You Could Call This a Prayer, or a Poem, or Both

If in this precious human life…

I may accomplish but one deed…

That if only for an instant…

Frees another being from the fires of suffering…

Then this precious human life…

Will not have been in vain.

How much more so…

Should I rejoice…

If I may work for the benefit of others…

With all of my existence.

In darkest darkness…

Shines a ray of light.

In coldest coldness…

Burns a warming fire.

None are so lost…

As to never be found.

So long as all life continues…

May I light the darkness.

So long as all life continues…

May I warm the cold.

So long as all life continues…

May I find the lost.

May I work for the benefit of all sentient beings…

So that tears of sorrow…

Are never again shed.

May I work for the benefit of all sentient beings…

So that cries of pain…

Are never again wailed.

May I work for the benefit of all sentient beings…

So that thoughts of despair…

Are never again felt.

May all beings…

Expiate the debt of past actions…

And forever wander…

In the bliss of Awakening.

The Frequency is Courage,

-Doug B.

P.S. Happy Victory in Europe Day, also known as the end of the last war that was ever worth fighting.

Pre-Adventure Jitters

Well then, in about eight hours I should be on a transatlantic flight bound for Doha, Qatar, the first leg in a day long journey which should find me in Kathmandu, Nepal by the end of the month of August. Before I arrive in the Himalayan foothills in which Kathmandu is nestled, I have two pressing concerns: learn the Tibetan Alphabet and write a paper. Both easier said than done. I have decided that somehow, I will accomplish each whilst at a cruising altitude of 30,000ft. Here's to procrastination. Since I got back home from my summer in another strange and foreign land, the Midwest, I have been involved in a long sequence of activities which I guess is what you might call my pre-adventure ritual. This ritual has taken the form of a number of arduous hikes on and off the Billy Goat Trail, DVR-ing and watching every show that I could find searching for "Nepal", "Tibet", "Bhutan", "Buddha", Buddhism", "Himalayas", "China", watching two BBC nature documentaries on Tibet and the River Ganges, and re-watching the finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender some six times by my last count. The final element of this ritual has been to hang up a new strand of Tibetan prayer flags for a safe journey, a safe return, and so that I may direct my time and experiences while abroad towards the benefit of all sentient beings. Well that's it for now. Goodbye USA, well meet again another day.

The Frequency is Courage (I'll explain what that means in a future blogpost)
- Doug B.