The only things you learn are the things you tame.
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery- The Little Prince

Taming the Fudo Myo Within

Dear Subscriber First Name,

When I witnessed the wildfires in Northern California in September 2020 and was subjected with millions of others to unthinkable air quality, ashes falling like snow flakes covering everything, the destruction of entire lives and neighborhoods, the damage to prized redwood forests, and apocalyptic photos of San Francisco’s skyline, my primary emotions were fear, sadness, and grief at all that we were losing. These fires were sparked by dry lightning in San Francisco Bay Area counties. They had many acronymic names such CZU, LNU, SCU and SQF denoting that they started in wild places.
That weather event launched me into adding Climate Engagement to my coaching programs. I also personally engaged time, money and energy into solving the human induced climate crisis. I joined the Climate Coaching Alliance and became a leader in that organization. I started offering a coaching program for people dealing with ecoanxiety, I led and participated in many book circles and other communities of practice (All We Can Save, Active Hope, We Are The Great Turning, just to name a few), - I retrofitted my old house with a heat pump and wrote about it, - I added a (Good Ancestor) Wisdom Walk to my list of walking/coaching offerings to focus specifically on getting insights on “what’s mine to do” for the green transition, and - last year, I joined a teaching team at University of California in Santa Cruz, teaching Climate Resilience.

This is the newsletter that I wrote then. It’s titled “Turning Climate Anxiety into Action”.

Four and a half years later, as I witness the devastating impact of the fires in Los Angeles, my primary emotion is anger.

My inner Fudo Myo is coming out.

In Shingon buddhism, a form of esoteric buddhism, and the buddhism of the 88 temple pilgrimage of Shikoku, Japan, Fudo Myo (Acala in sanskrit) is a wrathful deity that protects buddhism and its followers. He is fierce and scary: usually red in color, with fangs and horns, bulging eyes, carrying a rope on one hand and a sword in the other. He is surrounded by purifying flames that consume the evil in this world. Usually featured on a rock or stone, he is also called the “immovable one”.

In this latest trip to Japan, I have encountered many Fudo Myo statues in the temples I visited. I now relate to this deity within and to its energy of fierceness for protection.

In his book Consolations- The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words, David Whyte writes:

Anger is the deepest form of compassion, for another,
for the world, for the self, for a life, for the body, for a family and for all our ideals, all vulnerable and all, possibly about to be hurt. Stripped of physical imprisonment and violent reaction, anger is the purest form of care, the internal living flame of anger always illuminates what we belong to, what we wish to protect and what we are willing to hazard ourselves for.

The trouble with anger is that it may rise at the wrong time or in the wrong place. In the UC Climate Resilience class, one practice that we teach is about transforming negative emotions into compassion. It’s inspired by Thich Nhat Hanh, the renowned Vietnamese Zen teacher, who wrote a book titled Taming the Tiger Within- Meditations on Transforming Difficult Emotions. The tiger represents anger. The idea is to transform this negative emotion into compassion, using the energy of mindfulness.

As I deal with my inner Fudo Myo, I am applying Thich Nhat Hanh’s wisdom as I attempt to create a relationship with my anger at the world - for not reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, - for continuing to warm up the planet, - for the lack of foresight of local agencies, therefore allowing this catastrophe in Los Angeles to take place and for so many people to be hurt, displaced, traumatized …for years.

If you too are feeling angry, angry at our world, our politicians, corporations, fellow citizens, community, or at yourself for not doing enough, and if your anger is showing up in places where it shouldn’t, as it has for me in the last week, here are the five steps recommended by Thich Nhat Hanh. They are further detailed in the post below.

• Recognize

• Embrace

• Look deeply, investigating the roots of the anger

• Insight

• Transform

Taming is not killing or eliminating. Taming is building a relationship with.

“What must I do, to tame you?" asked the little prince.
"You must be very patient," replied the fox. "First you will sit down at a little distance from me--like that--in the grass. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings. But you will sit a little closer to me, every day . . ."

As the fox instructs the little prince in the famous Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s novel, please be patient with yourself when you work on taming your Fudo Myo.

Warmly,

Anne-Marie
January 19, 2025
(Yesterday, from co2.earth, 425.93 ppm of atmospheric CO2, last year 423.30, safe level 350)

PS: Do not miss reading Anger by David Whyte in its entirety as reproduced below.

Anger by David Whyte (from Consolations)

Resources for Climate Trauma

If you have been directly affected by the LA fires or if you are supporting people in that situation, here are some resources:

• 9 ways to Support a Friend or Colleague Who Lost Their Home to a Fire
  

• Climate Cafes: These listening circles are widely available through the Climate Psychology Alliance and offered by friends at Alma Coaching or Monterey Meditation Studio (this Sunday).

• The Unthinkable is a new website by Dr. Britt Wray, author of Generation Dread- Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Anxiety, with many resources, some specifically targeted to survival of the LA fires.

Please reach out if I can be of help. I will be happy to assist any way I can.