Watering seeds of joy

My mother, my father, they are in me,
and when I look, I see myself in them.
The Buddha, the Patriarchs, they are in me,
and when I look, I see myself in them.
I am a continuation of my mother and my father.
I am a continuation of all my blood ancestors.

It is my aspiration
to preserve and continue to nourish
seeds of goodness, seeds of skill,
seeds of happiness which I have inherited.
It’s also my desire to recognize
the seeds of fear and suffering I have inherited,
and bit by bit, to transform them, transform them.

I am a continuation of the Buddha, and the Patriarchs.
I am a continuation of all my spiritual teachers.
It is my deep aspiration
to preserve, develop, and nourish
seeds of understanding, seeds of love,
seeds of freedom which they have transmitted to me.

In my daily life, I also want
to sow seeds of love and compassion in
my own consciousness and in the heart of other people.
I am determined not to water the seeds of
craving, aversion, and violence in me.
I am determined not to water the seeds of
craving, aversion, and violence in others.

With resolve and with compassion,
I give rise to this aspiration:
May my practice be an offering of the heart.
May my practice be an offering of the heart.