November 6, 2025
Intimacy with Your Surroundings
When the late dharma teacher Dr. Larry Ward spoke at Tricycle’s Buddhism and Ecology summit last spring, he asked the audience to get intimate with their immediate surroundings. He described the contours and details of his own backyard and what he was learning from watching and connecting with this space—with the ants and the woodpeckers.
“The more you can develop an intimacy—meaning a nondualistic relationship to the natural world that you are and that is around you—the more at ease you can be as an earthling; the more wise you can be as a son or daughter or being of the earth,” Ward said.
Your setting, whether it’s outside in the backyard or inside in the zendo, can be a powerful means to awaken a sense of both awe and comfort if you consider it with mindful attention.
This week’s Three Teachings reminds us how sacred our physical surroundings are if we allow them to be, and what we can learn from taking it all in. | 
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