Hello friends.
The story of the Golden Buddha unfolds during the mid-1950s in Bangkok,
Where to the surprise of everyone,
Hidden under plaster and clay,
A solid Golden Buddha statue was discovered.
As it turns out,
The statue had been covered for 600 years by monks of that time to protect it from invading armies.
Just as the monks disguised the beauty of the Golden Buddha in order to protect it,
We too tend to cover our own innate purity and goodness,
Especially when we experience hurt,
Pain,
And suffering.
As a coping mechanism,
We become hardened on the outside.
We are unforgiving,
And the armor of our hate shields us from connections,
Leaving us imprisoned in the cold fortress of our own resentment.
Being unforgiving will cause us to suffer,
As the pain of carrying it is like a heavy burden that only weighs us down,
As we are the ones who refuse to let it go.
When we speak of forgiveness,
It's important to remember that to forgive is not a reconciliation,
A restoration of what was,
To forget what happened,
Or condone what you experienced.
It doesn't erase the past,
But it does enlarge your future.
So consider it a gift to yourself.
As Jack Kornfield once said,
In the loyalty program of life,
Suffering offers no rewards.
Your worth transcends the wounds you carry.
You are a living testament to the strength that arises within you.
To forgive is not a quick fix,
And it can be a long process of grief,
Tears,
Anger,
Regret,
And pain.
But it does get easier with practice,
And it begins with creating the intention just to be open to the process.
Just as that golden Buddha statue was discovered after someone began to chip away at it,
You too can learn to chisel off the mud that has solidified itself onto your heart,
Mind,
And body.
For today's meditation,
We will practice forgiveness using the Buddhist prayer of forgiveness.
It's powerful because,
And universal,
In that we learn that every action that appears to be taken against us is actually the result of confusion.
The prayer implies that there's a cycle of renewal,
A strength of a choice made,
With each passing moment that peace and love override the strength to live with anger and fear.
I will recite the Buddhist prayer of forgiveness a few times,
And then I will leave you to practice on your own for about five minutes.
You can repeat the prayer to yourself,
Reflecting what forgiveness is to you,
Perhaps thinking of a particular situation,
And allowing emotions to arise without getting caught up in their narratives.
Should you begin to feel overwhelmed at any point,
Use your breath as a beacon to bring you back to the present,
To reground you there,
And release any tension within the body that's been gathered up as a result.
Begin again,
Find a comfortable seat,
Allow yourself to take a few deep breaths in and out,
And then allow your breath to return to its normal state.
Allow your eyes to close,
Unhinge your jaw,
Bring awareness to your breath and your heart.
Remind yourself that this is a process,
It does take time,
And wherever you are in this process,
It's exactly where you should be in this moment.
Force nothing away,
Allow it to be there without getting caught up,
Just as oil and water exist together.
Scan through your body now and release any areas of obvious tension,
Constriction,
Pressure that you notice,
And with each passing exhale,
Allow your body to soften,
To relax back that much more.
The Buddhist prayer of forgiveness.
If I have harmed anyone in any way,
Either knowingly or unknowingly,
Through my own confusions,
I ask their forgiveness.
If anyone has harmed me in any way,
Either knowingly or unknowingly,
Through their own confusion,
I forgive them.
And if there is a situation I am not ready to forgive,
I forgive myself for that.
For all the ways that I harm myself,
Negate,
Belittle myself,
Judge or be unkind to myself through my own confusions,
I forgive myself.
I'll repeat it a couple more times.
The Buddhist prayer of forgiveness.
If I have harmed anyone in any way,
Either knowingly or unknowingly,
Through my own confusions,
I ask their forgiveness.
If anyone has harmed me in any way,
Either knowingly or unknowingly,
Through their own confusion,
I forgive them.
And if there is a situation I am not ready to forgive,
I forgive myself for that.
For all the ways that I harm myself,
Negate,
Doubt,
Belittle myself,
Judge or be unkind to myself through my own confusions,
I forgive myself.
I will repeat it one last time and then leave you to practice on your own for about five minutes.
The Buddhist prayer of forgiveness.
If I have harmed anyone in any way,
Either knowingly or unknowingly,
Through my own confusions,
I ask their forgiveness.
If anyone has harmed me in any way,
Either knowingly or unknowingly,
Through their own confusion,
I forgive them.
And if there is a situation I am not ready to forgive,
I forgive myself for that.
For all the ways that I harm myself,
Negate,
Doubt,
Belittle myself,
Judge or be unkind to myself through my own confusions,
I forgive myself.
I'll watch the time.
Start to bring attention back to the sound of my voice,
To the space that surrounds you.
As we bring our practice to a close,
Remember that it can take time to forgive,
But life's most profound lessons are learned in a classroom of forgiveness,
Where every heartache becomes a stepping stone towards wisdom and grace.
It's a gift that surprises you.
The more you do it,
The more you learn that forgiveness has the power to rewrite the ending of your stories,
Turning your tragedies into triumphs.
Until we meet again,
My friends,
Namaste.
