From beginningless time until now, countless
     unwholesome actions have been performed,
     knowingly or unknowingly, due to ignorance.
The results of these actions are continuously coming
     into consciousness now, creating great suffering.
I feel remorse for having been involved in such
      actions.
They are like poison, and with all my heart, I wish to
     be free of them.
May I never perform such actions again.

Also from beginningless time, I and all beings,
     including all the saints and Buddhas of all time,
     have performed countless wholesome actions.
I rejoice in, and feel my life supported by, this
      wondrous ocean of positive energy.
May all my actions increase this wholesome force.

May I never give up the realization of total,
      unformed potential.
May I never reduce myself or any other being to the
      false understanding of seeing them as a
      permanent self or object.

Until I am able to abide without clinging in that
      realization, I will take Refuge -- in the Buddha as
      guide, the Dharma as path, and the Sangha as
      spiritual companion.

May all my actions be motivated by the wish to
      decrease the suffering of all beings.

In order to fulfill that wish, I will do as all the
     Bodhisattvas have done -- as much as possible of
     whatever is necessary.

By the merit gained through this prayer may I
     awaken speedily for the sake of all beings.

In our culture we are very quick to identify and focus on the negative; we have a sort of pathological approach, intent on "purifying" or "fixing" what we think is wrong or out of balance in ourselves. But that Path can also be described as the augmentation of certain positive qualities which we all possess to some degree.

Of the six he identified, the Buddha taught that there was really only one that mattered -- generosity, and that if generosity was perfected, all the others, in an inevitable and developmental process, would be perfected too. Looked at from this point of view, for a meditator aspiring to liberation for the sake of all beings, the relationship to the dana bowl, to the outstretched hand of the street person, to the telephone call from the friend in crisis, is the most important personal relationship there is, save that with the Teacher her, or himself. The opportunity to give is our call to loosen, to let go of some part of ourselves in support of another. It is only through loosening the tight, ego-centered grasping which ties us to fixed views of about our own capacities that allows for the possibility of liberation.

This universe of which we are part is in a state of dynamic unfoldment which we can call flow. To fully realize our state of union with universe, or God, or Buddha-nature, whatever your language is for that concept which goes beyond language and concept, we must cease grasping and clinging to anything. It is very unlikely that a person will come to that state of total letting go, or flow, without a lot of practice. We are conditioned to hold on, to seek stability and permanence when our own senses give us continual evidence that no such states exist. In the face of such illogical behaviour, it is clear that we need to practice non-clinging deliberately and repeatedly, to break down these established habits of mind.

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