Earth Treasure Vase

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Earth Treasure Vase

What if our actions really made a difference, carrying peace and stewardship into all corners of our world?

The Earth Treasure Vase Global Healing Project began 20
years ago when we posed a simple question to a 106-year-
old lama living in a cave in Nepal:

What can we do to bring healing and protection to the Earth? His answer led us deeply into the world to engage the complex challenges we face today as global citizens through a practice uniquely suited for our times. With roots reaching far back i

nto the past, this practice is now facilitating the emergence of a vibrant, global community bringing healing, protection and renewal to the Earth and all beings. Originally, we were given 30 Earth Treasure Vases from the ancient
Tibetan tradition, and instructed to bring these consecrated clay vessels
into community and fill them with our prayers and sacred offerings. We
do so every full moon when our prayers and intentions are multiplied a
thousand-fold, based on Buddhist tradition. Then, each Earth Treasure Vase is carried in pilgrimage to those
very places on the planet most needing protection and healing. In
collaboration with indigenous elders, young activists, NGOs, spiritual
leaders, healers, peacemakers, and others, we ceremonially seal and bury
each vase. After, the ETV project continues to water and tend the seeds
that have been planted, working with our partners on the ground to meet
the concrete needs rising out of the community’s deepest prayers. Transforming disconnection and despair into agency and inspired action,
the Earth Treasure Vase Project empowers people to engage and respond
to what is most needed in our communities; to connect and collaborate
across differences, divides and historical wounds; and to powerfully steward our communities to healing, peace, and restoration. The ETV project is a breakthrough response, meeting the need for
inclusive, visionary containers to bring about and sustain both personal and collective transformation. Attending to the root, rather than the innumerable symptoms, the project offers a vital form of community building, activism, and leadership that honors the sovereignty of all beings and the spiritual and cultural infrastructure at the heart of our communities.

09/04/2026

Dear Friends,

The Emerging Leader Program is now underway and we are excited to be exploring new directions for Alliance for the Earth and the Gaia Mandala Global Healing Community! We are so grateful for your ongoing engagement and want to thank each of you who have come forward to support us in this new path forward.

There are still a few more hurdles to bridge the gap between here and there. We still need to raise $3,500 to cover the remaining costs of the upcoming pilgrimage to Nepal that is at the heart of this six-month program.

We are humbly asking for your help in meeting our goal of raising $3,500 to ensure that every participant can fully experience the Nepal pilgrimage—without financial barriers.

Five remarkable young adults have committed themselves to months of spiritual practice, study, community, and preparation for this life-changing pilgrimage to Nepal. They have answered a profound call to become compassionate leaders and stewards of our Earth and we are ready to engage the next generation in the work of global healing and collective awakening.

This journey is much more than travel. Walking these sacred lands, learning from respected teachers and local communities, and experiencing the birthplace of our practice will shape these young leaders in ways that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

Can you help us reach this next milestone?

When you give to the Young Adults Program Fund (YAP Fund), you are investing in the next generation of leaders who will carry forward the work of healing, compassion, and care for our planet.

Every gift brings us closer to our goal. Whether you contribute $25, $100, $250, $500, or any amount that feels right, your generosity helps us to fulfill the promise of this extraordinary opportunity.

In helping these five young adults to fulfill their pilgrimage of a lifetime you will travel with them on the path in the highest mountains on Earth. Your support is a gift beyond measure. Thank you for believing in these emerging leaders and supporting their journey!

If you can help, please donate here: https://givebutter.com/yap-fund Thank you!❤️

Pictured:
Top: Keiko, Atlanta, GA; Andrew, Catskill Mountains, NY
Middle: Flor, Taos, NM; Aoife, Ireland.
Bottom: Seth, Kalamazoo, MI

09/02/2026

🔹The Nature of Interbeing Retreat🔹
in-person at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico
with Cynthia Jurs and Rick Jansen
May 23-28, 2027

Our in person retreat at Ghost Ranch Retreat is now under a year away! Details of the retreat will be coming soon. But you can count on slowing down through mindfulness, with time and space to share from the heart, along with dharma talks to inspire and spark reflection, and embodiment and creative practices to express ourselves. Mostly we will give ample time to come home deeply to ourselves and to our beloved Mother Earth—the nature of our interbeing!

