Archive for the buddhism category

The Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

My friend A over at Rainbow Ruminations recently introduced me to the Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi through this post. It has already inspired me in my daily life, and is very much in line with the Buddhist teachings of compassion that Vipassana has awakened in me. It is so easy to use the difficult situations and/or bad moods of the environment and people around you as an excuse to have a bad attitude yourself. It is perhaps more difficult, yet so simple to take the opposite tack and see every one of these external situations or moods as an opportunity to exemplify one’s saintly nature. This is the true meaning of our lives on this planet. Continuing the trend of words through pictures, I am posting my desktop background with the newly added text of The Prayer of Saint Francis.

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.

link to desktop background version

(photo courtesy of Giant Ginkgo)