To the topsoil and all its inhabitants, worms, insects, fungi, microbes, we utterly depend on you. Your presence is the foundation of our life, and our daily interchange. Gratitude to you, topsoil! Thank you!
Gratitude to you, our human ancestors! We are gathered here from the four directions, from many continents, on this ancestral land of the Ohlone, Miwok, Pomopeople. With pain in our hearts we acknowledge the continuing injustice of colonialism, your resistance, and your long stewardship. We say thank you. Thank you!
Gratitude to our Buddhist ancestors! Sakyamuni, Bodhidharma, Dogen, Suzuki! Thank you to Stone Creek founder, Jisho Warner, and our head teachers, Dojin Emerson and Korin Pokorny! Thank you!
To the hills of northern California we say thank you! Shasta, Diablo, Tamalpais, Sonoma, Sugarloaf and all their inhabitants! We receive the perspective you offer us with humility and deep gratitude. Thank you!
Gratitude to the gardens, where we gratefully practice the healing process of collaboration with the other forms of life and receive beneficent beauty and abundance. Thank you, gardens!