crumble. In meditation there is the whisper that the softness of relaxing flesh
might be an experience of truth more trustworthy than all my heady visions. I begin to
appreciate the Buddha‟s words: “Within the fathom long body can the entire universe be
known”.