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Pir Vilayat Khan, a Sufi, urges us to
consider pain in this way:
" Overcome any bitterness that may have come because you were not up to the magnitude of pain that was entrusted to you. Like the mother of the world who carries the pain of the world in her heart, each one of us is part of her heart, and therefore endowed with a certain measure of cosmic pain. You are sharing in the totality of that pain. You are called upon to meet it in joy instead of self pity. " "We must remember, what we are forgiving
is not the act-not the violence. Maha Ghosananda, a respected Cambodian monk went into the refugee camps where thousands of Cambodians had fled the terrible holocaust conducted by Pol Pot. Every family had lost children, spouses, and parents to the ravages of genocide, and their homes and temples had been destroyed. Maha Ghosanada announced to the refugees that there would be a Buddhist ceremony the next day, and all who wished to come would be welcome. Since Buddhism had been desecrated by Pol Pot, people were curious if anyone would go. The next day, over ten thousand refugees converged at the meeting place to share in the ceremony. It was an enormous gathering. Maha Gosananda sat for some time in silence on a platform in front of the crowd. Then he began chanting the invocations that begin the Buddhist ceremony, and people started weeping. They had been through so much sorrow, so much difficulty, that just to hear the sound of those familiar words again was precious. Some wondered what Maha Ghosanada would say. What could one possibly say to this group of people? What he did next, in the company of thousands of refugees, was begin to repeat the verse from the Dhammapada, a sacred Buddist scripture. Hatred never ceases by hatred; Over and over again Maha Ghosananda chanted
this verse. These were people who has as much cause to hate as
anyone on earth. Yet as he sat there, repeating this verse over and
over, one by one, thousands of voices joined together in unison: "Hatred
never ceases by hatred: but by love alone is healed. This is an ancient
and eternal law."Out of the mouths of people who had been wounded,
oppressed, made homeless, aggrieved, and crushed by the pain of war,
came a prayer proclaiming the ancient truth about love, a truth that
was greater than all the sorrows they had seen and felt. Legacy of the Heart,Wayne Muller His Holiness the Dalai Lama was asked why the Tibetan people did not go to war with the Chinese. The Dalai Lama answered, "War is obsolete. One can go to war with the head, but the heart would never understand. Then you would have a conflict deep inside you, then the war would be in you. Ette Hillesum, a victim of the Nazi concentration camps , writes of the healing surrender into grief and forgiveness: "And you must be able to bear your sorrow; even if it seems to crush you, you will be able to stand up again, for human beings are so strong, and your sorrow must become an integral part of yourself; you musn't run away from it. Do not relive your feelings through hatred, do not seek to avenge on all Germans, for they too, feel sorrow at this moment. Give your sorrow all the space and shelter in yourself that is it's due, for if everyone bears grief honestly and courageously, the sorrow that now fills the world will abate. But if you do instead reserve most of the space inside you for hatred and thoughts of revenge- for which new sorrows will be born for others-then sorrow will never cease in this world. And if you have given sorrow the space it demands, then you may truly say: life is beautiful and so rich that it makes you want to believe in God. When we judge, when we hate, when we harden our eyes and hearts, we perpetuate great harm to ourselves and the world, and we lose the way to peace and healing. Mercy and nonviolence bring healing and peace. We must first stop the war within ourselves. This is the way of Ahimsa-nonharming and noninjury. In separateness, lies the world's great misery, said the Buddha. Prayers
A human being is a part of the whole called by us "Universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest-a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Albert Einstein Dear Creator of All Life and to the Spirit
of All Sentient Beings, we ask that as the millennium approaches here
on planet Earth, the hearts and spirits of all humankind be filled
with an intense awareness of Love and Peace. We send our heart energy
and light to all people everywhere and ask that Divine Guidance fill
the hearts of leaders-at all levels and in all sides of conflict-until
they experience the grace of forgiveness and the power of Divine Love
which is the source of all healing. We pray for those people who are
suffering, for those who are injured and in pain as the result of conflict
and war in those places where fear instead of love governs. We ask
that the National and World Karma that is created by the action The Great Invocation From the Point of Love within the Heart
of God From the center where the Will of God
is known From the center which we call the Race
of Man Let Light and Love and Power Restore the Plan on Earth. Let thy Soul lend its ear to every cry
of pain like as the lotus bares its heart to drink the morning sun. But let each burning human tear drop
on thy heart and there remain; nor ever brush it off until the
pain that caused it, is removed. St. Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace Navajo Earth Spirit Prayer I, I am the spirit within the earth;It
is all in Beauty, it is all in Beauty, The feet of the earth are my feet; The strength of the earth is my strength; All that surrounds the earth surrounds
me; I am a point of light within a greater
Light. I am a way by which men may achieve. And standing thus revolve I am humbled before the earth The Mantram of Unification The sons of men and women are one and
I am one with them. Let pain bring due reward of light and
love. Let vision come and insight. May the power of the One Life pour through
the group of all true servers This Is The Truth About The Self:
0. All the power that ever was or will be is here now. |
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