I have been attending Buddhist meditation sessions on and off for the last seven or eight years. Through that time I have gradually learned a little bit about patience, compassion and love for all sentient beings. There is one prayer that we recite to close our session that has had a tremendous impact on me. Why? Well, from the very beginning when I would read it aloud, I would get so choked up that I had to stop and listen to the others in the group finish it. Often I would visualize these things actually occurring and I just could not go on. Then over time, I was actually able to read it aloud.
Even now, after having read it hundreds of times, I still feel it affecting me in very loving ways. Just read it, let it take you to a very nice place...
Dedication Prayer
by His Holiness, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
May all beings everywhere
plagued by sufferings of body and mind,
obtain an ocean of happiness and joy
by virtue of my merits.
May no living creature suffer,
commit evil or ever 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 with toil
Be restored on finding repose.
May the naked find clothing,
the hungry find food.
May the thirsty find water
and delicious drink
May the poor find wealth,
those weak with sorrow find joy.
May the forlorn find hope
constant happiness and prosperity.
May there be timely rains
and bountiful harvests.
May all medicines be effective
and wholesome prayers bear fruit.
May all who are sick and ill
quickly be freed from their ailments.
Whatever diseases there 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 may people everywhere think of benefiting each other.
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4 comments:
Beautiful. I have a feeling it is just for me. Thank you. I shall keep it. j
I believe that His Holiness was quoting or paraphrasing Shantideva in this prayer. It seems that when His Holiness uses Shantideva's teachings, many western people, being unfamiliar with Shantideva's teachings, mistake that for His Holiness' own original teaching.
That is really quite beautiful. I can see why it has such appeal for you. I hope you are having a great day. Blessings...Mary
Ngawang
Thank you for pointing that out; it is news to me! But there it is in the back of my book "A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life" by Shantideva in Chapter 10 That and so much more! Such beautiful writing.
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