Please let us know if you’re interested here: https://gaiamandala.net/interested-sublime-mother-gaia-may-2027-ghost-ranch-new-mexico/?mc_cid=8d4dea194a&mc_eid=bd3ccad291

08/31/2026

Remembering Walter Nelson (1942-2026)

From Cynthia:
Beloved friend, deep soul, phenomenal photographer, one of a kind acclaimed artist, wonderful wild man with a very dear heart, Walter Nelson will be deeply missed.

I came to know Walter in the early 1990s around a poker table in Oaxaca, Mexico. Back in Santa Fe, we started meeting when he told me he wanted to learn to meditate. The practice of mindfulness was life changing for Walter and helped him overcome addiction and find inner peace. He traveled to meet Thich Nhat Hanh in Plum Village, France, and for thirty years he was a devoted student who participated in the activities of the Open Way Sangha and Gaia Mandala community. He was a dear friend to me and my husband, Hugh.

Walter lived in a humble adobe casita in Abiquiu, made art every day until the very end, and on his last day, went out for a walk with his beloved dog Sierra, by his side. He fell to the ground on the path to the Chama River outside his door and was found a few hours later by his neighbor, with his hands folded over his heart and his dog by his side, surrounded by the wild beauty of the land he loved.

Walter was an adventuring landscape photographer, who carried an 8’x10' format Deardorff camera attached to a tripod across his shoulder out onto the land. With his great friend, Douglas Preston, he made an epic journey on horseback across 1000 miles of desert and wilderness following the trail of the first European explorer in the American Southwest, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado. Doug’s incredible 1992 book, Cities of Gold, documents this expedition. A book of Walter’s photographs from that time is forthcoming.

Walter also traveled in Mexico, Europe and Australia and visited wild lands all over the Southwest photographing, painting, sculpting and making shrines to his red heeler named Darwin Augustus Perth. Behind Walter in the photo taken by Cynthia, the flat topped mountain, Pedernal, can be seen. This is where Darwin’s ashes were taken and Walter’s will be too. Walter created the mandala in the photo from earths he gathered and ground to a fine powder. He placed it near where one of the first four Earth Treasure Vases is buried.

We will miss you in our meditations, Walter. Sitting next to you in the Cerro Gordo Temple or online when you heroically showed up to practice with us that way (even though you did not like being on the computer) was a gift. I will never forget you calling to say, Hello, darlin’, in your Texas twang. May you find new trails, new paths, new horizons now. And may your spirit fly free “on the wings of a raven”. https://www.walterwnelson.com

08/28/2026

In response to the devastating flood that has ripped through the Himalayas from Tibet to Nepal, we recognize the power of Mother Earth to restore balance to Nature, even if it takes moving mountains and rivers to do so. It is time we pay attention to Her many forces and powers: forces of beauty and restoration and forces of violent destruction.

This poem entitled, "Earth Addresses Humanity" by Danielle Coffyn speaks to this: “No one believes a woman in pain, so I speak in the language you claim to believe—facts over feelings. I give you wildfire, fever, silent ocean, melting glacier. Evidence impossible to deny to anyone paying attention.”

May this short meditation be helpful to you at this time. Along with the following visualization and mantra, please use your breath to practice Tonglen if you know it.

Visualize the Sanskrit seed syllable for the Earth element, BHRUM (or LAM) in one’s heart, shining with a golden light. As you sound the syllable, the whole Earth—Mother Gaia—arises. Imagine Her mantra spinning around the Earth within your heart as a prayer, radiating light in every direction and bringing relief from suffering of every kind in all directions all around the entire planet. See the light entering the Earth’s songlines and meridians, flowing throughout the body of the Sublime Mother Gaia, restoring balance and harmony and bringing protection and healing where ever it is called for in whatever form is needed. Visualizing this, recite or sing the mantra: OM GAIA MANDALA SIDDHI PHALA BHRUM AH

Photo credit: Katie Teague

08/27/2026

Thank you dear Dolly Parton ❤️

08/26/2026

Dear Friends,

We find ourselves in a particularly potent passage of the year. The August Full Moon, arriving on August 28th, is also a lunar eclipse in Pisces, following closely on the heels of the August 12th solar eclipse in Leo. The Leo-Pisces axis invites us into a powerful dance between the individual heart and the greater whole, between the courage to bring our gifts forward and the willingness to let them become part of something larger than ourselves. Eclipses can mark thresholds, moments when something new is asking to emerge while we are also invited to release what no longer belongs.

