Lately I have learned a lot about respect, pride and living in harmony with the rest of the world. I came across
this writing which describes the complete cherishing and embracing of other beings, and I was instantly drawn to it.
With the heartfelt desire and determination to attain enlightenment
For the welfare of all living beings, who are more precious than a
Wish-fulfilling jewel for accomplishing the supreme goal,
May I always cherish them and hold them dear.
Whenever I am with others
May I think of myself as the lowest of all
And from the very depths of my heart
May I respectfully hold others as supreme.
In all actions, may I closely examine my state of mind,
And the moment a disturbing emotion or negative attitude arises,
Since this may cause harm to myself and others,
May I firmly face and avert it.
Whenever I meet people of unpleasant character
Or those overwhelmed by negativity, pain or suffering,
May I cherish and care for them as if I had found
A rare and precious treasure difficult to find.
Whenever others, because of their jealousy, treat me badly
With abuse, insult, slander, or in other unjust ways,
May I accept this defeat myself
And offer the victory to others.
When someone whom I have benefited
Or in whom I have placed great trust and hope,
Harms me or treats me in hurtful ways without reason,
May I see that person as my precious teacher.
In brief, may I offer both directly and indirectly all help,
Happiness and benefit to all beings, my mothers,
And may I secretly take upon myself
All of their harmful actions, pain and suffering.
May I keep all of these practices undefiled by stains of the eight worldly
concerns (gain/loss, pleasure/pain, praise/blame, fame/dishonor),
And by recognizing the emptiness and illusory nature of all existing things,
May I be liberated from the bondage of attachment and mistaken views of reality.
When I first read this I thought about how hard it is to complete bestow to someone else, without judgment, and complete remove yourself from who they are. It sounded like having no self respect to me at all. But after analyzing this concept I realized that the ability to do this would actually symbolize complete self respect- the kind where we don't have to justify it to anyone.
We like to think that we have complete control over life and we know the answers to everything, but we are so wrong. I have realized that life is so much bigger than us, and so much bigger than anything we can possibly imagine; when it comes to life we are absolutely out of control. The only thing we can do is give ourselves to the universe and take whatever comes our way. But we need to learn to respect others and the life they live, because we are no one to judge them. Since we don't know anything about life it is impossible for us to say what is right and what is wrong.
I think we need to learn to see the light in everyone. We live our life so focused on ourselves and constantly working towards our own benefit that we forget about humility and doing good for others as well. We constantly put ourselves on a pedestal and make ourselves the center of our world. I spoke with a shaman this weekend and he said "it's incredible to see the superficial lives people are living. We neglect the people closest to us, we disrespect them, and many times we don't even look at them in the eyes. Little do we know what we all need that kind of comfort" and we forget that we have to give out our love too.
We need to learn to live our lives with our heart... Because our mind can't recognize that it doesn't see, it doesn't understand it. But our heart holds the deepest and most wonderful feelings. Our heart doesn't know about holding grudes and complete pride. And when we let our heart come through and guide us we become so much more approachable which results in living a fuller and happier life.
