ད་བཞན་གཤགས་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱ་གཙག་ཏར་རྣམ་པར་རྒྱལ་བ་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་གཟངས་རྟག་པ་དང་བཅས་པ 5

5

perform the caitya ritual? How should they accomplish such tasks as making the statue and so forth, and how should they perform the fire offering?”

The Blessed One replied:

“You have asked a good question.
Great hero, how excellent!
For the love and sake of all beings,
Listen with one-pointed attention!”

Then the Blessed One entered into the samādhi called glorious limitless light rays⁴⁰ in all directions and spoke this dhāraṇī called the limitless life of all tathāgatas:

“oṁ amṛte⁴¹ amṛtodbhave⁴² amṛtavikrānte amṛtagate amṛtagāmini amṛtāyurdatte⁴³ gaganakīrtikare sarvakleśakṣayaṃ kariye⁴⁴ svāhā

“Recite this dhāraṇī as many times as possible while excavating the clay for building a caitya, while applying that clay, and all the way up until the canopy is raised.”

Then he taught the rite:

“Now I will properly explain
The supreme caitya rite.

“It should be twelve finger-widths in size, adorned with many ornaments made of gold, lapis, silver, and rubies, and placed upon a lotus. Draw the Four World-Protectors holding banners in the four directions, the gods of the pure abodes holding flowers, incense, and perfumes, Śakra, Lord of the Gods, holding the parasol, and Avalokiteśvara and Vajradhara holding white tail whisks on the right and the left sides. Following proper procedure, draw these on the petals of the lotus, proceeding clockwise around the caitya. Write down the dhāraṇī called the crown victory of all tathāgatas and install it in the caitya’s interior relic chamber.⁴⁵ Then, sprinkle the caitya with scented water and worship it with delightfully scented flowers. Perform a thousandfold offering. Fast on the eighth day of the waxing moon,