འཕགས་པ་གསར་འད་དམ་པ་མད་སྡའ་དབང་པའ་རྒྱལ་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 1
The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light (3) 1
- Language
- English
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Chapter 1: The Introduction
I pay homage to all the buddhas, bodhisattvas, pratyekabuddhas, and noble śrāvakas in the past, future, and present.
Thus did I hear at one time.²²
The Tathāgata was dwelling
On Vulture Peak, in the Dharma realm,
The profound buddha field of activity.
He taught this Sublime Golden Light—
Which is the lord king of sūtras—
To the supreme bodhisattvas,
Who are pure and immaculate.
It is profound to listen to
And profound to analyze.
It has received the blessings
Of the buddhas in the four directions:
The Buddha Akṣobhya in the east,
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The Buddha Ratnaketu in the south,
The Buddha Amitābha in the west,
And the Buddha Dundubhisvara in the north.
“I will teach that which is blessed,
Which is a teaching of supreme auspiciousness,
In order to eliminate all bad actions.²³
“It will bestow every happiness;
It will eliminate all suffering.
It is the basis of omniscience,
And it is adorned by every splendor.
“Beings with impaired faculties,
Whose lives are in decline and ending;
Those who are beset by misfortune,
Who have been forsaken by the devas,
“Who are hated by their spouses and other people,
Who are tormented by family and servants,
Who are in conflict with others,
And who are oppressed by loss of wealth;
“Those who are miserable, tired, and ruined,
Who are frightened and in distress,
Who are oppressed by planets and lunar asterisms,
And who are afflicted by dreadful demons;
“And those who see evil in their dreams
Arising from misery and fatigue
Should wash themselves clean
And listen to this supreme sūtra.
“For those who listen to this sūtra,
This profound field of the buddhas,
With a lucid mind and good motivation,
And dressed in clean clothes—
“For all those beings
All those dreadful misfortunes
Will always come to an end
Through the brilliance of this sūtra.
“The guardians of the world themselves
And their ministers and army generals,
As well as a multitude of millions of yakṣas,
Will be their protectors.
“The great goddess Sarasvatī
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And Nairañjanavasinī,
Hārītī, the mother of spirits,
And Dṛḍhā, the goddess of the earth;
“The lords of Brahmā devas, lords of the devas;²⁴
The greatly powerful lords of the nāgas;
And the lords of the kinnaras, the lords of the asuras,
And similarly the lords of the garuḍas²⁵
“Will come to the place where those people are,
Accompanied by troops and steeds,
And will be their protectors,
Attentive day and night.
“I will elucidate this sūtra,
Which is the profound field of the buddhas,
Which is the secret of all buddhas,
And which is difficult to obtain in a million eons.
“Those who hear this sūtra
And cause others to hear it,
And those who rejoice in this sūtra,
And those who make offerings to it,
“Throughout millions of eons
Will themselves receive offerings
From devas, nāgas, and humans,
And from kinnaras, asuras, and yakṣas.²⁶
“For beings who create²⁷ this merit,
There will arise for them
An infinite, incalculable,
Inconceivable mass of merit.
“They will be taken into the care
Of the perfect²⁸ buddhas in the ten directions,
And similarly by the bodhisattvas
Who have profound activity.
“Having put on clean clothes,
Wearing perfumed clothing,²⁹
And having a loving mind,
They should offer without distraction.³⁰
“They should make their
Own minds pure and vast,
And with minds filled with faith,
They should listen to this sublime sūtra.
“Those who listen to this sūtra
Will be welcomed among humans,³¹
Will attain an excellent human existence,³²
And will live happy lives.
“Those in whose ears
This teaching sounds³³
Will plant good roots
And be praised by many buddhas.”
Chapter 2: The Teaching on the Lifespan of the Tathāgata
Also, at that time, there dwelled in the great city of Rājagṛha
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a bodhisattva mahāsattva by the name of Ruciraketu. He had served past jinas, had developed roots of merit, and had attended upon many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of buddhas. He thought, “Through what causes and what conditions does the Bhagavat Śākyamuni have such a short lifespan of eighty years?”
