It is late in the evening and too late to be writing a post. So I am really glad to have found a posting from Canada I can point you towards. It reminds me of a happy day out while I was in Edmonton last year, when I encountered real wild buffalo. Having already heard of the encounter described below I kept my distance and had no need to call on a ‘higher power’. Interesting how god comes into the picture when the chips are down and extinction is close. If we had been raised Buddhist from the start we would no doubt call on Kanzeon for help. Calling for help is the important thing. It’s an act of faith, the object is less important.
I dove into the bushes and hid behind a tree, suddenly finding religion and praying to God: “Let me get out of this and I swear I’ll never do anything this stupid again.” I couldn’t see the buffalo from where I was crouched, but I could hear her stamping the ground and snorting. After a while the sounds faded, but I was too chastised to dare the trail again, so I skulked back to my car the long way, through the scratchy, tangled bushes, vowing never to take wild animals for granted.
Ah, i guess many of us have made such a “prayer” in adversity! I see nembutsu as a form of prayer, calling out to Amida. I work with people who speak of a “higher power” within the 12 steps, though have differing conceptions as to what that might mean. I am reminded of the “Quan Shi Yin Litany” – I would love to hear more about calling out to Kanzeon in your tradition.
If you go to http://www.dharmacloud.org/scriptures.htm the Scripture of Avalokiteshwara Bodhisattva is printed there. It tells of the ways to call on “Kanzeon’s great power”.
Thank you, Angie
It’s your basic ‘looking up’, with words. Some people are more devotional by nature and others not so.