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Certainly, -Amelia Pond-.

We will perhaps begin with a mantra we repeat eight times whenever we come across beings struck and killed by vehicles on the roads that we see on our travels or remembering loved ones that have passed, or known to soon pass from view.

May it ease their suffering.

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Teyata Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Soha

Sanskrit: गते गते पार गते पार संगते बोधि स्वाहा

Recited here by Deval Premal and the Gyuto Monks of Tibet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJQT29uzS7g&ra=m

It means, Gone, (beyond the shore of suffering) Gone, (beyond the shore of suffering) Gone to the other shore, gone completely to the other shore-Enlightenment!

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It is part of the Heart Sutra, a Buddhist mantra, the Prajnaparamita (“Perfection of Wisdom”) section of the Mahayana Buddhist canon.

Thich Nhat Hạnh writes: “Avalokiteshvara’s mantra is “Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha.”

Gate means gone. Gone from suffering to the liberation from suffering. Gone from forgetfulness to mindfulness.

- Gone from duality into nonduality. Gate gate means gone, gone. Paragate means gone all the way to the other shore.

So this mantra is said in a very strong way. Gone, gone, gone all the way over. In parasamgate, sam means everyone, the Sangha, the entire community of beings.

Everyone gone over to the other shore. Bodhi is the light inside, enlightenment, or awakening. You see it and the vision of reality liberates you. ---And svaha is a cry of joy or excitement, like “ah!” or “hurrah!” or “hallelujah!”

“Gone, gone, gone all the way over, everyone gone to the other shore, enlightenment!”

That is what the bodhisattva uttered.
When we listen to this mantra, we should bring ourselves into that state of attention and concentration, so that we can receive the strength emanated by Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva.

- We do not recite the Heart Sutra like singing a song, or with our intellect alone. If you practice the meditation on emptiness, if you penetrate the nature of interbeing with all your heart, your body, and your mind, you will realize a state that is quite concentrated. If you say the mantra then, with all your being, the mantra will have power and you will be able to
have real communication, real communion with Avalokiteshvara, and you will be able to transform yourself in the direction of enlightenment.

--This text is not just for chanting, or to be put on an altar for worship. It is given to us as a tool to work for our liberation, for the liberation of all beings. It is like a tool for farming, given to us so that we may farm. This is the gift of Avalokita.

--There are three kinds of gifts. The first is the gift of material resources.The second is the gift of knowledge, the gift of the Dharma. The third, the highest kind of gift, is the gift of non-fear. Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva is someone who can help us liberate ourselves from fear. This is the heart of the Prajñaparamita. Svaha!”

- Thich Nhat Hạnh

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🕉️☸️☯️