Ezra's Baby Blessing

The following are the words that we said when Ezra was about 6 weeks old. We had a baby blessing for him at the Tios' house. Present were Jay, Leroy, Tonya, my Mom, Lanell, Lucy and us! It was a really sweet day. I love re reading these commitments blessings that we spoke to him that day. We mainly got it from a Buddhist baby blessing ceremony that we read about. I thought some of you might like to read it as well.

As your parents, we welcome you to this new life and wish you everything good in it. Even though we were strangers not long ago, we did not know who you were just a year ago, we love you. We will do our best to provide for you materially, give you a good education, and care for you in all circumstances.
As your parents we will have a caring relationship and communicate well with each other for we know that this world is a loving place. We will live ethically so that you will learn good habits form observing how we live. We will work to subdue our anger and to learn good skills for resolving conflicts so that you will have good role models for this. We will smile, laugh, and share our affection so that you will fell comfortable doing the same.
You do not belong to us. You belong to all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. You belong to all sentient beings in the universe. We want to enable you to share your love and talents with others and the world. Similarly, we also belong to the world, and we will take the love we have for you and spread it to all living beings everywhere, because love is not something that is limited in quantity. By loving you and loving each other we will learn how to love all other beings as well.
You have come to the world with your own karma. We can not control everything you do or everything that happens to you. We will do our best to nurture your positive predispositions and help you subdue your negative ones. We will do our best to protect you, knowing that as much as we would like to, we can not prevent you from experiencing suffering. You will learn through your own life experience, and we will do our best to give you the skills to make wise decisions and to handle situations creatively and with loving kindness.
We will do our best to raise you so that you will be aware of your own Buddha nature – the basic purity of your mind that is your potential to become a fully enlightened being. The seeds of love, compassion, generosity, patience, joyous effort, concentration, wisdom, and other wonderful qualities already exist in your mind. We will help you cultivate this aspect of your Buddha nature too. We want you to have self confidence based not on transient, superficial factors, but on a deep awareness of your own inner goodness.
We know that we and you will make mistakes in life and that sometimes we will be in conflict. But, realizing that all of us have this precious Buddha potential, we still respect each other and do what we can to help each other. WE have given you this human body and pray that you will have a precious human life.

Blessings: (Tonya) Our new and dear Dharma friend, in a baby body: We are delighted to welcome you to this life and to our community. Please know that you will always have friends, teachers, and playmates here. Our community is a place where you can give and receive friendship and help.

Lanell: May you develop a kind heart in all that you do. May you realize the three principle aspects of the path:
- the determination to be free
- the loving and compassion
o the wisdom of realizing reality
May you attain enlightenment and be able to benefit all living beings.

Closing:

Jay: May all sentient beings have happiness. May all sentient beings be free of suffering and its causes. May all sentient beings abide in equanimity, free of bias, attachment, and anger.