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The King of Aspiration Prayers: Samantabhadra’s “Aspiration to Good Actions” (Zangchö Mönlam)

Translation of འཕགས་པ་བཟང་པ་སྤྱད་པའ་སྨན་ལམ་གྱ་རྒྱལ་པ (འཕགས་པ་བཟང་པོ་སྤྱོད་པའི་སྨོན་ལམ་གྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ)

Language
English
Date
1996 CE
Translator
rigpa-translations
Extent
260 passages, 2,149 words
Text
complete digital text
Source
lotsawahouse · Rigpa Translations (tr.), The King of Aspiration Prayers: Samantabhadra’s “Aspiration to Good Actions”… · CC BY-NC 4.0 (Lotsawa House); shown with attribution on a non-commercial site

Contents

Text

p1

In the language of India: Ārya-Bhadracaryā-Praṇidhāna-Rāja

p2

In the language of Tibet: Pakpa Zangpo Chöpé Mönlam gyi Gyalpo

p3

In the English language: The King of Aspiration Prayers: Samantabhadra’s “Aspiration to Good Actions”

p4

Homage to Mañjuśrī, the youthful!

p5

To all the buddhas, the lions of the human race,

p6

In all directions of the universe, through past and present and future:

p7

To every single one of you, I bow in homage;

p8

Devotion fills my body, speech and mind.

p9

Through the power of this prayer, aspiring to Good Action,

p10

All the victorious ones appear, vivid here before my mind

p11

And I multiply my body as many times as atoms in the universe,

p12

Each one bowing in prostration to all the buddhas.

p13

In every atom preside as many buddhas as there are atoms,

p14

And around them, all their bodhisattva heirs:

p15

And so I imagine them filling

p16

Completely the entire space of reality.

p17

Saluting them with an endless ocean of praise,

p18

With the sounds of an ocean of different melodies

p19

I sing of the buddhas’ noble qualities,

p20

And praise all those who have gone to perfect bliss.

p21

To every buddha, I make offerings:

p22

Of the loveliest flowers, of beautiful garlands,

p23

Of music and perfumed ointments, the best of parasols,

p24

The brightest lamps and finest incense.

p25

To every buddha, I make offerings:

p26

Exquisite garments and the most fragrant scents,

p27

Powdered incense, heaped as high as Mount Meru,

p28

Arranged in perfect symmetry.

p29

Then the vast and unsurpassable offerings—

p30

Inspired by my devotion to all the buddhas, and

p31

Moved by the power of my faith in Good Actions—

p32

I prostrate and offer to all you victorious ones.

p33

Whatever negative acts I have committed,

p34

While driven by desire, hatred and ignorance,

p35

With my body, my speech and also with my mind,

p36

Before you, I confess and purify each and every one.

p37

With a heart full of delight, I rejoice at all the merits

p38

Of buddhas and bodhisattvas,

p39

Pratyekabuddhas, those in training and the arhats beyond training,

p40

And every living being, throughout the entire universe.

p41

You who are like beacons of light shining through the worlds,

p42

Who passed through the stages of enlightenment, to attain buddhahood, freedom from all attachment,

p43

I exhort you: all of you protectors,

p44

Turn the unsurpassable wheel of Dharma.

p45

Joining my palms together, I pray

p46

To you who intend to pass into nirvāṇa,

p47

Remain, for aeons as many as the atoms in this world,

p48

And bring well-being and happiness to all living beings.

p49

What little virtue I have gathered through my homage,

p50

Through offering, confession, and rejoicing,

p51

Through exhortation and prayer—all of it

p52

I dedicate to the enlightenment of all beings!

p53

Let offerings be made to buddhas of the past,

p54

And all who now dwell throughout the ten directions of this universe!

p55

Let all who are yet to come swiftly fulfil their wishes

p56

And attain the stages of enlightenment and buddhahood!

p57

Let as many worlds as there are in all the ten directions

p58

Transform into realms that are vast and utterly pure,

p59

Filled with buddhas who have sat before the mighty bodhi tree,

p60

Around them all their bodhisattva sons and daughters!

p61

Let as many sentient beings as there are in all the ten directions

p62

Live always and forever in happiness and health!

p63

Let all beings meet the Dharma

p64

That befits them best! And so may all they hope for be fulfilled!

p65

As I practise the training for enlightenment,

p66

May I recall all my previous births,

p67

And in my successive lives, through death and through rebirth,

p68

May I always renounce the worldly life!

p69

Training in the footsteps of all the victorious buddhas,

p70

May I bring Good Actions to perfection,

p71

And my moral conduct be taintless and pure,

p72

Never lapsing, and always free from fault!

p73

In the language of the gods, nāgas, and yakṣas,

p74

In the language of demons and of humans too,

p75

In however many kinds of speech there may be—

p76

I shall proclaim the Dharma in the language of all!

p77

Taming my mind, and striving in the pāramitās,

p78

I will never forget the bodhicitta;

p79

May all my harmful actions and the obscurations they cause

p80

Be completely purified, every single one!

p81

May I be freed from karma, harmful emotions, and the work of negativity,

p82

And act for all beings in the world,

p83

Just like the lotus flower to which mud and water cannot cling,

p84

Or sun and moon that course unhindered through the sky.

p85

Throughout the reach and range of the entire universe

p86

I shall pacify completely the suffering of all the lower realms,

p87

I shall lead all beings to happiness,

p88

And work for the ultimate benefit of each and every one!

