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KARANIYA METTA SUTTA

The path of unlimited friendliness
(a translation of the Pali Karaniya Metta Sutta)

If you know what is truly good for you and you understand the possibility of reaching a state of perfect peace, then this is how you need to live.

Start as a capable person, who is upright - really upright - gently spoken, flexible, and not conceited. Then become contented and happy, with few worries and an uncomplicated life. Make sure your sense experience is calm and controlled, be duly respectful, and don't hanker after families and groups. And avoid doing anything unworthy, that wiser people would criticise.

Then meditate like this: May all beings be happy and secure. May all beings become happy in their heart of hearts! And think of every being without exception: the weak and the strong, from the smallest to the largest, whether you can see them or not, living nearby or far away, beings living now or yet to arise - may all beings become happy in their heart of hearts! May no one deceive or look down on anyone anywhere, for any reason. Whether through feeling angry or through reacting to someone else, may no one want another to suffer. As strongly as a mother, perhaps risking her life, cherishes her child, her only child, develop an unlimited heart for all beings. Develop an unlimited heart of friendliness for the entire universe, sending metta above, below, and all around, beyond all narrowness, beyond all rivalry, beyond all hatred. Whether you are staying in one place or travelling, sitting down or in bed, in all your waking hours rest in this mindfulness, which is known as like living in heaven right here and now!

In this way, you will come to let go of views, be spontaneously ethical, and have perfect insight. And leaving behind craving for sense pleasures, from the rounds of rebirth you will finally be completely free!

Dharmachari Ratnaprabha 1990

Sangharakshita on Ecology

Appreciating Nature
The value of an inaccessible mountain peak, or of a serenely floating cloud, consists in its very valuelessness. It has no relevance to our material needs. We cannot turn the snow-clad peak into a human habitation, neither can we harness the white cloud to any earthly chariot. Nature is most beautiful when most aloof. Perhaps it is because of their sheer irrelevance to the needs of man, their utter indifference to his petty hopes and fears, that upon the face of gigantic mountain ranges, with their dreadful sunlit peaks and terrifyingly precipitous plunges into gloomy gorges, plays the intense and terrible light of a beauty never seen in fields or orchards, or in any other aspects of nature which have been brought in relation with the necessities of human life. Not that fields and orchards are unbeautiful. Formally speaking, they may be no less significant aesthetically than wilder and sterner scenes; but what the tabloid newspapers call `human interest' generally obtrudes itself, like the moon between the earth and the sun in a solar eclipse, so that we see not the brightness of their beauty but only the dark shadow of their utility. For the same reason that he eschews bad art the art-lover would therefore be well advised, at least during the early years of his apprenticeship, to avoid the more domestic kind of natural beauty and to cultivate, instead, appreciation for those aspects of nature which, since they have no connection with ordinary human interests, are most capable of liberating him from the bondage of selfish desires. Egoism is natural to man, and to be overcome only with the utmost difficulty. Only too readily do we stop to pluck the flowers of the world's beauty, instead of wondering and passing on. A mountain, or a starry sky, offers no foothold to our desires. We are left as it were naked in the midst of a great empty space full of sweeping winds. Consequently, our enjoyment of their beauty is of the truly aesthetic order, and a faint anticipation of that intenser enjoyment to be offered us by the still brighter beauty of works of true art.
(Sangharakshita, The Religion of Art)

"We've ceased to feel nature, so we are alienated from nature, and this is the significance to some extent of the whole ecological movement, which is trying to bring back that sensitivity to nature" (Sangharakshita, Seminar on the Conditions of Communal Stability, Wellington, New Zealand, 1979)

the Buddha's feeling for nature
In the early Buddhist scriptures - those, that is, which can be said to reflect the historical circumstances under which the Buddha taught - there is evidence of a very great sensitivity to the natural world. The Buddha himself, as also his immediate disciples, lived close to nature. He was actually born in an orchard - his mother holding on to the branch of a tree. He gained Enlightenment at Bodh Gaya sitting underneath a tree. He died in the sal tree grove of the Mallas, stretched out between two sal trees. And of course he spent much of his time wandering from place to place, from village to village, in the open air.

