Be True to Your Heart
Day 4
Do not deceive living beings
Resources for Day 4:
Monday 8 am
Welcome to Day 4
Poem
45 min unled meditation with bells marking 5 stages.
Monday 10.30am
Avatamsaka Sutra Puja
from The Flower-Ornament Sutra
I take my Refuge in the Buddha
And pray that with all beings
I may understand the Great Way
Whereby the Buddha-seed may forever thrive.
Reading 1
‘Looking after oneself, one looks after others; looking after others, one looks after oneself’
(the Buddha in Samyutta Nikaya)
Shakyamuni mantra
I take my Refuge in the Dharma
And pray that with all beings
I may enter deeply into the Sutra-Treasure Whereby our wisdom may become vast as the ocean.
Reading 2
‘All experience is preceded by mind,
Led by mind,
Made by mind.
Speak or act with an impure mind,
and suffering follows
As the wheel of the wagon follows the hoof of the ox.
All experience is preceded by mind,
Led by mind,
Made by mind.
Speak or act with a peaceful mind,
And happiness follows
Like a never-departing shadow.’
(from The Dhammapada)
I take my Refuge in the Sangha
And pray that with all beings
I may be brought together in Great Harmony And have nothing to check the unimpeded progress of Truth.
Reading 3
Bodhicitta Prayer
May all beings enjoy happiness
And the causes of happiness;
May they be free from suffering
And the causes of suffering;
May they not be separated from the great happiness
Devoid of suffering;
May they dwell in the great equanimity
Free from craving, aversion and delusion.
Sabe satta sukhi hontu mantra
(May all beings be well)
TRANSFERENCE OF MERIT AND SELF-SURRENDER
May the merit gained
In my acting thus
Go to the alleviation of the suffering of all beings.
My personality throughout my existences,
My possessions,
And my merit in all three ways,
I give up without regard to myself
For the benefit of all beings.
Just as the earth and other elements
Are serviceable in many ways
To the infinite number of beings,
Inhabiting limitless space,
So may I become
That which maintains all beings
Situated throughout space,
So long as all have not attained
To peace.