Then he thought, “The Bhagavat has said, ‘There are two causes and two conditions for a long life. What are those two? Forsaking killing and giving food.’ The Bhagavat Śākyamuni has forsaken killing and has correctly adopted the path of the ten good actions for countless hundreds of thousands of quintillions of eons. He has given external and internal substances as food to beings, even to the extent of satisfying hungry beings with his own body, blood, bones, and limbs, to say nothing of every other kind of food.”
When that sublime being’s mind had thought this, with his attention focused upon the Buddha, his house became immense, vast, and made of blue beryl. It was adorned by many divine jewels, its color transformed by the Tathāgata,³⁴ and it was pervaded by a perfume that transcended the divine.
In the four directions of that house there appeared four thrones made of divine jewels. The thrones³⁵ were overspread with layers³⁶ of precious, divine cloth decorated with divine jewels.³⁷
Upon those³⁸ thrones appeared divine lotus flowers, their colors transformed by the Tathāgata,³⁹ and adorned by many jewels. Upon those lotuses there appeared the four buddha bhagavats. To the east appeared the Tathāgata Akṣobhya. To the south appeared the Tathāgata Ratnaketu.
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To the west appeared the Tathāgata Amitāyus. To the north appeared the Tathāgata Dundubhisvara. At the moment when those buddha bhagavats appeared upon those lion thrones, the great city of Rājagṛha was filled by a great illuminating light that spread throughout the trichiliocosm world realm,⁴⁰ throughout as many world realms in the ten directions as there are grains of sand in the Ganges River. A rain of flowers fell. There came the sound of divine music. Through the power of the Buddha, all beings in this trichiliocosm world realm gained divine happiness. The blind saw forms with their eyes; the deaf heard sounds with their ears; the insane gained their sanity; those with distracted minds became undistracted; the naked became clothed; the hungry had their stomachs filled; the thirsty had their thirst quenched; beings afflicted by illness were healed; and those with impaired physical faculties became possessed of complete faculties. In those worlds there appeared vast, astonishing, wonderful qualities.
The bodhisattva⁴¹ Ruciraketu was amazed to see those buddha bhagavats, and, filled with joy, delighted, elated, pleased, and happy, with his palms together in homage, he bowed toward those buddha bhagavats. Mindful of those buddha bhagavats and mindful of the qualities of the Buddha Bhagavat Śākyamuni, he had doubts concerning the lifespan of the Bhagavat Śākyamuni.
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In his mind was the thought, “Why is it that the Bhagavat Śākyamuni has this short lifespan of eighty years?”
Those buddha bhagavats were aware of and understood these thoughts and said to the bodhisattva Ruciraketu, “Noble son, do not think, ‘The Bhagavat Śākyamuni has such a short lifespan.’ Why is that? Noble son, except for the tathāgata arhat samyaksaṃbuddhas, we do not see anyone in the world with its devas, with its Māra, with its Brahmā, with its many beings who are mendicants and brahmins, and with its devas, humans, and asuras who has the ability to know the length of the Bhagavat Tathāgata Śākyamuni’s lifespan to its future limit.”
As soon as those buddha bhagavats described the Tathāgata’s lifespan, at that moment, through the power of the buddhas, the devas in the desire realm, the devas in the form realm, the nāgas, the yakṣas, the gandharvas, the asuras, the garuḍas, the kinnaras, the mahoragas, and the many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of assembled bodhisattvas arrived in the house of the bodhisattva Ruciraketu.
Those tathāgatas then recited verses that taught in brief the lifespan of the Bhagavat Śākyamuni to that complete assembly:
“The drops of water in all
The oceans can be calculated,
But no one can calculate
The lifespan of Śākyamuni.
