In order to start, please put the attention on the breath for just a few moments.
We’re going to fill our heart with forgiveness for ourselves, for anything that we dislike in ourselves, for anything that we think we’ve done wrong, thought or said wrong, anything that is a burden, we’re going to forgive ourselves, fill ourselves with forgiveness, surround ourselves with forgiveness and feeling the ease that that brings.
If there’s anyone among those present that we have found doing anything we dislike we’ll forgive that person completely and forgive ourselves for having had the dislike, no matter what the reason may have been.
We’ll think of our parents whether they are still alive or not and forgive them for anything that we have blamed them for, realizing that if it was unpleasant, it came out of their dukkha. Forgive them completely. Let our hearts reach out to them, open, without any negative feeling in it and we can see that that eases our own burden.
We’ll think of those people who are closest to us with whom we live possibly, and forgive them for anything that we have blamed them for, for any thoughts, speech or actions that we didn’t agree with, give them the gift of our loving hearts and realize that we’re letting go of a burden.
And we think of friends, and acquaintances, and relatives, and our forgiveness reaches out to their hearts knowing that anything they may have thought said or done, which we didn’t agree with was due to their dukkha. We let it all disappear into the past.
And we think of those people we meet in our everyday life and if there has been any dislike or rejection we forgive them completely--reach out with love and compassion and feel connected to them.
Now we’ll think of the most difficult person that we have ever encountered in our life and recognize the dukkha in that person’s heart and forgive that person completely for anything they may have thought, said, or done. And let the warmth of the heart reach out to that person feeling the easing of the burden.
And we’ll think of those people whose ideology or actions we have disliked or blamed, and realize that there is a person behind all that which is dukkha and we forgive the person. Anyone who comes to mind in the past or the present for doing things we reject, forgive that person and wish them well. And we open our hearts very wide and let forgiveness flow out of it to the people near and far. First of all to everyone who is here, giving them the gift of a loving and open heart, objecting and disliking nothing, no one.
To everyone present in the monastery, rejecting, disliking nothing and no one. Giving the gift of the loving open heart that can forgive whatever it may have harbored and then we’ll let the stream of forgiveness reach out into the world to the people around here and further and further so that with the heart which rejects no one, our togetherness and lovingness can touch as many people as possible.
We’ll put our attention back on ourselves and if there is anything left that we need to forgive ourselves for we’ll do that now. Everything we have to forgive ourselves for is in the past, it’s all gone and we can see quite clearly that in the present the heart can be loving and need not retain any of those feelings which do not bring happiness. So forgive the person we were, who thought and said and did things we may not approve of, and lovingly embrace that person that we are now.
May people everywhere forgive each other.
| Back to Leigh's Home Page | Site Map | Site Search |
/ Revised 10 Apr 06