May all beings be at ease! A Buddhist #PrayerforEveryone

Let none deceive another,

Or despise any being in any state.
Let none through anger or ill-will
Wish harm upon another.
Even as a mother protects with her life
    Her child, her only child,
So with a boundless heart
    Should one cherish all living beings;

— from the Karaniya-Metta Sutta, translated by the Amaravati Sangha, from accesstoinsight.com (emphasis added).

Today I join fellow Patheos bloggers across traditions in supporting and promoting the #PrayerforEveryone Global Goals for Sustainable Development, an initiative of the ONE Campaign:

This September, world leaders will commit to the Global Goals for Sustainable Development to achieve three extraordinary things by 2030. End extreme poverty. Fight inequality and injustice. Combat climate change. The Global Goals for sustainable development could get these things done. In all countries. For all people.

But to achieve these Goals, everyone needs to know about them.

From September 24 to October 1, everyone from every faith, every walk of life, everywhere, can take part in Prayer for Everyone by sharing the Goals with their faith community and their friends.

ONE, Project Everyone, and Global Goals invite you to join us and champion the Goals through the teachings and practices of your faith.

Offer your #PrayerforEveryone and tell everyone about the world you hope to see in 2030.

The world I hope to see in 2030, when I will turn 50, is a world in which all people hold the teachings of the Buddha’s Karaniya-Metta Sutta (aka the metta sutta) in their hearts. It is a short sutta, in poetic verse, which begins simply:

This is what should be done
By one who is skilled in goodness,
And who knows the path of peace:
Let them be able and upright,
Straightforward and gentle in speech,
Humble and not conceited,
Contented and easily satisfied,
Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.

From the Buddhist perspective all  problems boil down to three simple things: greed, hatred, and delusion. Sometimes they’re boiled down one step further, where just delusion remains. The delusion of a separate, immutable self is the chief error of humanity. With this belief we see ourselves as somehow apart from the suffering of poverty, safe from issues of inequality and injustice, and insulated from the disasters that will befall a planet gripped by climate change.

On a deep, metaphysical level, understanding the lack of such a self is extremely difficult and really getting it would be tantamount to awakening (enlightenment) itself. On a more basic level, though, we can see our interconnections with other beings on a step-by-step basis. The metta sutta draws us toward this with powerful emotional language: “Even as a mother protects with her life her child, her only child…” We owe our very flesh and blood and survival to our mothers. This should evoke a powerful sense of love and gratitude. And this emotion is then turned outward to the whole world, “So, with a boundless heart, one should cherish all beings.”

Impossible as this may seem, it is the aspiration of Buddhists around the world (this sutta is chanted regularly by Theravadins, both lay and monastic, while other similar universal aspirations are held by Mahayana Buddhists).

Cherishing all beings, we vow to eradicate global poverty.

Cherishing all beings, inequality and injustice reach into our homes and our hearts each day.

Cherishing all beings, the harm of climate change is felt in every breath.

Overcoming our fundamental ignorance is sure to be a lifelong battle. Learning to observe and respond skillfully to moments of greed and aversion, while still difficult, is a powerful way that we can as individuals work toward these goals. In the face of anger or aversion let us train to be humble and not conceited. In the face of greed let us not be anxious consumers but rather contented and easily satisfied.

If you want to put some money where your heart is, you might join me in donating to Buddhist Global Relief, a non-profit created by Bhikkhu Bodhi to respond to the needs of the world around us. They have programs on the ground around the world tackling each of these three issues.  You can also simply spread the word. Talk to friends and family about these issues, look for ways in your own life that changes can be made around you, including pushing for broad political action.