|
May Day is the symbolic halfway point between the vernal equinox and the summer solstice. To quote my colleague Lee Cowan, in the Gaelic tradition, "it’s a time to celebrate fertility and jump over the Beltane fire to bless the soil for an abundant season."
In any tradition, this is a time to burn away the unhelpful remnants of the past, to heal the soil by adding nutrients to it, nutrients found in the ashes. This is a time of healing from the past and dreaming of the future.
And so, today I’d like to share with you a blessing by Śāntideva, an 8th century philosopher and poet unusually influential in articulating the moral requirements of Buddhism. It’s a prayer for healing.
As no one desires the slightest suffering
Nor ever has enough of happiness,
There is no difference between myself and others,
So let me make others joyfully happy.
May those feeble with cold find warmth,.
And may those oppressed with heat be cooled
By the boundless waters that pour forth
From the great cloud of Bodhisattvas.
May the rains of lava, blazing stones and weapons
From now on become a rain of flowers,
And may all battling with weapons
From now on be a playful exchange of flowers.
For as long as space endures,
And for as long as living beings remain,
Until then may I too abide
To dispel the misery of the world.
| 