So Buddhism had its origins in the open air, and this open air background to the scriptures inevitably affected the way the Dharma was taught by the Buddha and experienced by his disciples. For instance, there is a set of verses in the Theragatha (`Verses of the Elders'), attributed to one of the Buddha's senior disciples. In it he describes a cloud - a heavy, black, or rather, dark blue, cloud - and how a white bird flies across the dark cloud. And it seems that the beauty of this sight sends him into a sort of ecstasy.

Scholars have a tendency, perhaps, to overlook this aspect of Buddhism in their intent to present Buddhism as a teaching, sometimes, even, as quite a dry, methodical, analytical teaching. But if you look at the life of the Buddha, the life of his close companions, you see the natural world very much there in their lives, in their practice of the Dharma. And there is therefore a close connection, I would say, between early Buddhism and the natural environment.

... So it does seem that the Buddha himself was not just conscious of the natural environment but felt deep sympathy with it. The Buddhist scriptures are full of references to nature spirits - spirits of the trees, spirits of the ponds, spirits of the streams, even spirits of flowers. There's a story in one of the scriptures of a monk who goes and smells a lotus flower growing in the water, and the spirit of the flower comes out and says `Why are you stealing my scent?' - which obviously gives the monk something to think about. In future he won't thoughtlessly take from nature without asking permission in some way. He won't even think to smell a lotus flower without the flower's permission. After all, it isn't his scent - it's the flower's scent.

This does, perhaps, convey to us some kind of environmentalist message about the way we exploit nature. The idea that we shouldn't so much as smell a flower without seeking the flower's permission might seem a bit sentimental, but there is a philosophy underlying it which has some quite far-reaching implications for us today. And this is that there can be a sort of imaginative identification between man and nature.
(Sangharakshita, In the Realm of the Lotus pp 48-50)

Practice
"As Buddhists we are meant, we are urged to direct metta towards all living beings. That doesn't just mean all human beings, it means all animals, insects, plants, birds, beasts of every kind. So this is the basis, we may say, of our ecological concern as Buddhists: we wish well towards all living beings." (The Next Twenty Years, WBO Day 1988)

"It is not that you just sit on your meditation mat radiating metta towards the world but keeping well out of the way of the world. It is that metta enters into your action and expresses itself in terms of non-violent action for the benefit of others." (Questions and Answers, Guhyaloka, 1988)

"We are being warned that certain natural resources are finite and that we are using them all up at an alarming rate; more often then not, not only using them up at an alarming rate but using them in a most wasteful fashion. So Buddhists, those who try to follow the Dharma, should be very aware of this and should try to use everything of natural origin very carefully indeed... The same principle applies to our use of the natural environment: we shouldn't destroy it or spoil it in any way, as, for instance, through pollution." (Nature, Man and Enlightenment, 1976)

"Observance of the First Precept will, in fact, naturally result...in one's feeling concern for the environment" (The Ten Pillars of Buddhism, 1984)

Interconnectedness
If one thinks of matter in terms of energy, one can think of living beings in terms of consciousness as well as energy, and of self?conscious beings in terms of volition as well as consciousness and energy. In this sense, the whole universe can be considered as consisting of life or energy that coagulates into more or less separate forms of conscious life. It is as if the whole of life is a stream within which more concentrated currents flow.