This month we return to the sacred heart of our work with the Earth Treasure Vase mandala. We are honored to share the story of the vase dedicated to WiseUSA, along with the beautiful blessings recently offered by the Drepung monks for the whole Gaia Mandala of Earth Treasure Vases. These moments remind us that what we are tending together is something living, shaped through prayer, relationship, dedication, and the participation of people around the world.

Our August 27th Full Moon Gathering will be dedicated to the WiseUSA vase, giving us an opportunity to come together in its presence and honor the intentions it carries.

A sense of emergence is also very much alive in our Emerging Leaders Program, which is now fully underway. A remarkable group of young adults is deepening their practice, their connection with one another, and their preparation for what lies ahead. There is something powerful about watching a new generation find its way, listening, questioning, practicing, and discovering what it means to show up for the Earth in their own way.

This month, Rick is currently in the Brazilian Amazon, continuing to nurture the relationships and connections that are part of this ever-growing mandala. We look forward to sharing more from his journey in our September Full Moon newsletter. We have shifted the time of our September Full Moon call so that Rick can join us and share updates from Brazil. The September Full Moon Call will now take place at 10am PDT / 11am MDT / 1pm EDT / 7pm CEST.

As we gather beneath this month’s eclipsed Full Moon, may we allow ourselves to feel the threshold we are standing in. May we have the courage to bring what is emerging within us into the world, while remaining open to where that emergence wants to take us. May we remember that we do not have to know exactly where we are going in order to take the next step. And may our collective intentions continue to strengthen the living field of healing, peace, and awakening for the Earth and for all beings.

Join us on the full moon of August 27th at 10am PDT / 11am MDT / 1pm EDT / 7pm CEST

The call information will be sent upon registration. A recording of the live call will be sent out to all who register. Note: You do not need to register again if you have already registered previously.

Register here: https://mailchi.mp/earthtreasurevase/full-moon-global-healing-meditation?mc_cid=f61dc2c033&mc_eid=bd3ccad291

08/25/2026

Ceremony for the Gaia Mandala with the Drepung Loseling Monks

In August, a group of monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery in Atlanta, were in Santa Fe to create several sand mandalas and give teachings and blessings. Cynthia invited them to come to do a special puja (ceremony) to bless and offer protection for the Earth Treasure Vase Gaia Mandala.

These monks are from the same Monastery as the monks who were in Santa Fe when the Earth Treasure Vase Mandala began back in the early 1990s. It was a full circle!

Now that the ETV global mandala is nearing completion, with 69 ETVs in the ground, 23 vases dedicated and in process, and 16 being made this October in Nepal to bring our total number to 108, it is an understatement to say it felt very good to do this puja.

Additionally, with many vases going to troubled parts of the world—like Ukraine, Palestine, Afghanistan, Russia, Hungary, Colombia, Chile, India…and the Earth Herself so distressed in these times, we were very grateful for the strong prayers offered by these monks for the protection of the Gaia Mandala and the fulfillment of all the vases still in process, that all our prayers may be realized and offerings be received.

Please enjoy the video and audio recording of their chanting, which is very healing to listen to. As you listen, we invite you to please contribute your prayers and intentions for the protection of the Gaia Mandala and the accomplishment of all the Earth Treasure Vases, by directing your heartfelt visualization for this purpose. Thank you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dErkbkb26tk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4C7aP6Z6Eg

May the goodness we have generated over the years of cultivating our practice of global healing through the Earth Treasure Vases, radiate out in every direction around the whole Earth to bring benefit to all beings, restore harmony and balance, peace and healing in all the ways that are called for now. With thanks to all of our teachers, guides, ancestors, elders, and the many activists and vase stewards who have helped to plant the vases in the web of life on Earth and become part of our Gaia Mandala Global Healing Community.

