Do you want to have your prayers answered? What kind of attitude should you have when you pray?
Prayers come in different shape and form, be it chanting, singing, meditating, affirmation, reading or reciting sutras or scriptures. Regardless of how you pray, the attitude of prayer is pivotal. Having the right attitude during prayer is a reflection of your sincerity to connect with your Buddha-nature, or your Higher Self, in order to transform wishes into reality.
Here are the proven attitudes that will yield visible results in your prayer:
1. Faith
Faith is the antidote of fear. With deep faith in your heart, worries and anxiety will melt away, replacing it with a sense of peace, relief and relaxation.
Faith is trust, confidence and conviction. It allows you to let go of all expectations so that your heart will be pure and authentic. When you let nature take its course, the process of manifestation will be accelerated.
When the bodhisattva generates the will to seek bodhi,
this is not such as is without causes and without conditions.
Developing pure faith in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha—
It is on account of this that one initiates such vast resolve.
– Avatamsaka Sutra, ch. 12
2. Joy
Joy is a sense of lightness in your heart; just like a bird taking flight freely in the sky. Pray with joy in the Law of Lotus is the cause of accumulating good fortune and benefits in your life. Joy in the Buddha’s teaching of the Lotus Sutra is the seed of attaining Buddhahood, the ultimate spiritual attainment one can achieve.
All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him. – Dhammapada Ch1: Verse 2
3. Gratitude
Gratitude is the natural emotion of receiving abundance in life. The attitude of gratitude is an expression of giving and reciprocation. It helps to create more abundance in our life.
Viewed from a different angle, gratitude is like a golden lock. The more gratitude you express, the more you will “lock-in” all the abundance in your life. So always remember to say “thank you, thank you and thank you” for everything that you have.
“Monks, these two people are hard to find in the world. Which two? The one who is first to do a kindness, and the one who is grateful for a kindness done and feels obligated to repay it. These two people are hard to find in the world.”
Aṅguttara Nikāya 2.119 – Dullabha Sutta
4. Repentance
Repentance is an expression of remorsefulness. This principle can be applied during prayer. The feeling of repentance resembles a heavy lead. By admitting your wrongdoings, you are literally letting go all the heaviness in your heart, be it guilt, shame or regrets.
All the evil karma I have created in the past,
from beginningless greed, hatred and delusion,
that arose from my body, speech and mind,
for all these I now seek repentance and reformation.– Samantabhadra Bodhisattva (Avatamsaka Sutra)
In essence, the greatest gift you can give to yourself is self-forgiveness and letting go of the past as well as attachment to materialism.
5. Vow of Action
Prayer needs to be back up by concrete action in order to translate dream into reality. The vow of action is a tremendous force that makes things happen.
When you pray with the vow of action to attain ultimate victory, you could feel the lion roar welling up in your heart, feeling no fear whatsoever. By taking concrete action with wisdom, determination and perseverence, your prayers will definitely come to fruition.
Sentient beings are numberless,I vow to save them.
Desires are inexhaustible,I vow to put an end to them.
The Dharmas are boundless,I vow to master them.
The Buddha Way is unsurpassable, I vow to attain it.– Sixth Patriarch’s Platform Sutra
From your experience, what other attitudes do you think are also essential? Feel free to leave your comments below!