So in building up a mental picture of the nature of the universe we should think neither in terms of mutually exclusive interlocking parts, nor of a sort of undifferentiated mass; the reality is somewhere in between. We are separate from each other and from the world, but there isn't a hard and fast division between us. What I think of as me and what you think of as you is in each case the centre of a particular coagulation of the common stream of life. It is difficult to tell where 'I' come to an end and 'you' begin. We shade into each other. It is because of this that we can have a sense - a real sense as opposed to an idea - of other forms of life.
Sangharakshita: from 'Know Your Mind' pp.89-91

Further Action
"I think as a movement, especially as an Order, we need to take a much stronger stand on issues of this sort - perhaps play a more active part, at least in our individual capacities, in the environmental movement. After all, this is completely in accordance with the principles of Buddhism.... In the course of the next twenty years, I would like to see our movement, I would like to see the Order, developing what I describe as a sort of ecological dimension. I would like to see some Order Members taking up this particular interest, and working in this particular field, from the basis of their Buddhist commitment, working perhaps even in some cases along with non-Buddhists who share this sort of concern, this sort of commitment, because it is something of very, very basic importance." (The Next Twenty Years, WBO Day 1988)

"I feel quite strongly that this is something that the FWBO needs to look into and to take even an active part in. I think this is one of the clearest issues in which we can involve ourselves...the general ecological issue." (Seminar on the Precepts of the Gurus, 1979)

Readings on Buddhism and the Natural World

collated by Lokabandhu from various sources

Whatever beings are assembled here,
Whether of the earth or air,
May you all be happy.
Please listen now to what I say:
Please send your metta, day and night,
Toward the human race,
On whose behalf we make this offering.
Please give us your protection
- We are your friends.
And all you fleshly beings and spirits,
Gather round,
Let us together salute the Buddha!
The Tathagata is honoured by Gods and men.
May there be peace!
the ratana sutta

Let him not destroy, or cause to be destroyed, any life at all, nor sanction the acts of those who do so. Let him refrain from even hurting any creature, both those that are strong and those that tremble in the world."
Sutta-Nipata.

He who, seeking his own happiness, punishes or kills beings who also long for happiness, will not find happiness after death.
Dhammapada

Karaniya Metta Sutta
This must be done by one who kens his good
Who grasps the meaning of the Place of Peace:

Able and upright, yea, and truly straight,
Soft-spoken and mild mannered must he be,
And void of all the vain conceit of self.

He should be well content, soon satisfied,
With wants but few, of frugal appetites,
Of faculties of sense restrained and stilled,
Discrete in all his ways, not insolent,
Nor greedy after gifts.
Nor should he do any ignoble act,
Which other men, wiser,
Beholding might rebuke him or.

Now, may all living beings,
Or weak or strong,
Omitting none: tall, middle-sized or short,
Subtle or gross of form,
Seen or unseen,
Those dwelling near or far away,
Born or unborn,
May every living thing abound in Bliss.
Let none deceive or think scorn of another,
In whatever way,
But as a mother watches o'er her child,
Her only child, so long as she doth breathe,
So let him practise unto all that live
An all embracing mind.

And let a man practise unbounded love for all the world,
Above, below, across, in every way,
Love unobstructed, void of enmity.
Standing or moving, sitting, lying down,
In whatsoever way that man may be,
Provided he be slothless,
Let him found firmly this mindfulness of boundless love.

For this is what men call 'The State Sublime'.
So shall a man, by leaving far behind all wrongful views,
By walking righteously,
Attain to gnostic vision,
And crush out all lust for sensual pleasure.
Such in truth shall come to birth no more in any womb.
(translated by Sangharakshita)

In Praise of Places for Meditation
'These regions are delightful to my heart
Where the Kareri creeper spreads its flower wreaths,
When sound the trumpet-calls of elephants.
These rocky heights delight my heart.

'These rocks with hue of dark-blue clouds
Where streams are flowing, cool and crystal-clear,
With glow-worms covered, shining-bright,
These rocky heights delight my heart.

'Like towering peaks of dark-blue clouds,
Like splendid edifices are these rocks,
Where the birds' sweet voices fill the air,
These rocky heights delight my heart.

'With glades refreshed by cooling rain,
Resounding with the calls of crested birds,
The cliffs resorted to by seers,
These rocky heights delight my heart.

'Here is enough for me who, resolute,
Desires to meditate in solitude,
Here is enough for me, a monk determined,
Who seeks to dwell in the highest goals' attainment.

