View full issue in PDF - The Mindfulness Bell

ond debt, Hurwitz has ordered that a massive swatch be cut
out of this irreplaceable 2,000-year-old redwood empire.
When I ponder the loss of this ancient forest, I remember
Thich Nhat Hanh's words, "We must be aware of the real
problems of the world. Then, with mindfulness, we will
know what to do and what not to do to be of help. Mindfulness
must be engaged. Once there is seeing, there must be
acting. Otherwise, what is the use of seeing?" I keep this
statement on the wall of my closet. They help me slow
down and think about what I am doing as I prepare to dress
and go out to work in the world.
Last month a group of us from Green Gulch Farm
organized an evening prayer vigil in Muir Woods in honor
of the Headwaters forest.
People came together in Muir
Woods to pray for the
nonviolent protection of the
forest. We practiced walking
meditation under the vast
canopy of the old growth
trees of Muir Woods,
stopping for a long time near
a huge, freshly fallen
redwood tree that was
hundreds of years old. In the
last light of the day, our
prayers were carried through
Muir Woods and out to the
Headwaters forest, some 250
miles north.
A week after the prayer
vigil I drove north with two
young women friends to
make a pilgrimage to the
Headwaters forest. We
camped with about 125
nonviolent activists on the
banks of the Van Duzen
River, sleeping, eating,
speaking, and meditating in
the shelter of a towering
Redwood Sangha. Every night, we sat up in the dark with
our backs against giant redwo.od elders. In the quiet of the
forest we invited the bell of mindfulness and listened as the
tones carried up to be received by the lowest limbs, some 50
feet above our heads.
David Brower, the founder of Friends of the Earth and
an environmental activist of 70 years, has called for "CPR"
for the old growth forests--conservation, protection, and
restoration. I thought long and deeply about these values as
we sat in the presence of the Headwaters Redwood Sangha.
I wondered what action I could take to protect the life of
these trees that would not also polarize and pit loggers
against environmentalists. I took the time to compose a
letter to Charles Hurwitz about his unique ability to offer
CPR to the Headwaters forest and to the world by preserv-
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ing the legacy of the ancient redwoods.
At the same time it was clear to me that I could not stand
by and permit the logging of these trees. This wo.uld be
disengaged mindfulness and unacceptable behavIOr. To
stand by and do nothing would be true civil disobedience
rather that obeying the civil call of thy forest. So, after much
thought, my two friends and Ijoined about 15 other women
in a peaceful action to block a main logging road leading
into the forest. In the middle of the night we filled our
pockets and backpacks with balls of colorful wool yarn and
went to the road leading into the heart of the woods. All
across this lonely road we wove a bright, thick web of wool
to block the entrance to the forest. We worked in mindfulness
and in joy, sending
prayers to the loggers and to
the trees, and receiving
strength from the dark
presence of the forest brooding
just beyond the gate.
A web of wool can be
slashed apart by a sharp knife,
which is just what happened
when the Pacific Lumber
guard encountered our work.
But we continued to weave
and to send love to the forest
and to this guard. We sang and
prayed as we worked. One
brave woman even crawled
into the guard's car and
wrapped his gun with a web of
gossamer wool. We were not
angry, although the guard was.
We treated him with respect
and determination as he
slashed down our web, again
and again. Finally he called the
sheriff who arrived irate and
determined to flatten the now
huge web that blocked the
road. In the headlights of the
sheriff s truck before he drove into the web and tore it
down, we saw a shining net of mindfulness spun with love
and attention to protect the trees from danger.
Now I am home again in our Muir Woods watershed,
with the image of the Headwaters Redwood Sangha strong
in my heart and mind. This image is deepened with the
practice of mindfulness. I continue to work for CPR of the
forest in whatever way I can, because I know that if I forget
about this Redwood Sangha then I am truly lost. Just a few
days ago I went with my daughter and friends to the heart of
the financial district of San Francisco where more than 100
people gathered at Senator Feinstein's office for a candlelight
prayer vigil in support of the forest. Rabbis and
ministers spoke and I offered the evocation of the
Bodhisattvas' names in honor of the forest. We closed the