I first came across this poem last year, and was grateful to see it come up again in my email. Learning to befriend all is a worthy endeavor to begin in Lent and to continue for as long as we live - maybe even longer. I particularly like the phrase, "make the mind your friend." There really is no other way to calm the mind without first befriending it. A calm mind can help everyone and everything around us be a little calmer. And then calmness can continue on its beautiful journey.
Fear cannot lead us home. It does not know the way.
"Full of trust you left home,
and soon learned to walk the Path—
making yourself a friend to everyone
and making everyone a friend.
When the whole world is your friend,
fear will find no place to call home.
And when you make the mind your friend,
you’ll know what trust
really means.
Listen.
I have followed this Path of friendship to
its end.
And I can say with absolute certainty—
it will lead you home."
~ Mitta
From The First Free Women: Poems of the Early Buddhist Nuns
making yourself a friend to everyone
and making everyone a friend.
When the whole world is your friend,
fear will find no place to call home.
And when you make the mind your friend,
you’ll know what trust
really means.
Listen.
I have followed this Path of friendship to
its end.
And I can say with absolute certainty—
it will lead you home."
~ Mitta
From The First Free Women: Poems of the Early Buddhist Nuns
image: Lake Chabot
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