Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight,
Wish I may, wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight.
Or, they bring out the birthday cake and the candles are blazing, but before you blow them out, hopefully with a single breath, everybody reminds you, “Make a wish!”
So what should we wish, either for our birthday candles or when seeing the first star of the night?
Glad you asked.
Was recently reading a very powerful (at least to me) book laying out the details of “Christian Hermeticism,” when I came across this very interesting passage:
When the Gospel was preached by the light of day [e.g. in linear time and space] in countries around the Mediterranean, the nocturnal [e.g. non-linear, holographic, mystical] rays of the Gospel effected a profound transformation of Buddhism. There, the ideal of individual liberation by entering a state of nirvana gave way to the ideal of renouncing nirvana for the work of mercy toward suffering humanity [the work of the Bodhisattva]. (Parentheses added.)
I’m not enough of a scholar, either Buddhist or Christian, to know whether the advent of the Buddhist “Bodhisattva” work—helping save all beings from suffering— came about at the same time as the preaching of the Gospel, but I like the idea. I’m sure scholars from both schools will/would debate the notion that the Gospels influenced the “good works” philosophy of the Buddhists.
Nevertheless, part of our work, part of our play, at the Buddhist Methodist Church is to show how the higher interests of human beings transcend both time and place, east and west. When we find a useful “bridge” between seemingly disparate philosophies—such as the above passage–we are tickled to share and celebrate.
So years ago, someone suggested to me the best “wish” for either the evening star or a birthday cake, is the Bodhisattva wish, or vow, which, simplified and Americanized, is simply, “No matter how many beings there are in the universe, may they all be enlightened,” or may they all feel loved.
It’s a simple, easy wish that we can make whenever occasion demands that takes the pressure off.
Sure, at a particular time or place I might want to wish for a corvette, or a closer walk with Mary Alice, or a bigger bank account. But in general, these “needs” are passing.
The Bodhisattva wish, the Bodhisattva vows, (if we wish for all beings to be enlightened, we imply that we will work for such an outcome in our daily walk) is a “one size fits all” kind of wish. I keep it in my back pocket at all times, just in case a chance for a wish comes about.
