From a few years ago:
So, to center myself, I looked up the Metta Sutta, the Buddhist discourse on loving-kindness. We sometimes sing a chant based on this ancient text “May I Be Filled with Lovingkindness...”
I was thinking of printing a bit of the ancient text on one side of a notecard, and leaving it beside my bed:
“Whatever living beings there may be—/feeble or strong, long (or tall), stout,/ or medium, short, small, or large,/ seen or unseen,/ those dwelling far or near,/ those who are born and those who are yet to be born—/ may all beings, without exception, be happy-minded!”
This aspiration, presents a big adaptive goal... one with no clear path.
It is, however, something to work for, though we do not know the way.
On flip side of the notecard I put the next words from the Sutta:
“Let not one deceive another/ nor despise any person whatever in any place./ In anger or ill will/ let not one wish any harm to another. (Ven W. Rahula translation)”
This side is more of a vision... it describes what can be done, or not done.
It describes actions I might take or not take.
My plan is to have this card by the bed, and, on waking up I would read one side or the other, then go brush my teeth.
A regular practice like this reminds me of Dr. Howard Thurman, who preached: “...keep fresh before me the moments of my high resolve.” (from his book “For The Inward Journey”)
What can you do? That's always changing. For me, yesterday, the answer was to mark May 1st, Election Day on my calendar. Then, because I am away, I applied for an absentee ballot. Every day the work is different...
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