We all breathe and exhale the same air, so how is it that some think that they are more superior to other life forms?

By Pamela J. Wells

Published: February 2, 2012

Accepting all life, we know that we all breathe and exhale the same air. It is not contained and only available and given to a select few. The ego—our imagination—is full of notions, such as thinking that one is special and therefore more deserving than others or that one is inferior to others; yet, at the most basic level, each and every living being cannot live without oxygen. At all times, we are inhaling and exhaling the same air. It is the delusional mind that creates egoic fantasies to make up for perceived inadequacies.

Copyright © 2012 Pamela J. Wells. All Rights Reserved

 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Never-Disparaging Bodhisattva and Earth-Holding Bodhisattva

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

“You have the strength to go forward. Believe in yourself. Don’t succumb to low self-esteem or passivity. You will become a Buddha.”

~Never-Disparaging Bodhisattva~