Underway

Since I didn't have much free time over the weekend, I am feeling pretty sluggish today. Yesterday was a day of high emotions, with a lot of love being expressed, especially by the parents of the young people completing the Coming of Age program, and that giddy end of term feeling that inevitably leads to a sense of loss and emptiness.
The zendo was nice and full for first morning of the practice period, as it should be, and the sun was pouring in beautifully during the second period.. I was thinking I would spend the morning pottering around and tidying up the paperwork and other things from the sitting, but Jordan added a little more urgency into proceedings by suggesting a new chant for noon service half way through the morning. I was happy to oblige, especially as I hadn't finalised all the sheets for what I thought we were doing, and also because it is a chant I am not familiar with, so it is something else to discover:

Torei Enji’s Bodhisattva Vow

When I, a student of Dharma,
Look at the real form of the universe,
All is the never-failing manifestation
Of the mysterious truth of the Tathagata.
In any event, in any moment, and in any place,
None can be other than the marvelous revelation
Of its glorious light.
This realization made our patriarchs and virtuous Zen masters
Extend tender care, with the heart of worshipping,
Even to such beings as beasts and birds.
This realization teaches us that our daily food and drink,
Clothes and protections of life, are the warm flesh and blood,
The merciful incarnation of Buddha.
Who can be ungrateful or not respectful
Even to senseless things, not to speak of man?
Even though he may be a fool,
Be warm and compassionate toward him.
If by an chance he should turn against us,
And become a sworn enemy, and abuse and persecute us, we should
Bow down with humble words, in reverent belief
That he is the merciful avatar of Buddha
Who uses devices to emancipate us from sinful karma
That has been produced and accumulated upon ourselves
By our own egoistic delusion and attachment
Through the countless cycles of Kalpa.
Then on each moment's flash of our thought
There will grow a lotus flower,
And on each lotus flower will be revealed a Buddha.
These Buddhas will glorify Sukhavati,
The Pure Land, every moment and everywhere.
May we extend This mind over the whole Universe
So that we and all beings together
May attain maturity in Buddha's wisdom.