Earth teach me stillness as the grasses are stilled with light.

Earth teach me suffering as old stone suffer with memory.

Earth teach me humility as blossoms are humble with beginning.

Earth teach me caring as the mother who secures her young.

Earth teach me courage as the tree which stands alone.

Earth teach me limitation as the ant which crawls on the ground.

Earth teach me freedom as the eagle which soars in the sky.

Earth teach me regeneration as the seed which rises in the spring.

Earth teach me to forget myself as melted snow forgets its life.

Earth teach me to remember kindness as dry fields weep in the rain.

– John Yellow Lark


Blessed are the curious, for their curiosity honors reality.

Blessed are the uncertain and those with second thoughts, for their minds are still open.

Blessed are the wonderers, for they shall find what is wonderful.

Blessed are those who question their answers, for their horizons will expand forever.

Blessed are those who often feel foolish, for they are wiser than those who think themselves wise.

Blessed are those who are scolded, suspected and labeled as heretics by the gatekeepers, for the prophets and mystics were treated in the same way by the gatekeepers of their day.

Blessed are those who know their unknowing, for they shall have the last laugh.

Blessed are the perplexed, for they have reached the frontiers of contemplation.

Blessed are they who become cynical about their cynicism and suspicious of their suspicion, for they will enter the second innocence.

Blessed are the doubters, for they shall see through false gods.

Blessed are the lovers, for they shall see God everywhere.

– Brian McLearen


Divine Spirit

Grant me the patience to face life with a calm heart.

Help me trust in Your timing

And find peace in waiting.

– circa 2025


First, I am water.

– circa 2022


In the name of the daybreak

And the eyelids of morning

And the wayfaring moon

And the night when it departs

I swear I will not dishonor my soul with hatred

But offer myself humbly

As a guardian of nature

As a healer of misery

As a messenger of wonder

As an architect of peace

In the name of the sun and its mirrors

And the day that embraces it

And the cloud veils drawn over it

And the uttermost night

And the male and the female

And the plants bursting with seed

And the crowning seasons of the firefly and the apple

I will honor all life

Wherever and in whatever form it may dwell

On Earth my home

And in the mansions of the stars

– School Prayer


I bow with humility

I bow with respect and gratitude

I bow to face my own imperfection and surrender

– The Three Prostrations


With a wish to free all beings

I shall always go for refuge

To the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha

Until I reach full Enlightenment

Enthused by wisdom and compassion

Today in the Buddha’ presence

I generate the mind for full awakening

For the benefit of all sentient beings

As long as space endures

As long as sentient beings remain

Until then, may I too remain

And dispel the miseries of the world.

– Kundun’s Prayer


Tell your story around the fire and feel its power, tell it again and you are forgiven, tell it three times and you are no longer welcome around the fire until you have found the new story to tell within you.  

– Toltec invocation


I am loving awareness.

– Ram Dass


I can let go of this; I can let go of this too; I can let go of this soon.

– circa 2020


Being are numberless; I vow to save them.

Delusions are inexhaustible; I vow to end them.

Dharma gates are numberless; I vow to enter them.

Buddha way is unsurpassable; I vow to become it.

– Boddhisattva Vows


May I be the protector to those without protection

A leader for those who journey

And a boat, a bridge, a passage

For those desiring the further shore.

May the pain of every living creature

Be completely cleared away.

May I be the doctor and the medicine

And may I be the nurse

For all sick beings in the world

Until everyone is healed

Just like space

And the great elements such as Earth

May I always support the Life

Of all the boundless creatures

And until they pass away from pain

May I also be the source of life

For all the realms of varied beings

That reach unto the ends of space.

– Shantideva’s Prayer