“The number of atoms in all
Sumerus⁴² can be calculated,⁴³
But no one can calculate
The lifespan of Śākyamuni.
“Someone might calculate
The number of atoms in the earth,
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But no one can calculate
The entire lifespan of the Jina.
“Someone might calculate
The extent of space,
But no one can calculate
The lifespan of Śākyamuni.
“One cannot reach a number
By saying that the perfect Buddha
Will remain for this number of eons
Or for a hundred million eons.
“This is because of two causes
And because of two conditions:
He has forsaken violence toward others,
And he has given food numerous times.
“Therefore, the length of the great being’s
Lifespan cannot be calculated
By saying it is a certain number of eons,
Or likewise by saying it is countless eons.⁴⁴
“Therefore, do not doubt, do not have any doubt whatsoever.
No one can conceive of the final extent of a jina’s lifespan.”
At that time, in that assembly, there was the Kauṇḍinya brahmin, the Dharma master Vyākaraṇa, who, together with countless thousands of brahmins, had made offerings to the Bhagavat.⁴⁵ On hearing these words concerning the great nirvāṇa of the Tathāgata, he immediately wept,⁴⁶ bowed down to the feet of the Bhagavat, and said to the Bhagavat, “If you have love for all beings, if you have great compassion, if you wish to benefit all beings, if you are a mother and father for all beings, if you are unequaled, if you are like the moon radiating light, if you are like a risen sun of great wisdom and knowledge, and if you look upon all beings as you do upon Rāhula, then I pray that you grant me something sacred.”
The Bhagavat remained silent.
Then, through the power of the Buddha, there arose confident eloquence in a Licchavī youth in that assembly, whose name was Sarvasattvapriyadarśana. He asked the Kauṇḍinya brahmin, the Dharma master Vyākaraṇa, “Great brahmin, why do you ask the Bhagavat for something sacred? I will give you something sacred.”
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“Licchavī youth,” said the brahmin, “I wish for a relic of the Bhagavat the size of a mustard seed in order to make offerings to the Bhagavat. It is known that if one makes offerings to a relic the size of a mustard seed that one has received as a share of the ashes that are the relics of the Bhagavat, one will become the sole lord of the devas of Trāyastriṃśa.⁴⁷
“O Licchavī youth, it is difficult for śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas to know The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light. It is difficult for them to comprehend it. The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light, which has those characteristics and qualities, is going to be spoken, so listen!⁴⁸
“O Licchavī youth, The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light is thus difficult to know and difficult to understand. Therefore, it is appropriate that we brahmins from an outlying island should keep a relic the size of a mustard seed in a casket, for by possessing it, beings will soon become lords of Trāyastriṃśa.
“O Licchavī youth, don’t you want to request a relic the size of a mustard seed from the Tathāgata, place the relic in a casket, and possess it so that beings will become lords of Trāyastriṃśa?
“O Licchavī youth, that is the sublime thing that I have requested.”
Then Sarvasattvapriyadarśana, the Licchavī youth, recited these verses to the Kauṇḍinya brahmin, the Dharma master Vyākaraṇa:
“When flowers grow
On the Ganges River,
Crows become red,
And cuckoos become conch-colored;
“When palm-tree fruit grow on rose-apple trees;
And when bunches of mangoes grow on date trees,
That will be the time when a relic
The size of a mustard seed will appear.
“When clothes made from
The hair of turtles are worn,
And they dispel the cold of winter,
Then there will be a relic.
“When roofs are made
From the legs of flies
And are solid and stable,
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Then there will be a relic.
“When all the leeches
Grow teeth that are
Long, white, and sharp,
Then there will be a relic.
“When a ladder is built
From the horns of hares
For climbing to the upper realms,
Then there will be a relic.
“When a mouse climbs that ladder
And then eats the moon
And attacks Rāhu,
Then there will be a relic.
“When a village-dwelling fly
Drinks a pitcher of beer
And lives in a house,
Then there will be a relic.
