this day, many things occurring, many more coming clearer, thanks to the aid of others and the insights given in study and practice.
this item, long overdue, set here gently and with mindfulness, in honor of one longly and wrongly begrudged.
i would ask forgiveness, but even the sound of my voice is a hated thing. evidence of my own failings and unskillfulness.
the past cannot be changed. but the future is infinite possibility. may benefit to all others be without such impediments as have been ignorantly placed by me.
Practice 14 – Even if someone broadcasts throughout the billion worlds all sorts of offensive remarks about one, speaking in turn of that person’s qualities with a loving mind is the bodhisattvas’ practice.
the things i know of michael paul gomez are known implicitly, but they are known. michael is a dedicated and loyal person, a tireless friend, a thoughtful and close confidant, and a studious seeker of truth.
his life is filled with examples of dedication to the benefit and welfare of others, of the world. a champion of the world itself, and all things in it, he tends the things that have no voices, coaxing from them life. michael seeks good things of others, and strives to have them blossom. a repairman, a gardener, a visionary, he is often found in places others have abandoned, gently straightening things and setting his own essence and energy into proximity to feed and nourish ruins once more to life.
a student of design and interface, his thoughts run often to ways in which to deliver learning and benefit to others. be it by educating them on how to care for the world in which we live to how to make the most of what benefits are to be found in technology, to demonstrating by example how to nourish others.
michael takes upon himself the pains of others, and seeks in this way to rid the world of suffering. to read his works is to find a soft, gently glowing center of humility and kindness, forever pointing away from himself that others might be highlighted.
Practice 15 – Even if, in the midst of a public gathering, someone exposes faults and speaks ill of one, humbly paying homage to that person, perceiving him as a spiritual friend, is the bodhisattvas’ practice.
it is impossible that i would have entered this stream were it not for the spiritual friendship and efforts of michael. in every moment he has rigorously challenged those things most in need of rebuke, and he has been consistent in this his insistance that all things of impediment and suffering be cast utterly aside. in this, more than most, michael has been the most diligent and noble sort of spiritual friend — uncompromising and tenacious — and i honor him in every way for the teachings his efforts deliver.
Practice 16 – Even if someone for whom one has cared as a lovingly as his only child regards one as an enemy, to cherish that person as dearly as a mother does an ailing child is the bodhisattvas’ practice.
here, an admission of my own ignorance and many flaws. i have not cared for michael as his kindnesses of spiritual friendship deserve. in this moment, seeing how the aversions here have wronged him, i set myself to more fully appreciate and cherish michael as the active daka of insight and learning that he is. in this moment, having meditated upon these many things, and standing without escape before the rightful outcomes of my own ills, finally i realize the care and love he deserves, and i purpose to develop these things more fully, that no longer might i deal hatred where only care is due.
Practice 17 – Even if, influenced by pride, an equal or inferior person treats one with contempt, respectfully placing him like a guru at the crown of one’s head is the bodhisattvas’ practice.
by including michael as a rightful teacher in this ongoing practice, i acknowledge his right as manifestation of daka wisdom to instruct and aid and deliver.
Practice 31 – If having merely the appearance of a practitioner, one does not investigate one’s own mistakes, it is possible to act contrary to the dharma. Therefore constantly examining one’s own errors and abandoning them is the bodhisattvas’ practice.
these many months of effort toward this end, all of which are mindfully recorded here, both positive and negative, both mindful and thoughtless, both helpful and harmful, all these things i record and dissect… they are pressed memories, weeds and flowers alike… to help my stubborn mind to practice and learn right ways and to find the way to abandon that which is contrary to the Dharma.
i am so very unskilled in this moment, ignorant and pitiful and weak…. but i rest my certainty in the peerless, skillful means of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in the three spheres and undertake this practice seeking aid and mercy and to more fully learn that perhaps, someday, i may benefit all sentient beings.
Practice 34 – Because harsh words disturb others minds and cause the bodhisattvas conduct to deteriorate, abandoning harsh speech which is unpleasant to others is the bodhisattvas’ practice.
i commit to more tenderly speak to others. but more than this, i commit also to abandon the ego and anger from which harsh words spring. so often i fail. so often. this practice, and all practices in this moment and forward, may they lend benefit to others and if there is any benefit to me, may it be only in relation to becoming more skillful in my relation to others that i do not impede these benefits.
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all the above will i read aloud and contemplate, each night in the evening meditation, until the convictions of my actions and thoughts no longer ring like sirens in my mind, my heart, and my spirit and until the heaviness of my own unskillfulness is lifted.
om benza sattva hum.
om mani padme hum.