Lesson Twelve: Buddhist Living

(bhcheah) #1
I Shall Live This Day!

Worry not about the past or future but do now
what needs to be done: this is the secret of a
happy and successful life. I shall not cry over
yesterday's sorrow, mistakes and misfortunes
for I cannot go back into the past to reshape
them. Neither shall I burden myself with fears,
anxieties and worries that may never happen.


Yesterday passes like a memory and tomorrow
is only a vision. There is one moment I can have
that is now. Living today well fills my every
yesterday with memories of happiness and my
every tomorrow with visions of hope.


I shall live this day of my life as if it is my last. I
shall greet the sunrise with joy, for there are
many who lived to see the sunrise yesterday
but not today. Every moment of this day is
precious for what great king can purchase one
minute more of his life even at the price of his
entire kingdom.


Therefore, I shall not waste time for life is short:
to court laziness is to make it shorter. I shall
seek to destroy procrastination with action,
laziness with energy, and fear with confidence,
for these are great dissipators of time.


Today I shall love my dear ones while they are
still with me and I with them. I shall help a
friend in troubled waters and give myself in
service and work for the weal of all. Today I
shall pay my highest respects to the Triple Gem
by following the Master's teachings and his
august example. Today I shall resolve to avoid
doing evil, to perform the good and to cleanse
my mind.


Life is not valued by how long but how nobly it
is lived. Though my life may wear and fade, I
shall never allow it to rust. My life today opens
like a new empty page waiting to be written. It
will be well filled, for today I shall live my life as
if it is my last.


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