“When a happy donkey
Has lips as red as a bimba fruit
And is expert in song and dance,
Then there will be a relic.
“When owls and crows
Cavort together in private
And live together in harmony,
Then there will be a relic.
“When the leaves of the palash tree
Become a parasol of three kinds of jewels
And provide shelter from the falling rain,
Then there will be a relic.
“When a great oceangoing ship,
With its instruments and sails,
Comes onto and travels over dry land,
Then there will be a relic.
“When an owl picks up
Gandhamādana Mountain
In its beak and flies away,
Then there will be a relic.”
On hearing those verses, the Kauṇḍinya brahmin, the Dharma master Vyākaraṇa, replied to the Licchavī youth Sarvasattvapriyadarśana with these verses:
“Good! Good! Best of youths,
Son of the jinas, with great words,
Skilled in methods, heroic,
Who has received the highest prophecy,
“Young man, listen to me describe,
In order, the inconceivable
Greatness of the world’s lord,
The protector, the Tathāgata.
“The scope of the buddhas is inconceivable.
The tathāgatas are without any equal.
All buddhas are always in peace.
All buddhas appear perfectly.⁴⁹
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“All buddhas have the same color;⁵⁰
That is the intrinsic nature of the buddhas.
The Bhagavat is not fabricated,
And the Tathāgata is not produced.
“He has a body like a vajra.
He manifests an illusory body.⁵¹
The great Ṛṣi does not have relics,
Not even of the size of a mustard seed.
“How could there be relics
From a body without bones or blood?
Relics are left through skillful methods
In order to bring benefit to beings.
“The perfect Buddha is a Dharma body.
The Tathāgata is a Dharma realm.
That is what the Bhagavat’s body is like.
That is what teaching the Dharma is like.
“I made that request for the sacred object,
Having already heard and understood that.
I⁵² spoke in that way
In order to reveal the truth.”⁵³
Then thirty-two thousand devas, having heard that profound teaching on the lifespan of the Tathāgata, all developed the aspiration for the highest, most complete enlightenment. With joyful mental thoughts and with one voice, they recited these verses:
“The Buddha does not pass away.
The Dharma does not disappear.
Passing into nirvāṇa is manifested
In order to bring beings to maturity.
“The Bhagavat is inconceivable;
The Tathāgata’s body is eternal.
He demonstrates a variety of displays
In order to bring benefit to beings.”
Then the bodhisattva Ruciraketu, having heard the teaching on the lifespan of the Bhagavat Śākyamuni from both those buddha bhagavats and those excellent individuals, was filled with joy, delighted, elated, pleased, and happy—he was pervaded by great happiness and delight.
When this teaching on the lifespan of the tathāgatas was taught, innumerable, countless beings developed the aspiration for the highest, most complete enlightenment, and those tathāgatas vanished.
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Chapter 3: The Dream
The bodhisattva Ruciraketu then went to sleep and in a dream saw a golden drum⁵⁴ that was shining brightly like the disk of the sun. In all directions, there were countless, innumerable buddha bhagavats seated upon precious beryl thrones at the foot of precious trees, encircled by assemblies of many hundreds of thousands. Looking straight ahead, they were teaching the Dharma.
Then he saw a person who appeared to be a brahmin beating that drum, and he heard a teaching in verse come from the drumbeats.
As soon as the bodhisattva Ruciraketu awoke from his sleep, he remembered the verses that were taught. Having remembered them, when the night was over, he left the city of Rājagṛha, and together with many thousands of people he went to Vulture Peak Mountain and into the presence of the Bhagavat. He bowed down to the feet of the Bhagavat and circumambulated the Bhagavat three times, keeping him to his right, and then sat down to one side.
Seated to one side, the bodhisattva Ruciraketu, with his palms together in homage, bowed toward the Bhagavat and recited the teaching in verse that he had heard from the sound of the drum in his dream.
Chapter 4: The Confession⁵⁵
“One night, though I was not
Sleepy,⁵⁶ I entered a dream.