'Here is enough for me who, resolute,
Desires to live in happy ease and free.
Here is enough for me who is on effort bent,
Devoted to the practice as a monk determined.

'Like dark-blue blooms of flax they are,
Like autumn sky with dark-blue clouds,
With flocks of many kinds of birds,
These rocky heights delight my heart.

'No crowds of lay-folk have these rocks,
But visited by herds of deer.
With flocks of many kinds of birds,
These rocky heights delight my heart.

'Wide gorges are there where clear water flows,
Haunted by monkeys and by deer,
With mossy carpets covered, moist,
These rocky heights delight my heart.

'No music with five instruments
Can gladden me so much
As when, with mind collected well,
Right Insight into Dharma dawns.'
Maha Kasyapa, from 'The Theragatha'

recycling in the monastic sangha

When Samavati, the queen-consort of King Udena, offered Ananda 500 garments, Ananda received them with great satisfaction. The king, hearing of it, suspected Ananda of dishonesty and asked what he would do with the garments.

Ananda replied, "Many of the brothers are in rags, I am going to distribute the garments among them."
"What will you do with the old garments?"
"We will make bed-covers out of them."
"What will you do with the old bed-covers?"
"We will make pillow-cases."
"What will you do with the old pillow-cases?"
"We will make floor-covers out of them."
"What will you do with the old floor-covers?"
"We will make foot-towels out of them."
"What will you do with the old foot-towels?"
"We will use them for floor-mops."
"What will you do with the old mops?"
"Your highness, we will tear them into pieces, mix them with mud, and use the mud to plaster the house walls."
from the Dhammapada Attakatha 1 (commentary to the Dhammapada)

Buddhist nature poetry

a haiku on meditation
body like a mountain
heart like the ocean
mind like the sky...
source unknown

The human body, at peace with itself,
Is more precious than the rarest gem.
Cherish your body, it is yours this one time only.
The human form is won with difficulty,
It is easy to lose.
All worldly things are brief,
Like lightning in the sky;
This life you must know
As the tiny splash of a raindrop;
A thing of beauty that disappears
Even as it comes into being.
Therefore set your goal
Make use of every day and night
To achieve it
Tsongkapa:

from the Zenrin
Nothing whatever is hidden;
From of old, all is clear as daylight.

The old pine tree speaks divine wisdom;
The secret bird manifests eternal truth.

There is no place to seek the mind;
It is like the footprints of the birds in the sky.

Sitting quietly, doing nothing,
Spring comes, and the grass grows by itself.

The water before, and the water after,
Now and forever flowing, follow each other.

If you do not get it from yourself,
Where will you go for it?

If you wish to know the road up the mountain,
You must ask the man who goes back and forth on it.

Falling mist flies together with the wild ducks;
The waters of autumn are of one colour with the sky.

If you don't believe, just look at September, look at October!
The yellow leaves falling, falling, to fill both mountain and river.

The wild geese do not intend to cast their reflection;
The water has no mind to receive their image.

Scoop up the water and the moon is in your hands;
Hold the flowers and your clothes are scented with them.

Mountains and rivers, the whole earth, -
All manifest forth the essence of being.

The voice of the mountain torrent is
from one great tongue;

The lines of the hills, are they not the
Pure Body of Buddha?

Wind subsiding, the flowers still fall;
Bird crying, the mountain silence deepens.

To save life it must be destroyed.
When utterly destroyed, one dwells for the first time in peace.

Taking up one blade of grass,
Use it as a sixteen-foot golden Buddha.

Perceiving the sun in the midst of the rain;
Ladling out clear water from the depths of the fire.

Ride your horse along the edge of a sword;
Hide yourself in the middle of the flames.

If you meet an enlightened man in the street,
Do not greet him with words, nor with silence.

Entering the forest he moves not the grass;
Entering the water he makes not a ripple.

Meeting, they laugh and laugh -
The forest grove, the many fallen leaves!

We sleep with both legs outstretched,
Free of the true, free of the false.

