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 rite of the stūpa? How should they accomplish the image and so forth? How should the fire offering be performed here?" The Blessed One replied:

"Well spoken is your question!
Great hero, excellent, excellent!
For the sake of compassionate benefit to all beings,
listen here with one-pointed mind!"

Then the Blessed One entered into the meditative absorption called 'Glory of Universal Boundless Light' and proclaimed this dhāraṇī of the Amitāyus of all Tathāgatas:

oṃ amṛte | amṛtodbhave | amṛtavikrānte | amṛtagate | amṛtagāmini | amṛta-āyurdadde | gaganakīrtikare sarvakleśakṣayaṃkarye svāhā

One should recite this dhāraṇī from gathering the clay for making the stūpa, applying the plaster and so on, up to affixing the parasol, until it is completed. Its ritual is as follows:

"Then the supreme ritual of the stūpa
shall be correctly explained."

It should be twelve finger-widths in size, adorned with many kinds of precious substances of the nature of gold, sapphire (indranīla), silver, ruby (padmarāga), and so forth, seated upon a lotus. On its four sides are the four guardians of the world holding victory banners in their hands. There should be sons of the gods of the Pure Abodes holding flowers, incense, and perfumes in their hands, Indra, king of the gods, holding an umbrella in his hand, and on the right and left sides, Avalokiteśvara and Vajradhara, both holding white fly whisks in their hands. Following such a rite, one should draw it on lotus petals in a clockwise manner. Having written the dhāraṇī called 'The Victorious Uṣṇīṣa of All Tathāgatas', one should place it as the relic essence of that [stūpa], sprinkle it with water mixed with fragrant scent, offer fragrant flowers, make a great offering of one thousand items, and on the eighth day of the waxing moon,