I saw a large, beautiful drum
Entirely of golden light.
“It was shining like the sun
And completely bright,
Illuminating the ten directions.
I saw buddhas everywhere,
“Seated beneath precious trees
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On precious beryl thrones,
Looking straight ahead in the middle
Of many hundreds of thousands of followers.
“I saw someone resembling a brahmin
Who beat that big drum.
As he was beating it,
There came these verses:
“ ‘Through the sound of the great drum of sublime golden light,
May all the suffering of the lower existences,
The suffering in Yama’s realm,⁵⁷ and the suffering of poverty
Cease in the three realms within this trichiliocosm.
“ ‘Through the sound and words of the great drum,
May all the ignorance in the world cease;
Just as the lord of sages is without fear and his fear has ceased,
So may all beings be without fear and have their fears cease.
“ ‘Just like the omniscient lord of sages in saṃsāra
Possesses all the qualities of the āryas,
In that way, may beings become oceans of qualities,
Possessing the qualities of the aspects of enlightenment.
“ ‘Through the sound and words of the great drum,
May all beings possess the voice of Brahmā
And reach the supreme enlightenment of
Sublime buddhahood and turn the good Dharma wheel.
“ ‘May they remain for countless eons.
May they teach the Dharma to benefit beings.
May they defeat the kleśas and dispel suffering.
May desire, anger, and ignorance cease.
“ ‘Those beings who are in the lower realms,
Whose skeleton bodies are burning in fire,
May they hear the sound of the great drum
And hear the words, “Homage to the buddhas!”
“ ‘May all beings remember hundreds of lifetimes—
Thousands of millions⁵⁸ of lifetimes.
May they always remember the Munīndra,
And may they hear his vast teaching.
“ ‘Through the sound and words of the great drum,
May they always be together with buddhas
And completely forsake bad actions.
May they accomplish good actions.
“ ‘May the sound of the great drum
Completely bring to fulfillment
Whatever wishes and prayers are made
By humans, devas, and all beings.
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“ ‘May the fires be extinguished
For the beings born in the terrible hells,
Where their bodies burn completely in fire,
And they wander in anguish without a savior.
“ ‘May the sound of the great drum
Bring an end to the sufferings of those beings
Who are experiencing intense, unendurable suffering
In the hells, among the pretas, and in the human world.
“ ‘For those who have no support,
No protection, and no refuge,
May there be protection and support,
And may there be the supreme refuge.
“ ‘The buddhas, the supreme among two-legged beings,
Who have minds of love and compassion,
Who are in the worlds in the ten directions,
I pray that you turn your regard upon me.
“ ‘The extremely dreadful bad actions
That I have carried out in the past,
I confess all of them in the presence
Of those who have the ten strengths.
“ ‘Whatever bad actions I have done,
Such as ignoring my mother and father,
Not acknowledging the buddhas,
And not acknowledging good actions;
“ ‘Whatever bad actions I have done,
Such as being arrogant with pride in my wealth,
And arrogant with pride in my family,
My possessions, and my youth;⁵⁹
“ ‘Whatever bad thoughts, bad words,
And harmful actions I have produced;
Whatever bad actions I have done,
Not viewing them as being harmful;
“ ‘Whatever bad actions I have done
Through foolishness of mind,
My mind being darkened by ignorance,
Or being under the influence of bad friends,
“ ‘Or through my mind being disturbed by kleśas,
Because of delighting in amusements,
Or through being in misery, being ill,
Or through the evil of dissatisfaction with wealth;
“ ‘Whatever bad actions I have done
Because of associating with ignoble beings,
Or caused by my jealousy and miserliness,
Or by my dishonesty and neediness;
“ ‘Whatever bad actions I have done
During the times when I was in misfortune,
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Or through fears concerning my desires,
Or when I was parted from my wealth;
“ ‘Whatever bad actions I have done
Under the power of a deceitful mind,
Under the power of desire and anger,
Or because of hunger and thirst;
“ ‘Whatever bad actions I have done
For the sake of food and drink,
For the sake of women and clothes,
Or from being tormented by various kleśas—
“ ‘The bad actions of body, speech, and mind,
My accumulation of those three kinds of bad conduct,
Whatever I have done of that kind,
I make a confession of it all.
