Prayers, chants etc.

XR Buddhists would like to give their thanks to James Low for his generous donation to the work we are doing. You can find out more about James Low and his work at the Simply Being website.

James also shared this beautiful dharma poem, which we would like to share with you:

All compounded things are impermanent and arise due to the interplay of many factors.

Like a wave emerging from the ocean, forms are here and then gone.

This world, this fragile patterning of the potential of the five elements, is like a mirage.

When we grasp at the ungraspable and try to define and control the flow we forget how to collaborate with it.

Due to this we act on the world as if it is separate from our own presence here and now.

Our experience is like a dream, precise, immediate yet ungraspable.

Whether we experience happy dreams or terrifying nightmares, may we not stray from the wisdom of emptiness and the kindness of infinite inclusion!

May we all we relax our grasping and awaken to the wonder of which we are a part!

Our Healing Oppression Group have created an ancestor prayer for XR Buddhists.

Before we take our next action we pause to remember our ancestors.

We remember our Indian ancestors, firstly Shakyamuni who was born in Lumbini and enlightened in Bodhgaya and set the dharma wheel turning in this age. 

We remember those who came before Shakyamuni and passed their wisdom to him

We remember Mahapajapati who walked one hundred and fifty miles one step after another before becoming the first Buddhist nun.

We remember the monastic and lay disciples of the Buddha, and generations of teachers that spread Buddhism through the East and throughout the world and who refreshed the precious dharma

We remember awakened beings of all spiritual traditions trusting that wisdom appears in the world in many different ways, at many different times, in many different places.

We call to mind the wisdom of marginalised and oppressed groups, much of which has already been lost.  

We remember our biological ancestors, our parents and grandparents, known and unknown, generations stretching back through time to the first humans in Africa.

We remember the ancestors of our chosen families.

We remember the ancestors of our own mindstream, the beings of our previous lives who practised dharma and brought light and joy to others.

We remember people across the world who stood against oppression and for human rights and the rights of all living things and for the earth.

We remember those who have oppressed and marginalised and harmed.

We carry the legacies of all of these ancestors, their gifts and their burdens. How wonderful to have the opportunity to work with all that has been handed down to us.

We remember our great ancestor the Earth and her great ancestor the universe itself.

“Ancient buddhas and ancestors were as we; we shall come to be buddhas and ancestors. Venerating buddhas and ancestors, we are one with buddhas and ancestors; contemplating awakened mind, we are one with awakened mind.”*

*From Eihei Koso Hotsuganmon

Kaspa Thompson wrote and read out a dedication of merit prayer to end our recent online retreat with. Here it is:

We call upon all of our ancestors. We call on our birth ancestors and the ancestors of our chosen families.We call upon Shakyamuni Buddha, who set the dharma wheel turning in this age, and upon all of his disciples. We call upon the celestial Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

We call upon our activist ancestors, those who had courage to act and speak and have gone before us.

We call upon ancestors from oppressed groups across the world, whose wisdom we pray we can honour and appreciate. 

We call upon the great sages of all spiritual traditions. 

We who are practicing today will become the ancestors of tomorrow. We invite our ancestors to add their merit to our own.

We pray for the well-being of all living creatures. We pray for the well-being of communities in the global south and indigenous communities who are already deeply affected by the climate crisis and ecological emergency. We pray that voices from those communities will be heard both on the world stage and in our own hearts.

We pray that we will become more and more aware of the systems of oppression and control that are around us and inside us, and that we are able to let go of those systems to make way for genuine connection, loving kindness and equity.

We pray that we can build strong communities of activists that include people from all over the world, and that we can find wise and courageous responses to the climate crisis and ecological emergency.

We pray that we will find the courage to tell the truth, to act now and to be the change we want to see. We pray for an immediate end to the use and extraction of fossil fuels. 

We dedicate the merit of our time and practice together to living beings throughout the world affected by the climate crisis, and to climate activists from all communities.

May all beings be well. May all beings be happy. May all beings be free from suffering.