By Thich Nhat Hanh
Sometimes healthy, energetic bodhisattvas, like Never-Disparaging Bodhisattva and Earth-Holding Bodhisattva, wear ragged clothes. Earth-Holding devotes himself to rebuilding roads and bridges in order to restore communication and contact. In today’s world, there are countless broken bridges and innumerable Earth-Holdings devoting their bodies and minds to rebuilding bridges of communication and understanding among individuals, nations, and cultures. Wherever Never-Disparaging Bodhisattva goes, he offers words of encouragement:
“You have the strength to go forward.
Believe in yourself.
Don’t succumb to low self-esteem or passivity.
You will become a Buddha.”
His message is one of confidence and self-determination. I think about the peasants in the countryside of all the poor countries of the world. Do they have someone to encourage them to believe in their own abilities so they can build a future that they, as much as anyone else, have a right to? Our world needs millions more bodhisattvas like Never Disparaging.
Excerpt from Thich Nhat Hanh's book "Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals, 1962-1966
No comments:
Post a Comment