The Buddhist Peace Fellowship is organizing rallies across the nation in support of the monks in Burma. They are hoping that Saturday will be an International Day of Protest against the ruling junta's mass executions and imprisonment of monks. They are also asking people to wear red or maroon--the saffron color of a monk's robes. Here is the link to see if there's a protest near you and to stay updated on these protests.
Calendar of vigils on the BPF website are updated regularly, so please keep checking it.
http://www.bpf.org/...
The Burmese monks and lay people in their protests have been chanting the Buddha's words on lovingkindness. Many people often shorten these to: may all beings be free of suffering, may all beings be happy, may all beings be peaceful. The BPF is asking that those attending the protests recite those phrases or actual verses from the Lovingkindness Sutta which in pali [and english] include these :
- Na ca khuddam samacare kinci
Yena vinnu pare upavadeyyum
Sukhino va khemino hontu
Sabbe satta bhavantu sukhitatta
Also, let them not do the slightest thing
That the wise would later reprove.
Let them cultivate the thought:
May all be well and secure,
May all beings be happy
- Ye keci panabhut atthi
Tasa va thavara va anavasesa
Digha va ye mahata va
Majjhima rassakanukathula
Whatever living creatures there be,
Without exception, weak or strong
Long, huge or middle-sized,
Or short, minute or bulky.
- Dittha va yeva adittha
Ye ca dure vasanti avidure
Bhuta va sambhavesi va
Sabbe satta bhavantu sukhitatta
Whether visible or invisible,
And those living far or near,
The born and those seeking birth,
May all beings be happy
- Na paro param nikubbetha
Natimannetha katthainam kanci
Byarosana patighasanna
Nannamannassa dukkham iccheyya
Let none deceive another
Or despise any being in any state;
Let none wish others harm
In resentment or in hate.
- Mata yatha niyam puttam
Ayusa ekaputtam anurakkhe
Evampi sabbabhutesu
Manasam bhavaye aparimanam
Just as with her own life
A mother shields her child,
her only child, from hurt
Let all-embracing thought
For all beings be yours.
- Mettan ca sabba-lokasmim
Manasam bhavaye aparimanam
Uddham adho ca tiriyanca
Asambadham averam asapattam
Cultivate a limitless heart of goodwill
For all throughout the cosmos,
In all its height, depth and breadth --
Love that is untroubled
And beyond hatred or enmity.
- Titthan caram nisinno va
Sayano va yavat assa vigatamiddho
Etam satim adhittheyya
Bramhamam etam viharam idhamahu
As you stand, walk, sit or lie,
So long as you are awake,
Pursue this awareness with your might:
It is deemed the Divine Abiding -here and now.
- Ditthinca anupagamma silava
Dassanena sampanno
Kamesu vineyya gedham
Na hi jatu gabbhaseyyam punar eti ti
Holding no more to wrong views,
A pure-hearted one, having clarity
of vision, being freed from all sense desires,
Is not born again into this world.
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