Medicine Buddha and Healing Prayer

I LIVE IN THIS WORLD

by Jason Espada

I live in this world
of joy, and sorrow
of comfort and ease,
and of struggle, and pain
of friendship, and community
and of loneliness and isolation
I live in this world of riches and poverty
of abundance and hunger
I live in this world where there is health
and illness
Where some people can only try to care for themselves,
while others are at the point where more and more they have thinking about
and caring for others as the aim of their life
Whatever sources of blessings there are in this world,
O, bless them all
There are people serving others in this world –
there are people taking joy in that
I live in this world
where many are in need of a protector,
where many are in need of an advocate
where many people do not have even a basic education
Today, in this world, there are many who are kept back from doing good
things because of some illness
Today there are many who are broken-hearted
Today there are many who have been hurt in relationships
There are many who have bad memories
There are many who have had their families broken
There are many who are grieving
Every day in this world there are people experiencing pain:
children, teenagers, adults, the middle-aged, the elderly;
those who are alone, those with problems of the mind
I live in this world where many people suffer from depression,
where many people are blocked by depression
I live in this world where many people don’t love themselves,
they don’t cherish their lives,
where people hate themselves,
and where people despair,
even to the point of wanting to end their own lives…
I live in this world where many people are in need of some form of human
contact,
I live in this world where many people are experiencing
the absence of love
and we can do something
I live in this world where many people use drugs,
or drink, or food, or sex, to self-medicate, to escape
where many are without peace,
without control, without any freedom of mind
The root of all these sufferings is self-grasping ignorance
and the afflictive emotions
Right now, there are people being trapped by their addictions, overwhelmed
by their delusions, lost
I live in this world where some people are in danger of falling,
where some are in danger of slipping – and the result can be severe for
them…
There are many people in need of strength,
light, and peace,
wisdom,
purity, ethics
transformation, release
I live in this world where we have all done wrong,
some worse than others
some, terrible things
out of ignorance, affliction,
or fear, desperation, despair;
out of weakness and limitation –
not seeing any other way
not being able to reach any other
I live in this world where people suffer because of regret
I live in this world where people experience misfortune, accidents…
I live in this world where many people are lonely, or numb,
self-absorbed, superficial, or greedy, distracted, afraid, or sad,
where there are those who are feeling ugly, or feeling hopeless
or who are caught in self-pity
I live in this world where selves arise again and again that are fragmented,
isolated
Where many people are experiencing stress
I live in this world where most people
are without any sense at all of the sacred dimension in life
I live in this world where the deluded the band together
and increase ignorance and suffering
I live in this world where, even though there are those with the motivation to
learn
many people are misled by false teachers,
themselves ignorant
In these times, especially,
wrong views are supported, in hundreds of ways,
and wisdom is not;
greed is encouraged, and non-attachment and generosity is not
aggression is supported, and peace,
sanity, respect, kindness, and being helpful is not
I live in this world where there are many people’s
experience is only that of a lower-realm being
(the hell realm, the hungry ghost realm, the animal realm)
I live in this world where there are people who don’t experience even a
moment of peace;
where there are those who don’t have any joy in their lives at all,
who don’t have any happiness,
not even a little bit
Every day in this world there are people with no perspective on their life,
coarse, dissatisfied, lacking in gratitude, indulgent
I live in this world where people don’t think about death
or haven’t integrated the truth of impermanence
Every day there are people wasting time, not seeing what they have, not
taking advantage of all the opportunities they have while
they still can
I live in this world where he vast majority of people are completely without
any Dharma
(Dharma: Buddhist teaching, or religious teaching; the result of Buddhist
practice or religious practice; and true medicine for the ills of the world)
I live in this world where few people have received instructions in
meditation, and, of these few, most are still unclear about the essential points
I live in this world, where, though we may do some good,
though we may improve our lives,
those who have listened to essential teachings, and understood,
many times don’t practice
and, of those who do practice, often they are not able
to overcome the obstacles to meditation,
and practice in a way that they progress…
I live in this world where even those people who have received, and
practiced, and accomplished a great deal of Dharma still suffer
they still fall into experiences that are like the lower realms
and I live in this world where some of the people who have become stable in
realization don’t share the Dharma as much as they could
I live in this world where though we can help others
too often we don’t
where though can remove others suffering and give them happiness, too
often we don’t
I live in this world
where people don’t live in the present
Where people don’t know their own worth, or the worth of others,
where people don’t know their own potential
– by Jason Espada