For long years a bird in a cage,
Today, flying along with the clouds.
(quoted in the 'Gospel According to Zen')

Meditations on the ways of impermanence

On the golden mountains far in the distance,
Rings of mist hang like belts on the meadows.
Now seemingly solid, so soon they dissolve.
My mind turns to thoughts of my death.

In spring, the season of warmth and growth,
The stalks of the crops were turquoise green.
Now, autumn's end, the fields lie naked and parched.
My mind turns to thoughts of my death.

On each branch of the trees in my garden
Hang clusters of fruit, swelling and ripe.
In the end, not one piece will remain.
My mind turns to thoughts of my death.

Grey clouds cover the sky, obscuring it;
The first drops of rain are about to fall,
To be scattered everywhere by the dark, red wind.
My mind turns to thoughts of my death.

In the belly of the vast plateau below me,
The camp fires of visiting traders glow like stars;
But tomorrow they depart, leaving only refuse.
My mind turns to thoughts of my death.

High above, turquoise dragons roared in harmony;
Around me, cuckoo birds chattered sweetly.
But times have changed; where are they now?
My mind turns to thoughts of my death.

Look and ask among the people of your land
For anyone even a hundred years old.
You will be lucky to find even one!
Do you not think your own death certain?

If you look closely at and contemplate deeply
The people and things that appear around you,
You can see that all are in constant flux.
Everything becomes the teacher of impermanence.

If you create nothing but negative karma,
You will stand naked of instincts to benefit the hereafter.
Where will you go after death?
The mere thought of it makes you flinch.

In order to die well, with the joy and confidence
Of being within the white rays of spiritual awareness,
It is essential to begin readying yourself now.
Familiarise yourself with the profundities of the sutras and tantras.

By this song may those like me,
Irreligious people little better than savages,
Be caught in the flames of renunciation.
May they evolve in spirit
And may they attain liberation.
by Gyalwa Kalzang Gyatso, the Seventh Dalai Lama

The colophon:
Verses for meditation
on the ways of death
and impermanence;
to inspire the minds
of myself and others.

Manjusri's Summation

Thereupon the Blessed Lord, sitting upon his throne in the midst of the Tathagatas and highest Bodhisattva Mahasattvas from all the Buddha-lands, manifested his transcendent glory surpassing them all. From his hands and feet radiated supernal beams of light that rested upon the crowns of each Tathagata, Bodhisattva Mahasattva and prince of Lord of Dharma in all the ten quarters of the universe. In all the ten quarters of the universe went forth rays of glorious brightness that converged upon the crown of the Lord Buddha and upon the crowns of all the Tathagatas, Bodhisattva Mahasattvas and Arahats present at the Assembly. At the same time all the trees of the Jeta Park and all the waves lapping on the shores of it's lakes were singing the music of the Dharma, and all the intersecting rays of brightness were like a net of splendour set with jewels and overarching them all. Such a sight had never been imagined and held them all in silence and awe. Unwittingly they passed into the blissful peace of the Diamond Samadhi and upon them all there fell like a gentle rain the soft petals of many different coloured lotus blossoms: blue and crimson, yellow and white, all blending together and being reflected into the open space of heaven in all the tints of the spectrum. Moreover, all the differentiations of mountains and seas and rivers and forests of the Saha world blended into one another and faded away leaving only the flower adorned unity of the primal cosmos, not dead and inert, but alive with rhythmic life and light, vibrant with transcendental sounds of songs and rhymes, melodiously rising and falling and then fading away into silence.
(from the Surangama Sutta)

Prajnaparamita

As stars, a fault of vision, as a lamp
A mock show, dew drops, or a bubble,
A dream, a lightening flash, or a cloud,
So we should view what is conditioned.

This body is inert like the earth,
This body is selfless like water
This body is impersonal like the wind
This body is non-substantial like space
This body is unreal, being a collocation of the four elements
It is void, indefinable, mysterious.

