27 June 2017
We are being eaten alive by gypsy moths in my area. Droppings all over the driveways and porches. Gathering clusters of leaf parcels clipped off and wasted. Trunks of trees lined with crawling caterpillars. Long black lines of final instars inching along leaves and stems of trees…oaks and maples, apples and beech, almost any green thing and every kind.
I look into the canopy and I see sky when I should see leaves. My heart aches for these trees, some in areas previously devastated by hemlock woolly adelgid, and now this. I know how important trees are for the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide; we breathe in O2 and out CO2, while trees do the opposite and we form a complementary respiratory cycle. I can feel them struggling to get enough food and oxygen to survive.
And then I remember tonglen meditation. It’s a Buddhist practice of “give and take,” an opportunity to support those in pain. I stand under the trees, I inhale and take in all their pain, suffering, and difficulties that these gypsy moths cause. And I exhale my strongest wishes for the good health and continued sustenance of the trees. I do this multiple times until I have no more to give, or I feel I’ve done enough, or I run out of breath. I’ve asked groups of people on my hikes to do this. Twenty-plus of us standing under a group of gypsy moth-stricken trees, all breathing with them, supporting the trees that help us breathe.
I encourage you to do the same.
Beth Lapin 
Golly Beth – I went for a walk late this afternoon (first time in a while) and I noticed that a beautiful tree with vivid pink colours had dropped all its blooms. I wondered why – but now I’m thinking. I’m going to do that practice where and when I can, for trees for sure but you’ve alerted me to other reasons to practice tonglen. Thank you for alerting me to this .. and for your encouragement….
And thanks for your awareness of trees and openness to working with them!! And I’m glad you’re out walking again