“ ‘I make a confession of all
Disrespect I have shown
To the buddhas, the Dharma,
And likewise to the śrāvakas.
“ ‘I make a confession of all
Disrespect I have shown
To pratyekabuddhas
And to bodhisattvas.
“ ‘I make a confession of all
Disrespect I have shown
To teachers of the Dharma and
Disrespect I have shown to the Dharma itself.⁶⁰
“ ‘I make a confession of all
My rejection of the Dharma
And disrespect to my parents
Through being in constant ignorance.
“ ‘I make a confession of all
Obscuration through stupidity and foolishness;
Through desire, anger, and ignorance;
And through pride and arrogance.
“ ‘I will⁶¹ make offerings to those with the ten strengths
In the worlds in the ten directions.
I will save from all suffering
The beings⁶² in the ten directions.
“ ‘I will bring⁶³ all the
Countless beings onto the ten bhūmis.
When they have reached the ten bhūmis,
May they all become tathāgatas.
“ ‘Until I can free them all
From the ocean of suffering,
For millions of eons I will be active⁶⁴
For the sake of every single being.
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“ ‘I will teach⁶⁵ those beings
This profound teaching
That is called The Sublime Golden Light
And purifies⁶⁶ one of all karma.
“ ‘Those who have committed dreadful evil acts
Throughout a thousand eons
Will purify⁶⁷ themselves of them
Through one single confession.
“ ‘Those who are obscured by bad karma
Will quickly become purified of it
Through confessing with these confessions
Through the good Sublime Golden Light.⁶⁸
“ ‘I will dwell⁶⁹ upon the ten bhūmis,
The supreme ten that are the source of jewels.⁷⁰
I will cause the qualities of a buddha to appear
And liberate others from the ocean of existence.⁷¹
“ ‘Through the inconceivable qualities of a buddha,
The flow of the ocean of buddhahood,
And the deep ocean of buddha qualities,
I will have the perfection⁷² of omniscience.
“ ‘Through a hundred thousand samādhis,
Through countless powers of mental retention,
And through the strengths, powers, and aspects of enlightenment,
I will become⁷³ a sublime one with the ten strengths.
“ ‘I pray that the buddhas look upon me
And regard me with their minds.
I pray that with their minds of great compassion
They apprehend the errors I have made.⁷⁴
“ ‘I am tormented by a sorrowful mind,
By wretchedness, by misery, and by terror
Concerning the bad actions I have done
In the past, throughout a hundred eons.
“ ‘I am terrified of my bad actions.
My mind is always low.
Whatever I do,⁷⁵
I find no happiness.
“ ‘All the compassionate buddhas
Dispel the fear of all beings.⁷⁶
I pray that you apprehend my faults
And free me from fear.
“ ‘May the tathāgatas remove
The stain⁷⁷ of my kleśas and karma.
I pray that the buddhas wash me
With the water of their compassion.
“ ‘I confess all my bad actions;
Those that I have done in the past
And those that are my present bad actions,
I make a confession of them all.
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“ ‘I make the commitment that I will not do again
All the wrong actions that I have done.
I will not conceal those bad actions,
Those wrong actions that I have done.
“ ‘There are three kinds of physical actions;
There are four kinds of verbal actions;
There are three kinds of mental actions—
I make a confession of them all.
“ ‘Those actions done physically, those done verbally,
And those done mentally—
The ten kinds of karma I have created—
I make a confession of them all.
“ ‘Having forsaken the ten bad actions,
I will practice the ten that are good.
I will dwell upon the ten bhūmis
And be endowed with the ten supreme strengths.
