the plantain tree
only bears fruit once,
however,
the marvelous tree
of bodhicitta
will bear its fruit
and grow unceasingly.*
bodhicitta is the mind state
of a bodhisattva,
a person who vows
to save all beings.
I used to think
all beings meant
every being,
but now
(at least to me)
it means
no being
is too small
to exclude.
like the smaller
parts of me,
and how my body
feels
with each action
I take.
i can be
a bodhisattva
by figuring out
how to
stop arriving
at work
five minutes late.
so,
my mornings
can be
gentler,
and tightness
can choose not
to visit my chest.
*taken from The Way of the Bodhisattva by Shantideva
