Prayer: An Upright Path
O Compassionate Ones,
Knowing how fragile peace is,
how inescapable impermanence is,
how small the distance between help and harm,
how thin the membrane between life and death—
Guide me today on a path of uprightness.
Help me refrain from doing harm.
Help me refrain from greed.
Help me speak the truth.
Help me keep a clear mind.
Help me create a spaciousness of patience and grace
for imperfection in myself and others.
Help me do something good today
and not settle for insistence
on my own innocence, or my own powerlessness.