Pratitya-Samutpada

All these things arise dependently, from causes,
Yet they are neither existent nor nonexistent.
Therein is neither ego, nor experiencer, nor doer,
Yet no action, good or evil, loses its effects.
Such is your teaching.
from the Vimalakirti-Nirdesa

from the Flower-Ornament sutra, vol 3 (the Gandavyuuha) p.388

In a single atom,
Buddhas as many as atoms,
Sit in the midst of Bodhisattvas.
So it is of all things in the cosmos -
I realise all are filled with Buddhas.

from the Flower-Ornament sutra, vol 3 (the Gandavyuha) p. p390

I will traverse the paths of the world
Free from compulsion, affliction, and delusion
Like a lotus unstained by water,
Like the sun and moon unattached in the sky.

The lofty vows of Enlightenment practice,
Of the Buddhas of past, present and future,
May I fulfil completely,
Practice what is good,
And realise Enlightenment.

As long as the earth exists,
As long as all beings exist,
As long as acts and afflictions exist,
So long may my vow remain.

You ask me why...
"You ask me why I entered the mountain deep and cold,
Awesome, surrounded by steep peaks and grotesque rocks,
A place that is painful to climb and difficult to descend,
Wherein reside the gods of the mountain and the spirits of trees.

"Have you not seen, O have you not seen,
The peach and plum blossoms in the royal garden?
They must be in full bloom, pink and fragrant,
Now opening in the April showers, now falling in the spring gales;
Flying high and low, all over the garden the petals scatter.
Some sprigs may be plucked by the strolling spring maidens,
And the flying petals picked by the flittering spring orioles.

"Have you not seen, O have you not seen,
The water gushing up in the divine spring of the garden?
No sooner does it arise than it flows away forever:
Thousands of shining lines flow as they come forth,
Flowing, flowing, flowing into an unfathomable abyss;
Turning, whirling again, they flow on forever,
And no one knows where they will stop.

"Have you not seen, O have you not seen,
That billions have lived in China, in Japan,
None have been immortal, from time immemorial:
Ancient sage kings or tyrants, good subjects or bad,
Fair ladies and homely - who could enjoy eternal youth?
Noble men and lowly alike, without exception, die away;
They all have died, reduced to dust and ashes;
The singing halls and dancing stages have become the abodes of foxes.
Transient as dreams, bubbles or lightening, all are perpetual travelers.

"Have you not seen, O have you not seen,
This has been man's fate, how can you alone live forever?
Thinking of this, my heart always feels torn;
You, too, are like the sun going down behind the western mountains,
Or a living corpse whose span of life is nearly over.
Futile would be my stay in the capital;
Away, away, I must go, I must not stay there.
Release me, for I shall be master of the great void;
A child of Shingon must not stay there.

"I have never tired of watching the pine trees and the rocks at Mount Koya;
The limpid stream of the mountain is the source of my inexhaustible joy.
Discard pride in earthly gains;
Do not be scorched in the burning house, the triple world!
Discipline in the woods alone lets us soon enter the eternal Realm."
Kukai, written in a letter to a nobleman in Kyoto

The rain has stopped, the clouds have drifted away,
and the weather is clear again.
If your heart is pure, then all things in your world are pure.
Abandon this fleeting world, abandon yourself,
Then the moon and flowers will guide you along the Way
Ryokan

Buddha Law
shining
in leaf dew
Issa

The man whose mind is rounded out to perfectionKnows full wellTruth is not cut in halfAnd things do not exist apart from the mind.
In the great Assembly of the Lotus all are present
Without divisions.
Grass, trees, the soil on which these grow
All have the same kinds of atoms.
Some are barely in motion
While others make haste along the path, but they will all in time
Reach the Precious Island of Nirvana.
Who can really maintain
That things inanimate lack Buddhahood?
Chan-Jan

You ask why I perchon a jade green mountain?I laughbut say nothingmy heartfreelike a peach blossomin the flowing stream
going by
in the depths
in another world
not among men.
Li Po

do not clutter your mind
The spring flowers, the autumn moon,
Summer breeze, winter snow.
If useless things do not clutter your mind
You have the best days of your life.
(source unknown)

Dharma Wondrous Strange
Eh Ma Oh !
Dharma Wondrous Strange !
Profoundest Mystery of the Perfect Ones.
Within the Birthless, all things take their birth,
Yet in that birth, nothing is borne.

