Cattāri Brahmavihārā

I have been training in martial arts and coditioning the body seriously for years now but I have begun to qestion the wisdom of doing so to the detriment of my Dhamma practice. I do see the maintenance of the body as an important part of the practice but I feel that I have gotten a little out of balance.

I have always admired the use of gatha in the Plum Village Zen tradition Thich Nhat Hanh and have experiemnted with them before so, first on my own and then with the help of ChatGPT, I came up with a gatha to use before training.

May it be of benefit!

“May I undertake this training in bodily discipline,
That this body—born of karma, sustained by food,
Subject to sickness, aging, and death—
Be made a fit vehicle for the practice of the Noble Dhamma,
A worthy vessel for the arising of bodhicitta,
That through it I may serve all beings.”

“May I guard against intoxication with this body,
Which is but a heap of elements: earth, water, fire, and air—
Void of essence, impermanent, and prone to decay.
Let me not be deceived by its appearance,
But see it clearly as it truly is:
A mirage, a bubble, a dream, a flickering flame.”

“May I tend to this body not with attachment,
But as a mendicant cares for his alms bowl:
Maintaining it with mindfulness and restraint,
Neither cherishing nor despising it,
Only so far as it supports the path of liberation.”

“And when the time has come for this body to be laid down,
May I do so without clinging or regret,
As one lays aside a burden at the end of a long journey,
Or discards a broken tool no longer of use.”