Reciprocity, Gratitude, & Interbeing

“For all of us, becoming indigenous to a place means living as if your children’s future mattered, to take care of the land as if our lives—both material and spiritual—depended on it.”

—Robin Wall Kimmerer

The psychedelic “renaissance” is racing ahead fueled by venture capital on one side and deep ecological crisis on the other. Both Buddhists and Indigenous peoples have long warned that taking without giving back tears the fabric of reality itself. It is therefore no surprise this crisis is occurring when maximizing taking is glorified and repair is neglected.

Their remedy is the same word spoken in many languages, born from a deep-sense of interconnectedness, is reciprocity. For example, kataññū-katavedī (one who reciprocates kindness) in the Pāli Canon and ayni in Quechua.

All phenomena arise in dependence on other phenomena. Nothing can exist by itself. Nothing survives alone. Because of this, it must be understood that every action inevitably rebounds. Reciprocity is simply karmic realism.

In Buddhism, integrity means remembering a benefit (kataññū) and then acting so that the kindness does not go unanswered (katavedī). Accepting help without seeking some appropriate way to give back is considered a moral failure, not just bad manners.

Understanding reciprocity can help us see beyond transactional and instrumental commerce and highlights the immense destruction of relentless and asymmetric extractivism.

Ayni understands the world “in perpetual, dynamic imbalance” that demands constant re-balancing through mutual aid. In the same way, material generosity (dāna) and spiritual teachings circulate together.

Here reciprocity is neither charity nor some notion of offset; it is the continual work of right-relationship between human and more-than-human ecologies.

None of us would be here without the kindness of others. Indigenous teachings remind us who these virtuous persons are: the rivers, the air, the sun, plants & fungi, our grandparents, and all of our non-human kin. If we don’t remember we are all indigenous to Earth—and act accordingly—our beautiful and diverse world will disappear.

At Upāyosis, we honor the profound lineages—both Indigenous and Dharmic—that have made this work possible. In recognition of the interdependence between our healing and the wisdom traditions that inform it, we commit to donating 10% of program proceeds* evenly to organizations and communities stewarding living Buddhist, animist, regenerative, and land-based practices. This act of reciprocity is not charity—it’s an ethical response to historical extraction, a gesture of gratitude, and a vow to help restore what has been systematically displaced. A small attempt to rebalance ourselves through the practice of generosity.

We invite participants to see this as part of their own practice of relational integrity.

This Year’s Recipients

(2025-2026)

Indigenous Reciprocity Initiative of the Americas (IRI)

What they do
Run by the Chacruna Institute, IRI is a pooled-fund that channels unrestricted micro-grants to 20 Indigenous-led, community-designed projects across the United States, Mexico, Central and South America. They are allied with 12 grassroots organizations throughout the Americas. The initiatives range from food-sovereignty gardens in Shipibo territory to Kichwa-managed tree nurseries and Matsigenka audiovisual heritage archives. Funds are divided evenly (minus a modest 7.5 % admin fee) so groups neither compete for attention nor bend to outside agendas.

Why it matters
Much of today’s psychedelic knowledge and plant material comes from these very communities; returning resources is a concrete act of repaying a living debt of wisdom and biodiversity stewardship. Since launching in mid-2021 the program has moved more than US $288 000 directly into grassroots hands, allowing leaders to meet urgent needs (healthcare, climate-induced flooding, COVID response) while advancing long-term cultural and ecological goals.

Learn more & donate.

Amazon Frontlines

What they do
Based in Ecuador but working Amazon-wide, Amazon Frontlines partners with Indigenous nations such as the A’i Kofán, Waorani, and Siekopai to defend land rights, stop industrial extraction, and build Indigenous political power. Their team of lawyers, technologists and forest guardians trains local monitors, litigates precedent-setting cases, and amplifies Indigenous voices on the global stage. The Siekopai people extended a kindness and refuge for me in difficult personal times and shared their profound generational understanding of the forrest with me.

Why it matters
The Amazon is approaching an ecological tipping point; territories under Indigenous stewardship experience up to 50 % less deforestation than neighboring lands. Recent victories—securing legal recognition for more than 600 000 acres of Siekopai ancestral forest and pushing Ecuador’s Constitutional Court to strengthen free, prior and informed consent—show how rights-based strategies protect both culture and climate.

Learn more & donate.