From the 7th Dalai Lama

An adaptation from the writings of the seventh Dalai Lama, who passed on in 1757.

This short passage focuses on the essential ingredient in any relationship that is generosity. I’ve got a friend who once said to me ‘for a relationship to work, you need to give more than your fair share’.

Giving only our fair share means that come any disagreement, we may end up shrinking into ourselves. To help quest for harmony and increase, it might be worth asking on occasion, ‘do these words, thoughts or actions feel expansive or contracted?’

Imagine how it would feel if we had lived countless previous
Lives, and we found out that all living beings had
been our parents, and had shown us
Great kindness time and time again.
Great gratitude and an urge to repay them would arise in our hearts.
Let us think only of what brings good to others.
Subdue attachment and aversion, and instead dwell within
An attitude moist with the love that looks on all living beings
With pleasure,
Dwell in the compassion that wishes to see all beings freed from misery,
And in the mind of universal responsibility
That carries the weight of the welfare of the world.
Break of from the mentality that holds self above other.
Generate the open heart, which yearns
To be fully awakened for the sake of all,
And to have a firm will to train in the ways of all great awakened beings.
With the key of generosity bold and pure,
Spring the lock most difficult to open- the tightness of the heart.
Train in detachment,
Which gives whatever is needed.
The benefits of the generous mind
Excel all other treasures,
For they never end.
Develop fearless inner strength,
Able to give even flesh, bones and marrow to any one.