Watering Seeds of Joy
My mother, my father, they are in me.
And when I look,
I see myself in them.
The Buddha, the patriarchs, they are in me.
And when I look,
I see myself in them.
I am a continuation
of my mother, my father, and my ancestors. It is my aspiration to preserve
and continue to nourish
seeds of goodness, skill, and happiness which I have inherited.
It is also my desire to recognize
the seeds of fear and suffering I have inherited,
and, bit by bit, to transform them.
I am a continuation
of the Buddha and my spiritual teachers.
It is my deep aspiration
to preserve, nourish, and develop
the seeds of understanding, love, and freedom
which they have transmitted to me.
I desire to continue
the career of the Buddha and my Ancestral Teachers,
and do my best to realize
all that the Buddha and my Ancestral Teachers
expect of me.
In my daily life,
I also want to sow
seeds of love and compassion
in my own consciousness
and in the heart of other people.
I am determined not to water
seeds of craving, aversion, and violence in myself and the other.
I know that if I practice
all this in the right way,
after only seven days,
I shall already have been able to change the situation,
establish communication,
smile and transform some suffering and increase my happiness.
Please, Lord Buddha
be witness to what is in my heart. With mind and body in perfect unity, I bow my head and prostrate.