Shantideva prayer
I’ve always loved prayer.
When I was a small child I would observe an atmosphere of joyful stillness pass over the congregation as we prayed. And as we sang hymns together happiness would spread across the space.
Prayer. A gift. An offering. A blessing.
The Irish are big into them. Anyone who reads John O’Donohoe knows, this land is fertile with prayer.
And prayers are often filled with the most delightful of images.
My very brief stint in Catholic secondary school was entirely worth it if only for the opportunity to say “Blessed be the fruit of thy womb”.
Protestants don’t do wombs.
As a child I would rest in the sound “hallowed”.
“Hallowed by thy name.”
Granny’s god was fierce. He demanded discipline and honour. Things had to be just so. For him.
But that God was too austere for me. As a child who grew up in the belly of loss and grief that atmosphere was too stultifying.
I craved something lighter.
I found spirit in song. I’d belt it out hyms in my little child voice, met with great disapproval of course; children were to be seen and not heard.
I found a different God in song, in the garden, with the animals. There was light there and there was softness too. A welcome contrast to the hard edges of home.
I’ve been tracing back my pleasure seeking origins and it seems they begin there in the sacred silence of prayer, the joy of song, the softness of fur and the vibration of a purr.
Perhaps they began further back, perhaps in the womb, perhaps they go right back to the first woman.
All I know is the impulse is strong.
Who am I to deny pleasure its moment.
Who am I to deny art its voice.
Who am I to delay the path of play.
I joined the Sacred Mountain sangha for Earth Day on Sunday and the founder of Yoga for Climate Action, Linda Lamson, shared the Shantideva prayer.
I’d never heard it before and it landed at just the right time.
Maybe there’s something in it for you too. The Dalai Lama is a fan by the way, so it must be good;
May all beings everywhere
Plagued by sufferings of body and mind
Obtain an ocean of happiness and joy
By virtue of my merits
May no living creatures suffer,
Commit evil or ever fall ill
May no one be afraid or belittled
With a mind weighed down by depression
May the blind see forms
And the deaf hear sounds
May those whose bodies are worn with toil
Be restored in finding repose
May the naked find clothing
The hungry find food
May the thirsty find water
And delicious drinks
May the poor find wealth
Those weak with sorrow find joy
May the forlorn find hope
Constant happiness and prosperity
May there be timely rains
And bountiful harvests
May all medicines be effective
And wholesome prayers bear fruit
May all who are sick or ill
Quickly be freed from their ailments
Whatever diseases there are in the world
May they never occur again
May the frightened cease to be afraid
And those bound be freed
May the powerless find power
And may people think of benefitting each other.
For as long as space remains,
For as long as sentient beings remain,
Until then may I too remain
To dispel the miseries of the world.