![]() The verbal one is saying the names of the Buddha. Rejoice that they’re praising the Buddha, physically, verbally, and mentally, or bowing to the Buddha physically, verbally, and mentally. Whenever people come to the Abbey and go to the meditation hall and bow down, or in the evenings when you’re doing the 35 Buddhas and you’re bowing and watching each other bow, you should think, “May the crown of the heads of all beings be seen as that of the Buddha by the world and the gods.” Think that and really rejoice that others are bowing. This is the prayer of the Bodhisattva when seeing someone bowing down. In other words, may all of these sentient beings, who pay homage to the Buddha, may they have the body, speech and mind of the Buddha. When we see other people bowing down, we should think, may they too come to have that kind of merit, which comes to act as a basis for the wisdom of the Buddha. It is symbolic of the incredible amount of merit that the Buddha collected for three countless great eons, that served as the cause to become a fully enlightened being. It is covered by hair, but is said to be fleshy although the Buddha has a body of light. You’ll notice on all of the thankas, and all of the statues of the Buddha, that the Buddha has a top-knot. This is the prayer of the bodhisattva when seeing someone bowing down. “May the crown of the head of all beings be seen (as that of the Buddha) by all the world and the gods.” ![]() We are on the 41st of the 41 prayers of the bodhisattvas of the Avamtamsaka Sutra and it says, ![]() Rejoicing when others create merit by praising or prostrating to the BuddhaĤ1 Prayers to cultivate bodhicitta: Verse 41 ( download).The meaning of the Buddha’s crown protrusion.MARC GELLMAN is the senior rabbi of Temple Beth Torah in Melville, N.Y., where he has served since 1981. It is the sobering truth that everything we have in life, including life itself is ultimately a gift - a loving loan from the God of life and death. Blessed is the name of the Lord.” I like the children’s prayer better, but it comes to the same bracing spiritual point.įaith - true, mature faith - challenges us to accept and love not just a God who gives things to us but also a God who takes everything away. The very last words I say at a Jewish funeral at the edge of the grave are: “God has given, and God has taken away. It helps to remind me that we are always in God’s care and that at night we drift off into that hazy land where hope and fear mingle. In my searches I found an interesting but unsubstantiated factoid: that President John Adams said this prayer every night before he went to sleep. If I live another day, I pray the Lord to guide my way.Īnd then, I found a much longer version, which goes something like this: Some have also tried to blunt the fear of death in this prayer by adding one additional line to the short version: One version of the prayer I found omits the scary reference to “if I die before I wake” with this emendation: “As a nursery rhyme, it first appeared in 1840 in London Jingles by J.G. The “White Paternoster” was “first found in print in Thomas Fleet’s New England Primer, the first edition is from 1737,” Cara writes. However, Cara writes that the above version is a combination of two prayers. ![]() “Matthew, Mark, Luke and John” was once the best known prayer in England, used more often than the Lord’s Prayer. The most convincing theory comes from a visitor to an Internet site Glory to God for All Things, brings up commenter Anam Cara, who offers this learned suggestion: The language is not Old English-y enough. Some say it is an Old English prayer, but I am not sure. J., via Like the parable of the long spoons, which I discussed recently, this is also a famous spiritual gem whose origins are obscure. ![]() Q: As I approach my 74th birthday, I recall saying a nightly prayer as a child: ![]()
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