Eh Ma Oh !
Dharma Wondrous Strange !
Profoundest Mystery of the Perfect Ones.
Within the Ceaseless, all things cease to be
Yet in that ceasing, nothing ceases.

Eh Ma Oh !
Dharma Wondrous Strange !
Profoundest Mystery of the Perfect Ones.
Within the Non-abiding, all abides,
Yet thus abiding, there abideth naught.

Eh Ma Oh !
Dharma Wondrous Strange !
Profoundest Mystery of the Perfect Ones.
In Non-perception, everything is perceived,
Yet this perceiving is quite perceptionless.

Eh Ma Oh !
Dharma Wondrous Strange !
Profoundest Mystery of the Perfect Ones.
In the Unmoving, all things come and go,
Yet in that movement, nothing ever moves.
Verses from 'The Confounder of Hell' Sadhana

Know all Things to be like This
Know all things to be like this:
A mirage, a cloud castle,
A dream, an apparition,
Without essence but with dualities than can be seen.

Know all things to be like this:
As the moon in a bright sky
In some clear lake reflected
Though to that lake the moon has never moved.

Know all things to be like this:
As people who have gone alone to mountain solitudes,
Or forests hear the echo of laughter, songs and weeping
But see not nor hear a thing.

Know all things to be like this:
As an echo that derives
From music, sounds and weeping,
Yet in that echo is no melody.

Know all things to be like this:
Just as you a dream enjoy
But when you wake see nothing
Only fools will yearn and hanker for this pleasure.

Know all things to be like this:
As a magician makes illusions
Of horses, oxen, carts and other things,
Nothing is as it appears.

Know all things to be like this:
A young woman in a dream
May see her son both born and dead.
Yet when he dies she is sad,
While at his birth she was overjoyed.

Know all things to be like this:
As at midnight the bright moon
Appears in water crystal-clear, yet
There is no moon and grasped it cannot be.

Know all things to be like this:
At noon in midsummer
A man by thirst torment, marching on,
Sees a mirage as a pool of water.

Know all things to be like this:
If in a mirage there's no water
Only fools will want to drink it,
For it can never be drunk.

Know all things to be like this:
If you split weeds to find their marrow,
You will always fail. In the same way
Within and without is nothing.
from 'The Samadhiraja Sutra'

Offerings to the Buddhas

In order to bring about the arising
Of the Bodhicitta,
That precious jewel of the mind,
I offer worship to the Buddhas,
And to the flawless jewel of the True Dharma,
And to the sons of the Buddha,
Who are oceans of virtue.

I offer to them now
As many flowers and fruits as there are in the world,
As many healing herbs,
As many jewels,
And all waters, clear and refreshing.

I offer mountains made of precious stones,
And forest groves to be enjoyed in solitude,
Vines blazing with flowers,
And trees whose branches bend low
With delicious fruit.

I offer fragrances of the celestial realms,
The wishing tree with fruits of jewels,
Pools and lakes adorned with lotuses,
And the endlessly fascinating cry of wild geese.

I offer rich harvests,
Both wild and those sown by men.
I offer everything that can adorn
Those worthy of worship,
And I offer everything which no-one owns
Within the limitless spheres of space.
from 'The Bodhicaryavatara' by Shantideva

the Transference of Merit and Self-Surrender

May I be the doctor and the medicine,
And may I be the nurse
For all sick beings in the world
Until everyone is healed

May I become an inexhaustible treasure
For those who are poor and destitute.
May I turn into all things they could need,
And may these be placed close beside them.

Without any sense of loss or attachment,
I shall give up my body and enjoyments
As well as my virtues of the three times
For the sake of benefiting all.

