Prayer (After Shantideva)

 Prayer ( after Shantideva) 
 
May all beings everywhere
Plagued by sufferings of body and mind,
Obtain an ocean of happiness and joy
And may I assist and not hinder.

May no living creature suffer,
Commit evil or fall ill.
May no one be afraid or belittled,
With a mind weighed down by depression.

May the blind see forms
And the deaf hear sounds.
May those whose bodies are worn down
Be restored on finding repose.

May the naked find clothing
The hungry find food
May the thirsty find water
Clean and abundant.

May the poor find wealth,
Those weak with sorrow find joy;
May the hopeless find hope,
Constant happiness and prosperity.

May there be timely rains
And bountiful harvests;
May medicines be effective
And wholesome prayers bear fruit.

May all who are sick and ill
Be freed from their ailments.
Whatever diseases are in the world
May they never occur again.

May the frightened cease to be afraid
And those bound be freed;
May the powerless find power
And the people benefit one another.

For as long as space remains,
For as long as sentient beings remain,
Until then may I too remain
Dispelling the miseries of the world. 

Nowhere is there anything hidden

 

From the hut window, I spotted a Cooper's hawk diving into the alley. It reappeared, settling on a power line, holding a stunned garter snake. A scrub jay flew over, parked within a couple of feet of the hawk, and clearly was talking to it, bobbing obsequiously, as much as to say, "you gonna eat all of that?" The hawk, seemingly a bit miffed, lifted its wings and made off to a distant walnut tree to eat in peace.

I gave the scene a little gassho.

What was that?

Sometimes we are the hawk; sometimes we are the scrub jay, and sometimes we are the snake.  Sometimes we are the suddenly snakeless grass. 

There is much to bow to.

When we gassho, one hand is us and the other is ... the other person, the thought we just had, that fleeting feeling, that old familiar pain, the mountain, the river, the hawk, the snake, the jay, the grass, leafless walnut, strumming wire between power poles, wind, hair falling in front of our eyes, a sudden truth revealed, a vulnerability, an unexpected strength, the altar, the universe. One with, one with, one, one, all, all, unspeakable, hence gestured, a candle flame at the ends of our arms, supporting, accepting, being supported and accepted, vanishing into and becoming all past, present and future support and acceptance. 

Nowhere is there anything hidden from the gassho.

-- shonin