The Perfect Prayer for Our Time

The two most urgent problems of our time are human violence and violence against nature. The following prayer from the Jain religion in India is the best expression I have found anywhere for making us aware of our destructive tendencies and actions, and to approach life with reverence and humility. I quote it in my new book, Why People Pray, in a chapter titled “A New Language of Prayer.”

May you, O Revered One! Voluntarily permit me. I would like to confess my sinful acts committed while walking. I honor your permission. I desire to absolve myself of the sinful acts by confessing them. I seek forgiveness from all those living beings which I may have tortured while walking, coming and going, treading on living organism, seeds, green grass, dew drops, ant hills, moss, live water, live earth, spider web and others. I seek forgiveness from all these living beings, be they—one sensed, two sensed, three sensed, four sensed or five sensed. Which I may have kicked, covered with dust, rubbed with ground, collided with other, turned upside down, tormented, frightened, shifted from one place to another or killed and deprived them of their lives. (By confessing) may I be absolved of all these sins.

War does not solve anything, it only creates more wars.

How do we put an end to war?

By praying for peace in one voice.

There are many religions and many races, but there is only one God.

No matter what name you use or do not use, there is only one humanity and only one source of life.

Let us pray to the one Source of Life, and let us sanctify life.

And let us pray for all people, not only for ourselves.

And let us do all within our power to leave our children and children’s children a world at peace.

Peace, paix, paz, salaam, shalom.

By Mordecai Schreiber, author of the new book WHY PEOPLE PRAY: THE UNIVERSAL POWER OF PRAYER.

March-April, 2016

Our five-week cruise to the Far East and Southeast Asia ended in Singapore, where we took the plane back to the States. We visited seven countries: Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, China, the Philippines, and Burnei, which were covered in my previous three blogs.

Now that I start looking back, it is clear to me we had covered a vast portion of the world in a rather short time, and many of our impressions may be superficial. But some things stand out, and in this concluding blog I would like to point them out and highlight a few things.

Koreans eating at an open market in Busan (formerly Pusan), South Korea

Korea

We only spent one day in South Korea, which the locals simply call Korea, since they do not recognize North Korea as a separate country. Here we see Koreans eating their lunch at an open market in Busan. The menu in the Far East countries is similar yet different, which is true about everything else there. It takes getting used to for foreigners, since the Western versions are quite different.

Like China and Japan, South Korea is industrialized and has the super-rich and the super-poor. In China, which is only nominally communistic, there are reported to be more billionaires than in the U.S.

Men at mosque courtyard in Bandar Seri Begawan, Burnei’s capital

Burnei

How many people have been to Burnei or know where it is? It is a small Muslim country in the northwestern corner of the island of Borneo ruled by a sultan who is one of the richest people in the world (if not the richest), since his family has ruled this benign sultanate for centuries and it now has oil and natural gas resources far exceeding the needs of its population.

Marina Bay Sands resort complex, designed by Moshe Safdie

Singapore

Speaking of the world’s richest people, here is a view from our hotel room in Singapore of the Marina Bay Sands resort complex, designed by famed Israeli architect Moshe Safdie, and owned by Jewish American mogul Sheldon Edelstein. It is one of the world’s architectural wonders. Perched on three huge buildings (only two show here), some 60-storey up in the air it holds up a structure resembling a ship, with world-class restaurants and a park complete with palm trees. We had dinner there as guests of a couple who is good friends of Edelstein the night before departing for the States.

Statue of General Douglas MacArthur on Corregidor Island In the Philippines.

The Philippines

Not nearly as prosperous as the three industrial giants of the Far East, the Philippines are a close ally of the U.S., and one of the best proofs is Corregidor Island at the mouth of Manila Bay, which has been converted into one of the most impressive and elaborate memorials of World War II. Here the boys of both nations fought and died under the legendary general, Douglas MacArthur, who eventually broke the back of the Japanese invaders and, with the help of the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ended the war which the Japanese were prepared to carry on indefinitely.

Has the world learned the lessons of the bloodiest conflict in world history? The jury is still out on this one.

Monument at Nagasaki’s peace garden in memory of the dropping of the atomic bomb in 1945.

Japan

We end with Japan because of the incredibly moving peace park in Nagasaki, dominated by the above statue, and containing sculptures from many countries with one message: let there be peace on earth.

After visiting Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and China, we sailed to the Philippines.

The heart of the Philippines is Manila, a sprawling city that does not rival cities like Shanghai or Hong Kong, because it lacks the economic power of China. Yet we found the local people to be charming and resilient. Better yet, their history in the past 100 years is closely linked to the United States, and they were happy to see us.

Our cruise line, the Seabourn, had started a great gesture to the many Filipino crew members, by inviting their families to the pier for a festive lunch in white tents erected on the pier. When the ship sailed away, the families came back to say goodbye with music and dance, and many a passenger wiped a tear from his or her eye.

We visited the island of Corregidor, which guards the bay of Manila. The name Corregidor is seared in the collective memory of the Filipino and the American people, because of their common stand against the invading Japanese during World War II. The entire island is a memorial to those who fought here and gave their lives to keep their countries and the rest of the world free from tyranny.

The Spanish, who ruled the Philippines for three centuries, are not remembered fondly here. They did little to improve the lot of the native population. They do, however, speak fondly of the U.S., who came here a century ago and whose national destiny became intertwined with that of the Filipinos.

Manila gives us the big welcome

 

Japan and China, March-April 2016

After leaving Taiwan we spent five days in Japan, one in South Korea, and three in China. Everywhere we went we saw people praying. What China and Japan have in common is Buddhism and cherry blossoms, which have just started to peak. Otherwise, they are two very different societies. Japan is very polite and it is one of the cleanest countries I have ever seen. China, on the other hand, where masses of people can be seen everywhere, is loud and pushy. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, “China is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” For a so-called communist country, it has given rise to a super-rich class of people we drive some of the world’s most expensive cars.

What made a deep impact on our group were the memorials in Hirhosima and Nagasaki to the victims of the the atomic bombs dropped in the middle of those cities in 1945, ending World War Two. Also in Nagasaki, the memorial to Madama Butterfly in her neighborhood on the slope of the hill overlooking the harbor was very touching.