The Energy of Prayer by Thich Nhat Hanh

Author:Thich Nhat Hanh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Parallax Press
Published: 2010-08-12T00:00:00+00:00

And forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors.

Our “debts” are the mistakes we’ve made towards our loved ones. We’ve said something, we’ve done something, or we’ve thought something. Our words, our actions, our thoughts have made the other person suffer, and these are the heavy debts we owe. How can we live in such a way that every day we can forgive others? We forgive because they do not have enough mindfulness, enough understanding, enough love, and they still have wrong perceptions. So we have to be able to let go of all of our resentment, because we also have made mistakes of the same nature towards other people. If we want our Father in heaven to forgive us, then we also have to forgive others for their mistakes, the debts that they have accumulated.

In our life, we may have made mistakes regarding our parents, our brothers and sisters, our friends, and we want to be forgiven. So we also have to forgive the shortcomings, the clumsiness, the faults, first above all of those in our family, our blood family. This is a practice, it is a prayer, a prayer we perform with our actions, and with the way we live. We should remember that Jesus himself taught the words of this prayer to his followers.

We may often have prayed well enough, but we still have not learned the deepest art of prayer. If we have a problem we call on the Buddha, we call on the bodhisattvas, we call on God to come and help us. There’s nothing wrong with that. We have the right to do it. But this kind of prayer is not made with the words of the greatest prayer, that is, to pray in such a way that we go beyond birth and death.

Often when we pray, it is because we want to ask God or the Buddha to do something that we cannot do. “Lord God, my loved one has a heart condition. God, please save him from this dangerous situation.” We send messages like that to God. “Lord, my brother has cancer. Please heal my brother.” In principle, God should know what he needs to do. But generally we just want to prescribe to God what he should do. We do this as if God does not know what is necessary, as if we need to say it clearly. But in fact, that one mind is much more wise than we are. What is even funnier, is that sometimes we bargain with the Buddha or with God. “Lord Buddha, if you give me that, then I will shave my head” or “I will be vegetarian for three months.” Sometimes we are even more specific about the price: “If my son or daughter passes the exam, then I will make offerings to ten temples.”

More than ten years ago I heard my close friend and disciple Sister Chan Khong praying in a similar way. She said, “Lord Buddha, how would it

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.