“Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others; to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others. I am going to benefit others as much as I can.”
A Precious Human Life
“Every day, think as you wake up,
today I am fortunate to have woken up.
I am alive, I have a precious human life.
I am not goin to waste it.
I am going to use
all of my energies to develop myself
to expand my heart out to others.
To achieve enlightenment for
the benefit of all beings,
i am goin to have kind
thoughts towards other.
I am not going to get angry
or think badly about others.
I am going to benefit others
as much as i can.”
H.H. The XIVth Dalai Lama
Mt. Adams Buddhist Temple was home to a Sufi retreat.
July 1-5: 11th Annual NW Zikr Immersion with Leilah and Bodhi Be, Trout Lake WA. Info: Bodhi Be (website)
At this retreat, the quote from His Holiness the Dalai Lama was used for their theme song. You can hear that in the audio clip above. I just like that Sufism and Buddhism overlap so much. A Sufi retreat a few years ago absolutely blew my mind. The leader, Pouria, gave a talk. If you had put a brown robe on him, and if he put on about 80 lbs., his talk would have been indistinguishable with a Dharma talk by Thay Kozen. That freaked me out, as it occurred to me that Sufism is part of Islam. Islam is an Abrahamic religion. How could an Abrahamic religion sound like Zen? And if an Islamic religion can sound like Zen, what about Judaism and Christianity. Thus began my quest. I found that the Kabbalists and Gnostics have some “mystical” elements very similar to Zen. I Zoomed into one Gnostic group and found it very dry. And I’ve Zoomed into some Jewish groups and found very “Zen-like” messages. I’ve been enjoying joining Jewish groups a lot. That I hear the same message, but just in a different language, very reassuring that we’re all the same. The message of unity is so soothing to me.
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