"....the bodhisattva, the being who takes on the suffering of all sentient beings, who undertakes the journey to liberation not for his or her own good alone but to help all others, and who eventually, after attaining liberation, does not dissolve into the absolute or flee the agony of samsara, but chooses to return again and again to devote his or her wisdom and compassion to the service of the whole world.
What the world needs more than anything is active servants of peace
such as these, "clothed," as Longchenpa said, "in the armor
of perseverance," dedicated to their bodhisattva vision and to the
spreading of wisdom into all reaches of our experience.
We need bodhisattva lawyers, bodhisattva artists and politicians, bodhisattva
doctors and economists, bodhisattva teachers and scientists, bodhisattva
technicians and engineers, bodhisattvas everywhere, working consciously
as channels of compassion and wisdom at every level and in every situation
of society, working to transform their minds and actions and those of others,
working tirelessly in the certain knowledge of the support of the buddhas
and enlightened beings, for the preservation of our world, and for a more
merciful future.
As Teilhard de Chardin said: "Some day, after we have mastered the
winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, ... we shall harness...the energies
of love. Then, for the second time in the history of the world, man will
have discovered fire."
I chose this background because it reminds me of the fabric of reality that we exist within.