With a wish to free all beings
I shall always go for refuge
To the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha,
Until I reach full enlightenment.

Enthused by wisdom and compassion,
today in the Buddhas' presence
I generate the Mind for Full Awakening
For the benefit of all sentient beings.

As long as space remains,
As long as sentient beings remain,
Until then, may I too remain
And dispel the miseries of the world.
~Shantideva

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Our journey for peace begins today
and every day. Each step is a prayer,
Each step is a meditation, Each step will build a bridge. ~HH

A PRAYER FOR PEACE

The suffering of Cambodia has been deep. From this suffering comes Great Compassion. Great Compassion makes a Peaceful Heart. A Peaceful Heart makes a Peaceful Person. A Peaceful Person makes a Peaceful Family. A Peaceful Family makes a Peaceful Community. A Peaceful Community makes a Peaceful Nation.
And a Peaceful Nation makes a Peaceful World. May all beings live in Peace and Happiness.

~His Holiness Maha Ghosananda

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RECOMMENDATION

Promise me,
promise me this day,
promise me now,
while the sun is overhead
exactly at the zenith,
promise me:
Even as they strike you down
with a mountain of hatred and violence;
even as they step on you and crush you
like a worm,
even as they dismember and disembowel you,
remember, brother, remember:
man is not your enemy.
The only thing worthy of you is
compassion --invincible, limitless, unconditional.
Hatred will never let you face the
beast in man.

One day, when you face this beast alone,
with your courage intact, your eyes kind, untroubled(even as no one sees them),
out of your smile will bloom a flower.
And those who love you will behold you
across ten thousands worlds of birth
and dying.

Alone again,
I will go on with bent head,
knowing that love has become eternal.
On the long, rough road,
the sun and the moon
will continue to shine.
~Thich Nhat Hanh
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Free & Easy

Happiness cannot be found through great effort and willpower, but is already present, in open relaxation and letting go.

Don't strain yourself, there is nothing to do or undo. Whatever momentarily arises in the body-mind has no real importance at all, has little reality whatsoever. Why identify with, and become attached to it, passing judgment upon it and ourselves?

Far better to simply let the entire game happen on its own, springing up and falling back like waves--without changing or manipulating anything--
and notice how everything vanishes and
reappears, magically, again and again,
time without end.

Only our searching for happiness prevents us from seeing it. It's like a vivid rainbow which you pursue without ever catching, or a dog chasing its own tail.

Although peace and happiness do not exist as an actual thing or place, it is always available and accompanies you every instant.

Don't believe in the reality of good and bad experiences; they are like today's ephemeral weather, like rainbows in the sky.

Wanting to grasp the ungraspable, you exhaust yourself in vain. As soon as you open and relax this tight fist of grasping, infinite space is there--open, inviting and comfortable.

Make use of the spaciousness, this freedom and natural ease. Don't search any further. Don't go into the tangled jungle looking for the great awakened elephant, who is already resting quietly at home in front of your own hearth.

Nothing to do or undo, nothing to force,
nothing to want, and nothing missing----

Emaho! Marvelous!
Everything happens by itself.

~Venerable Lama Gendun Rinpoche