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A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Emma - Lopen Ani Pema Deki

Good morning.

In Buddhism we think a lot about our motivation. What is the motivation for our life and for our spiritual practice?

We study this question of motivation in great depth and are encouraged to develop a vast motivation. This means one which is not just for one’s own benefit, but for the benefit and eventual enlightenment of all beings.

So, at the very start of my daily prayers I always remind myself of this vast motivation. I may even add a visualisation to the words, imagining as best I can all beings to be with me, some on my right side, some on my left side, others around me reaching out into an infinite space. All living beings some I have known well in this life, others friends and acquaintances, others animals, birds and of course limitless beings I have not met in this particular life. So, from the outside it may look like I am practicing alone but mentally I am not.

Buddhists wish all beings happiness and the causes of happiness, wish all beings to be free of suffering and the causes of suffering, to always be in a state of joy and to rest in a mental state of calm and equanimity. These are called the four vast contemplations or wishes.

From these wishes the idea is then to be more skillful in aligning them to what we do with our lives, moment by moment. If we make some kind of mistake, which we are bound to do, we regret it and then re-confirm that our wishes remain these vast contemplations and we continue onwards.

‘May all beings be at peace and may this begin with us’