I must keep my link bright and strong.
I will try to be kind and gentle to every living thing and protect all who are weaker than myself.
I will try to think pure and beautiful thoughts, to say pure and beautiful words,
and do pure and beautiful deeds.
May every link in Lord Buddha's golden chain of love become bright and strong,
and may we all attain perfect peace.
-The Golden Chain of Love
But here's how it works in my life today: every time I think of something pure and beautiful, other pure and beautiful things follow, like beads on a string. My thoughts are echoed by what people say around me, I'll see it in print or on the screen. Sometimes within minutes, often within twenty-four hours.
Here's an example. A couple of days ago I read an excerpt from a soon to be released book, "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide" by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. The stories told, read like fictional accounts of people living on another planet because it's hard to fathom that women just a few time zones away, are living within such severe and confining traditions. It's easy to place blame on the men in those societies but then I remembered saying, over and over when I was very young, "May every link in Lord Buddha's golden chain of love, become bright and strong".
I also remembered watching Zainab Salbi, founder of Women for Women, explain to a talk show audience how important it was to raise the status of women by not degrading or neglecting their oppressors, male or female. I decided to read "Half the Sky" when it's published but I already know how I want to respond to it. I want to encourage every person I come into contact with to be bright and strong. Man, woman and child. Maybe it will catch on and we can all encourage each other.