By giving up all, sorrow is transcended,
And my mind will realise the sorrowless state.
It is best that I now give everything to all beings
In the same way as I shall at death.

May I be a protector for those without one,
A guide for all travellers on the way.
May I be a bridge, a boat and a ship
For all who wish to cross the water.

Just like space
And the great elements such as earth,
May I always support the life
Of all the boundless creatures.

And until they pass away from pain,
May I also be the source of life
For all the realms of varied beings
That reach unto the ends of space.
from 'The Bodhisattva's Way of life, by Shantideva

Just as the earth and other elements
Are serviceable in many ways
To the infinite number of beings
Inhabiting limitless space;
So may I become
That which maintains all beings
Situated throughout space,
So long as all have not attained
To peace.
from the 'Transference of Merit & Self-Surrender' in the FWBO Sevenfold Puja

from contemporary sources

Mindfulness must be engaged.
Once there is seeing, there must be acting…
We must become aware of the real problems of the world.
Then, with mindfulness, we will know what to do, and what not to do, to be of help.
(Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen master, poet, activist and author. Peace is every Step, p91)

I like to walk alone on country paths, rice plants and wild grasses on both sides, putting each foot down on the earth in mindfulness, knowing that I walk on the wondrous earth. In such moments, existence is a miraculous and mysterious reality.
People usually consider walking on water or thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child - our own two eyes.
Thich Nhat Hanh

We are destined to share this planet together and as the world grows smaller, we need each other more than in the past. But, whether we are trying to reduce the nuclear threat, defend human rights or preserve the natural environment, it is difficult to achieve a spirit of genuine co-operation as long as people remain indifferent to the feelings and happiness of others. What is required is a kind heart and a sense of community, which I call universal responsibility.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In an address to 'Seeking the True Meaning of Peace', San Jose, Costa Rica. June 25-30 1989

The whole planet groans under a massive disregard of ahimsa by the highly organised societies and corporate economies of the world."
Beat poet and Zen practitioner, Gary Snyder, A Place in Space p73

Consider.....
Consider that within the centre of the wind there sits a dakini-angel.
Her robes are the blue of new-born eyes and she wears a necklace of rain-drops.
She is never silent but her voice is as soft as a selfless tear.
For a thousand times a thousand years she has sung the song of The Gem-Cloud of Arising Consciousness.
She will never be silent until the wind is still.

Consider that within the centre of the earth there sits a dakini-angel.
Her robes are the red of blood and she wears a necklace of human finger bones.
She is never silent but her voice is the echo of silence.
For a thousand times a thousand years she has sung the song of The Heart-Knowledge of Undivided Awareness.
She will never be silent until the earth is still.

Consider that within the centre of the ocean there sits a dakini-angel.
Her robes are the green of winter moss and she wears a necklace of pearl shells.
She is never silent but her voice is as quiet as snow that falls on water.
For a thousand times a thousand years she has sung the song of The Self Mirror of Perfect Light.
She will never be silent until the sea is still.

Consider that within the centre of a sunbeam there sits a dakini-angel.
Her robes are the orange yellow of pollen and she wears a necklace of burning flowers.
She is never silent but her voice is as soft as the dust of dust.
For a thousand times a thousand years she has sung the song of The Rainbow of the Wakening Dream.
She will never be silent until the sun is still.

Consider that within the centre of space there sits a dakini-angel.
Her robes are the white of sunlight on snow and she wears a necklace of burning crystals.
She is never silent but her voice is as soft as a falling raindrop.
For a thousand times a thousand years she has sung the song of Time before Time Began.
She will never be silent until the sky is still.

Consider that within the centre of the mind there sits a dakini-angel.
Her robes are as clear as polished crystal and she wears a necklace of iridescent jewels.
She is never silent but her voice is as soft as the void between the stars.
For a thousand times a thousand years she has sung the song of Self-Arising Awareness of All Reality.
She will never be silent until the mind is still.