By wisdom a house is built,
\nand through understanding it is established;<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 4<\/sup> through knowledge its rooms are filled \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 5<\/sup> A wise man has great power, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 6<\/sup> for waging war you need guidance, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Eat honey, my son, for it is good; \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 14<\/sup> Know also that wisdom is sweet to your soul; This is my prayer to thee, my lord \u2014 strike, On long journeys, I find the tools and maps I need Where I have found levers, a compass, a sextant, I have found my footsteps from years before, where I placed In my knapsack of suede and blue, where I collect O mind, why do you think about your programs, when the Respected God is Himself engaged (in fulfilling your desires). God has created living beings in the rocks and stones,(and) He puts before them their sustenance.<\/p>\n O my Respected Lord of mammon! One, who joins the society of saints is saved. Neither mother nor father, nor others, nor son nor wife, supports anyone. They (flamingoes) come away after flying over hundreds of miles, leaving their young ones behind; The Lord holds on the Palm of His Hand all the nine treasures and the eighteen supernatural powers. At the foot of the Bodhi tree, The path of mindful living, The loving and supportive community of practice, I am aware that the Three Gems are within my heart. I vow to practice mindful breathing and smiling, I vow to offer joy to one person in the morning I am aware that I owe so much to my parents, Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have \u00a0done for us. We thank you for the splendor of the whole We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for the loving care which surrounds us on every side.<\/p>\n We thank you for our time at Bates College, may it continue to be a lively center for sound learning, new discovery, and the pursuit of wisdom.<\/p>\n We thank you for setting us at tasks which demand our best efforts, and for leading us to accomplishments which satisfy and delight us.<\/p>\n We thank you also for those disappointments and failures that lead us to acknowledge our humility and dependence on you alone.<\/p>\n Grant us the gift of your Spirit, that we may know you and make you known; and at all times and in all places, may give thanks to you in all things. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jewish Tradition, Jeremy Fisher By wisdom a house is built, and through…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"parent":487,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_dimp_site_id":"","_dimp_override_contact":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"class_list":["post-488","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/commencement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/commencement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/commencement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/commencement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/commencement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/commencement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3856,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/commencement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/488\/revisions\/3856"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/commencement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/commencement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nwith rare and beautiful treasures.<\/p>\n
\nand a man of knowledge increases strength;<\/p>\n
\nand for victory many advisers.<\/p>\n
\nhoney from the comb is sweet to your taste.<\/p>\n
\nif you find it, there is a future hope for you,
\nand your hope will not be cut off.<\/p>\nThe Hindu Tradition, Aarjan Dixit<\/h3>\n
\nstrike at the root of penury in my heart.
\nGive me the strength lightly to bear my joys and sorrows.
\nGive me the strength to make my love fruitful in service.
\nGive me the strength never to disown the poor
\nor bend my knees before insolent might.
\nGive me the strength to raise my mind high above daily trifles.
\nAnd give me the strength to surrender my strength to thy will with love.<\/p>\nUnitarian Universalist Tradition, Jessica Dumas<\/h3>\n
\nare tucked away beneath the surface of things, there,
\nin the crannies between rocks and in secret pockets
\nof land and my own heart; there, where mist curls
\naround the base of mountains and fog covers valleys
\nand in the sweet places where rivers run, a tumult of water
\nand sound; there, where I find green moss grows
\nand the heron lifts its wings and sacred trees stand<\/p>\n
\nto guide me and scale the night sky, the horizon beckons
\naway from home to no place I have known,
\nyet the earth and its markings are familliar; the red clay
\ngashes forth from brown earth and the dim light glows.
\nI can measure my steps from here to there
\nin months and years and countless joys and pains,
\nthe sorrows of parting from lovers and the songs of love aroused,
\nrequited, and failed, a landscape that echoes the altitude of grief,
\nthe latitude of learning, the longitude of love.<\/p>\n
\nmy feet in climbing rocks or stood barefoot in sand,
\nthe place where I held you, and where you touched me,
\nthere in my heart, there on my face, there in my mind.
\nI could not bear the weight of such memories on my own
\nnor know how to transcribe them, but for the voices
\nof Chesapeake, Huron, and Genesee.
\nSomehow the rush of rivers circumscribes,
\nand waterfalls and oceans surround, the place where
\nI confront me.<\/p>\n
\nsuch souvenirs as shells, stones, and feathers,
\nthese unsettled tools of wisdom atop clothing and
\nnotebooks and pens,
\nI carry something beyond the physical evidence of travel,
\nharboring the echo of voice and image of heart
\nthat taught me to greive and allowed me to see
\nhow hearts could merge and divide,
\nwhere a journey of many steps stopped with one movement,
\na shift from love to acceptance, with no resolution.
\nI remain a witness to our joining, finding my path
\nOpen with learning once grief is lost from the map of love.<\/p>\nSikh Tradition, Sasha Malik<\/h3>\n
\nBy the grace of the Guru, he obtains the heavenly seat; even dry wood becomes green.<\/p>\n
\nGod sends sustenance to everyone, then why should you worry, o my soul?<\/p>\n
\nWho then feeds and teaches them to peck?
\n(The reply is:) Their remembrance (of God) in mind.<\/p>\n
\nServant (Satguru) Nanak says,
\nI am devoted and dedicated to God; I am ever a sacrifice to You, Your limits are beyond description.<\/p>\nBuddhist Tradition, Ariel Rosenberg<\/h3>\n
\nbeautifully seated, peaceful and smiling,
\nthe living source of understanding and compassion,
\nto the Buddha I go for refuge.<\/p>\n
\nleading to healing, joy, and enlightenment,
\nthe way of peace,
\nto the Dhamma I go for refuge.<\/p>\n
\nrealizing harmony, awareness, and liberation,
\nto the Sangha I go for refuge.<\/p>\n
\nI vow to realize them.<\/p>\n
\nlooking deeply into things.
\nI vow to understand living beings and their suffering,
\nto cultivate compassion and loving kindness,
\nand to practice joy and equanimity.<\/p>\n
\nand to help relieve the grief of one person in the afternoon.
\nI vow to live simply and sanely, content with just a few possessions,
\nand to keep my body healthy.
\nI vow to let go of all worry and anxiety
\nin order to be light and free.<\/p>\n
\nteachers, friends and all beings.
\nI vow to be worthy of their trust,
\nto practice wholeheartedly,
\nso that understanding and compassion will flower,
\nand I can help living beings be free from their suffering.
\nMay the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha
\nsupport my efforts.<\/p>\nChristian Tradition, Jessica Edgerly<\/h3>\n
\ncreation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life, and for the mystery of love.<\/p>\n