Dedicating the Merit
My very first meditation teacher, Ethan Nichtern, first taught me the traditional Shambhala dedication of merit. At Karme Choling, I carefully memorized the two paragraphs, since we said it at the end of each day's session -- and I wanted to be a part of the whole practice.

When I came home, the practice stuck. I say it at the end of each of my meditation sessions, no matter what. Sometimes it might seem that your sitting lacked focus (i.e., your mind ran like a roller coaster off its rails). Dedicating the merit at the end reminds me that even the most scattered meditation has intrinsic value.

By this merit, may all attain omniscience.
May it defeat the enemy, wrongdoing.
From the stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness and death,
From the ocean of Samsara may I free all beings.

By the power of the golden sun of the Great East,
May the lotus garden of the Rigden's wisdom bloom.
May the dark ignorance of sentient beings be dispelled.
May all beings enjoy profound, brilliant glory.

One day last week, it occurred to me that I could not possibly "free all beings from the ocean of samsara." I never dissected it before. I just said it. It was part of the practice. "Wow," I thought, "how can I say that each morning?"

Then, just a day or two later, it all made perfect sense...

My current Buddhist reading is the book Thank You and OK! by David Chadwick. The book recounts his experiences as an American Buddhist monk living in Japan. I stumbled upon this passage on page 29:

An hour later, the last chant is the Four Vows, in Japanese and then in English. It goes something like this:

Beings are numberless, I vow to save them.
Delusions are limitless, I vow to cut them off.
Dharma gates are boundless, I vow to enter them.
The Buddha's Way is unsurpassable, I vow to become it.

It's a tall order. I was taught by Soto Zen teachers just to chant it and not to get hung up on the impossibility of it... In this business you get used to contradictions -- even if you stick to one sect or one teacher. If contradictions are in the way, then the Four Vows will be impossible.