Contemplation: The Great Cloud, con't.

Review the guidelines for practice, and take this selection from the Lotus Sutra as your object of contemplation:

The Buddha is exactly like this.
He appears in the world
As a great cloud
Which covers everything universally.
Once appearing in this world
He illuminates and explains
The essence of the teachings
For the sake of sentient beings.
The Great Seer, the Bhagavat, expounds this
To the assembly of all the devas and humans.
I am the Tathagatha, the Best of Humans.
I appear in the world to nourish sentient beings
Just as the great cloud
Moistens all the withered trees.
I cause everyone to be rid of suffering
And attain ease of heart,
Worldly happiness, and the joy of Nirvana.
This Dharma has a single flavor
Of emancipation and Nirvana.
I expound its meaning with the same subtle voice,
Always making the Mahayana the subject of my illustrations.
I see everywhere, and regard all as equal.
I have no feeling of like or dislike;
For me there is no this or that.
Nor do I have either love or hate.
I have no attachments and make no distinctions,
And always teach the Dharma equally to all;
And teach the same thing to one person
As I teach to everyone else.
I always teach the Dharma and nothing else.

from the Lotus Sutra, chapter five, as recited at the Tendai Buddhist Institute.