THE SEVEN PART BUDDHIST PRAYER
ADAPTED BY PHILIP B. ROSENTHAL
There is a seven part traditional prayer that I learned from the American Buddhist writer Pema Chodron that I have adapted and teach to my clients.
The tradition is to send a prayer from one’s heart seven times, with seven different destinations imagined.
Send a prayer to yourself.
Send a prayer to someone in your very close circle of caring.
Send a prayer to someone in your circle of caring, but within the larger circle, not the bullseye of the circle.
Send a prayer to someone or some group that you are neutral about.
Send a prayer to someone who vexes you, whom you have some negative feelings about.
Send a prayer to all humans.
Send a prayer to all sentient beings.
That is the sequence, and when I use it or teach it, I follow that sequence, one prayer at a time.
I try to include a range of “sizes” of prayers, from prayers which are for very very big changes to prayers which are for very small changes. (See the piece ME, PRAYING? for details about sizes of prayers)
Here’s what it might sound like:
Prayer One: To Myself
May I slow down a little today, despite how much seems on my plate to do.
May I allow the love around me to get in a little more or a little deeper.
May I take a little more risk and learn to handle the unfamiliarity and uncomfortableness.
Prayer Two: To a Dear One
May Judy be warmed by my love and the love from her “village”
May Judy take a little more time to stop doing what she has to do and do a little more of what tickles her fancy.
May Judy take the time for herself even when that goes against my immediate wants.
Prayer Three: To Someone in the Larger Circle of Caring
May all middle aged psychologists get a little more physical activity today.
May all middle aged psychologists remind themselves that their work does have meaning.
May my cousin’s wife and my cousin be comforted in their grief about losing their nephew to an off-road vehicle accident. May the child’s memory be a blessing to the parents and his sibs.
Prayer Four: To Someone I’m Neutral Toward
(I look around my room for clues or leads. I take what I see and find a group to connect to)
May all the workers in the factory that produced my computer screen be able to earn a livable wage.
May all people who lay down carpets do so without cutting themselves with their blades.
May all mailmen find ways to keep their minds alive and positive as they go about their deliveries.
Prayer Five: To Mine Enemy
I pick someone who has recently rubbed me the wrong way or rubs me the wrong way in general and send a prayer or two to them.
May N, (who is leaving my office suite, and leaving me an office to rent)…..may N find a balance of office time and out-of-office time that works better for her and family. May N find a place to work that fits her needs.
My brother in law J has very little to say to me and never asks for my advice though I’ve asked his opinion and for his help many many times.
J, may you enjoy your grandchildren and have many years with them. J, may you experiment with stretching some of your boundaries and see if it pleases you.
Prayer Six: To All Humans
May all people…..those who are so cold they need to wear layers and layers of clothing….and those who live in such warm places that it’s best to wear almost no clothing….those who have advanced degrees and those who cannot read or write…..may all these people have shelter tonight.
Prayer Seven: To All Sentient Creatures
May all sentient creatures…..those who swim, those who fly, those who wriggle. Those that are as big as a whale….those that are smaller than a flea…..May all those creatures be free of pain today.
I imagine myself going to the EMOTIONAL SPIRITUAL GYM and with this set of prayers working out at the HEART apparatus, which has seven stations. It’s not unlike a physical gym. Working from each station gives a somewhat different angle and adds a different kind of strengthening.
I may have altered the traditional Buddhist prayer practice by having the prayers be as specific and verbally precise as I have made them. In the traditional practice it might have been more global and less wordy. There is absolutely nothing wrong with “I send my fullest love to my wife” or “I send pure light and heart to my brother in law”.
Adding to the words and making them specific prayers for specific aspirations and changes cultivates an expressive vocabulary. By stretching oneself to find specific wishes a person does expand his mind and its possibilities.
I recommend to my patients who experience insomnia that they do the seven part prayer as practice when they find they cannot sleep or get back to sleep.
The seven part prayer is a good alternative to simply tossing and turning and fretting and often turning pointed attention to all the images, experiences and outcomes that we don’t want.
Sending prayers out into the world is a good thing to do, especially if the alternative is worrying.
By having small prayers as well as the very big ones we are creating in imagination a set of stairs to ascend, a different arc of what may be coming than the arc of worry.