Seeds of Light and Roots of Happiness

The most sacred day of the Jewish practice, Yom Kippur, is a day of fasting and prayer when we remember and look directly at our existence in this world and ask ourselves what kind of world do we make, for ourselves and others. The words of Leonard Cohen, in his song, The Future, are relevant. He asks: "When they say Repent, Repent, I wonder what they meant?" He is right to ask. Instead of castigating ourselves for the harm we do, and then repeating the ignorance the day after, we can instead dive deep into our sources. There we can discover the seeds of light, in the Jewish and Buddhist traditional languages, the Tzaddik, or the Buddha Nature, hiding within under layers of conditioning. The same sources will show us how to live with purity, sensitivity and wisdom, and happiness will follow, as in the famous quote from the Dhammapada, as a cart follows the horse.