If you would like to learn more about the Drepung Loseling Monastery and support their Educational Fund you may do so here: www.drepung.org

08/24/2026

WISEUSA Vase Update
By Dr Leslie Meehan

I’ve been grateful and blessed to be part of the ETV sangha for many years now, burying vases in ceremonial circles and making pilgrimages to burial sites. This beloved community practice is extraordinarily meaningful in my life: the most profound experience I’ve ever had of “interbeing” with earth, her indigenous stewards of many cultures, and her multitudes of finned, winged, legged, and rooted creatures.

A few years ago, I crafted the WiseUSA West vase under the guidance of Tewa elder and master potter Marian Naranjo, in a circle of dear friends at Ghost Ranch. The week-long ceremony weaving Tewa and Tibetan medicine together was especially powerful medicine for me while grieving my father’s recent death. I experienced a transformative shift to a new relationship with my dad as an ancestral elder. His spirit walks with me and the vase today.

The vase originally seemed meant for the California coast, yet this vision did not resonate over time. Instead, the vase began to resonate with the transpartisan WiseUSA ceremonial circles I’ve co-hosted since 2008 to pray for wisdom, joy, and compassion in the USA and for peace on earth. WiseUSA circles started sensing the vase as the “WiseUSA West” vase, aligning closely with the “WiseUSA Central” vase in the Kansas prairielands and the “WiseUSA East” vase in Washington DC. A core group became the WiseUSA West ETV co-steward circle, gathering regularly online and in-person around California and Santa Fe: Liza Jane Alexander, Laurelyn Baker, Tricia Dolkas, Louise Green, Judith Tripp, and Kat VanHammen. Beloved community supporters include Roger Sanford, the Ghost Ranch ETV steward circle, Cynthia Jurs, David Nicol, and David Todd.

WiseUSA West vase’s mission is stewardship and protection of water and land in California. The vase has led us on “walkabout” journeys through the Sierras, dowsing for its earth home. It’s soon to be buried in a high altitude Sierras watershed, either near the source of the Tuolumne River (in Yosemite) or the Stanislaus River (Gold Rush Country). These are the unceded lands of the Miwuk people. These sacred rivers flow thousands of altitude feet down for hundreds of miles through the Sierra foothills to the San Joaquin River. They bring the water of life to the Central Valley food source for millions of people around the world. The San Joaquin river flows through Sacramento, the seat of California’s democracy, the fourth largest economy in the world. The waters then flow through the Sacramento Delta, into the San Francisco Bay by Silicon Valley, and out to the Pacific Ocean.

The WiseUSA ETV West and East vases connect the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, connecting the “stream" of vases beaming healing power around the waters and lands of the USA. The Sierras are part of the Cordillera Range from the Arctic to the Antarctic, connecting the “spine” of mountain vases stewarding lands and waters of the world. This vase is powering up to join the entire ETV global mandala medicine wheel of healing and protection around the USA, as a vital force in world peace.
The WiseUSA West vase’s mission is inspired by the WiseUSA prayer. May this vase weave wisdom, joy, and compassion in all of us, as sacred vessels dreaming the wonderful future we know is possible for ourselves and our great-great-grandchildren of all species.

08/21/2026

“In meditation, we open to the light of universal love and compassion that goes beyond polarity and fear and guides us on the path of awakening. Gaia is calling us to meet this moment for the sake of all life.” ~ cynthia jurs

08/19/2026

LONELINESS by Mary Oliver

I too have known loneliness

I too have known what it is to feel misunderstood rejected, and suddenly not at all beautiful.

Oh, Mother earth, your comfort is great, your arms never withhold.

It has saved my life to know this.

Your rivers flowing, your roses opening in the morning.

Oh motions of tenderness!

Address

Abiquiu, NM

Website

http://www.GaiaMandala.net/

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