p89

I shall bring enlightened action to perfection,

p90

Serve beings so as to suit their needs,

p91

Teach them to accomplish Good Actions,

p92

And continue this, throughout all the aeons to come!

p93

May I always meet and be accompanied by

p94

Those whose actions accord with mine;

p95

And in body, speech and mind as well,

p96

May our actions and aspirations always be one!

p97

May I always meet spiritual friends

p98

Who long to be of true help to me,

p99

And who teach me the Good Actions;

p100

Never will I disappoint them!

p101

May I always behold the buddhas, here before my eyes,

p102

And around them all their bodhisattva sons and daughters.

p103

Without ever tiring, throughout all the aeons to come,

p104

May the offerings I make them be endless and vast!

p105

May I maintain the sacred teachings of the buddhas,

p106

And cause enlightened action to appear;

p107

May I train to perfection in Good Actions,

p108

And practise these in every age to come!

p109

As I wander through all states of samsaric existence,

p110

May I gather inexhaustible merit and wisdom,

p111

And so become an inexhaustible treasury of noble qualities—

p112

Of skill and discernment, samādhi and liberation!

p113

In a single atom may I see as many pure realms as atoms in the universe:

p114

And in each realm, buddhas beyond all imagining,

p115

Encircled by all their bodhisattva heirs.

p116

Along with them, may I perform the actions of enlightenment!

p117

And so, in each direction, everywhere,

p118

Even on the tip of a hair, may I see an ocean of buddhas—

p119

All to come in past, present and future—in an ocean of pure realms,

p120

And throughout an ocean of aeons, may I enter into enlightened action in each and every one!

p121

Each single word of a buddha’s speech, that voice with its ocean of qualities,

p122

Bears all the purity of the speech of all the buddhas,

p123

Sounds that harmonize with the minds of all living beings:

p124

May I always be engaged with the speech of the buddhas!

p125

With all the power of my mind, may I hear and realize

p126

The inexhaustible melody of the teachings spoken by

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All the buddhas of past, present and future,

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As they turn the wheels of Dharma!

p129

Just as the wisdom of the buddhas penetrates all future aeons,

p130

So may I too know them, instantly,

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And in each fraction of an instant may I know

p132

All that will ever be, in past, present and future!

p133

In an instant, may I behold all those who are the lions of the human race—

p134

The buddhas of past, present and future!

p135

May I always be engaged in the buddhas’ way of life and action,

p136

Through the power of liberation, where all is realized as like an illusion!

p137

On a single atom, may I actually bring about

p138

The entire array of pure realms of past, of present and future;

p139

And then enter into those pure buddha realms

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In each atom, and in each and every direction.

p141

When those who illuminate the world, still to come,

p142

Gradually attain buddhahood, turn the Wheel of Dharma,

p143

And demonstrate the final, profound peace of nirvāṇa:

p144

May I be always in their presence!

p145

Through the power of swift miracles,

p146

The power of the vehicle, like a doorway,

p147

The power of conduct that possesses all virtuous qualities,

p148

The power of loving kindness, all-pervasive,

p149

The power of merit that is totally virtuous,

p150

The power of wisdom free from attachment, and

p151

The powers of knowledge, skilful means and samādhi,

p152

May I perfectly accomplish the power of enlightenment!

p153

May I purify the power of karma;

p154

Destroy the power of harmful emotions;

p155

Render negativity utterly powerless;

p156

And perfect the power of Good Actions!

p157

I shall purify oceans of realms;

p158

Liberate oceans of sentient beings;

p159

Understand oceans of Dharma;

p160

Realize oceans of wisdom;

p161

Perfect oceans of actions;

p162

Fulfil oceans of aspirations;

p163

Serve oceans of buddhas!

p164

And perform these, without ever growing weary, through oceans of aeons!

p165

All the buddhas throughout the whole of time,

p166

Attained enlightenment through Good Actions, and

p167

Their prayers and aspirations for enlightened action:

p168

May I fulfil them all completely!

p169

The eldest of the sons of all the buddhas

p170

Is called Samantabhadra: ‘All-good’—

p171

So that I may act with a skill like his,

p172

I dedicate fully all these merits!

p173

To purify my body, my speech and my mind as well,

p174

To purify my actions, and all realms,

p175

May I be the equal of Samantabhadra

p176

In his skill in good dedication!

p177

In order to perform the full virtue of Good Actions,

p178

I shall act according to Mañjuśrī's prayers of aspiration,

p179

And without ever growing weary, in all the aeons to come,

p180

I shall perfectly fulfil every one of his aims!

p181

Let my bodhisattva acts be beyond measure!

p182

Let my enlightened qualities be measureless too!

p183

Keeping to this immeasurable activity,

p184

May I accomplish all the miraculous powers of enlightenment!

p185

Sentient beings are as limitless

p186

As the boundless expanse of space;

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So shall my prayers of aspiration for them

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Be as limitless as their karma and harmful emotions!

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Whoever hears this king of dedication prayers,

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And yearns for supreme enlightenment,

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Who even once arouses faith,

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Will gain true merit greater still

p193

Than by offering the victorious buddhas

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Infinite pure realms in every directions, all ornamented with jewels,

p195

Or offering them all the highest joys of gods and humans

p196

For as many aeons as there are atoms in those realms.

p197

Whoever truly makes this Aspiration to Good Actions,

p198

Will never again be born in lower realms;

p199

They will be free from harmful companions, and

p200

Soon behold the Buddha of Boundless Light.

First 200 of 260 passages. Read on