Once, while I was teaching a large group workshop, I noticed a little card. On it was a poem or prayer that read: “Buddha nature pervades the whole universe, existing right here and now. I dedicate the merit of this practice to all sentient beings. Together, we realize liberation.”
As I read these words, I realized that this is true for everyone and everything. You can substitute, instead of “Buddha nature,” if you feel more comfortable, the word love, or God, or Jesus, or higher power, or any other spiritual figure. It does not matter. It simply means a kind, wise, and loving energy, perhaps with attributes beyond which we can comprehend, that fills the atoms and molecules and energetic particles of the whole universe—an energy from which we are made and precipitated, in a sense. This energy, this Buddha or God nature, exists right here and now, everywhere and all the time. You can dedicate the practice of your daily life to bringing about in a compassionate manner the advancement of all sentient beings; that is, all things have consciousness. Together—because every one of us is connected—we can realize liberation, which is freedom from the process of birth and death and rebirth, so that we can graduate from the school that we call Earth.
That word together, that one simple word, is crucial. There is such sacred energy in the gathering of the group. It is no accident, no coincidence that specific people come together at a certain time and for a collective purpose. There are no strangers. There is no separateness. No one stands alone.
For example, any particular group of people who are attending one of my workshops is not truly random. They are already connected to each other even before they have assembled, pulled in by some greater coordinating force. It is as if a cosmic magnet attracts those specific souls that are needed for that workshop. Soul mates and others, some of whom have shared past lives but have yet to meet in the present one, are brought together. These unions are actually reunions.
As I looked at the card, I remember thinking, How important this little prayer is. Then as I was teaching the course, with the words of this prayer still resonating in my mind, I understood that the 130 people who had come to this intensive course were assembled not just for their own purposes, and not just to experience a past life. What if God or a higher power had assembled these 130 people to heal three or four? What if the intention was, “Well, let’s get these particular 130 people and their unique energy to heal these three or four among their group who are in need?” What a privilege, what an honor, and what a blessing it would be to be included among these 130 people.
That gave a different perspective to me and to the entire group. We realized that miracles were happening. We merely had to open our eyes.