“ ‘Whatever bad karma I possess
Will bring undesirable results.
I make a confession of all of it
In the presence of the buddhas.
“ ‘Whatever good actions have been done,
Whether in this Jambudvīpa
Or in other world realms,
I rejoice in them all.
“ ‘Whatever merit I have created
Through my body, speech, and mind,
Through those meritorious roots
I will reach the highest enlightenment.
“ ‘Whatever dreadful bad actions have been made
By a foolish mind distressed within existences,
I confess each one of those bad actions
Before the unequaled one with the ten strengths.
“ ‘I confess whatever bad karma I have accumulated
In dangerous lives, in dangerous existences,
In dangerous worlds, with a dangerous and unstable mind,
Through various kinds of dangerous physical behavior.
“ ‘In the presence of the unequaled jinas,
I confess every single bad action I have done
Because of perilous, foolish stupidity and kleśas,⁷⁸
Because of perilous association with wicked friends,
“ ‘Because of perilous saṃsāra and perilous desire,
Because of perilous anger and perilous ignorance,⁷⁹
Because of perilous fatigue⁸⁰ and perilous times,
And because of a perilous lack of producing merit.
“ ‘I praise the buddhas, who are like shining golden mountains,
Who are like Sumeru,⁸¹ and like oceans of qualities.
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I go for refuge to those jinas
And bow my head to all those jinas.
“ ‘Golden in color, stainless gold, golden light,
With the feature of eyes of pure, stainless beryl—
A buddha sun, the source of glorious brilliance and blazing fame
Dispelling deep darkness with the light rays of compassion.
“ ‘With perfectly stainless, very beautiful, excellent limbs,
The buddha sun’s limbs are as if covered with stainless gold.
The light rays of the muni moon bring pleasure
To minds pained by the fires of the kleśas, which are like blazing fires.
“ ‘With faculties and limbs beautified by the thirty-two supreme signs,
Limbs beautified by the excellent features,
And with a net of light rays producing blazing, glorious, brilliant merit,
You are present like the sun in the darkness of the three worlds.
“ ‘Body aspects the color of vast, beautiful, stainless beryl;
The red of dawn, silver, crystal, and copper-red;
Adorned by a net of light rays of various colors,
You, great Muni, are beautiful like the sun.
“ ‘The multitude of light rays from the sun of the sugatas dry up⁸²
The intensely fierce and violent ocean of suffering.
Falling into the river of distress, the great river of saṃsāra,
Waters of death and waves of aging⁸³ churn with misery.
“ ‘I praise the buddhas, who have golden bodies,
The source of wisdom, supreme within the three worlds.
Their limbs shine with the color of gold;
Their limbs are adorned by beautiful signs.
“ ‘Just as the water of the ocean is immeasurable,
Just as the particles in the earth are infinite,
Just as there is no end of stones in Meru,
And just as there is an endless extent to space,
“ ‘The qualities of a buddha are similarly infinite.
There is no one among all beings who can know them.
Even if they examined and contemplated for many eons,
They still would not know the end of those qualities.
“ ‘By counting for eons one may know how many measures,
Each the size of a drop of water on the tip of a hair,
There are in the earth, with its stones, mountains, and oceans.
1.18
But one could never perceive a limit to the qualities of a buddha.
“ ‘May all beings become like that,
With those qualities, colors, fame, and renown,
With bodies adorned by the signs of goodness
And beautified by the eighty features.
“ ‘May I,⁸⁴ through this good karma,
Become before long a buddha in the world.
May I teach the Dharma for the benefit of beings,
And may I free beings afflicted by many sufferings.
“ ‘May I be victorious over powerful Māra and his army.
May I turn the good wheel of the Dharma.
May I remain for countless eons,
And may I satisfy beings with the water of amṛta.
“ ‘May I bring to completion the supreme six perfections,
Just as the jinas of the past have completed them.
May I destroy the kleśas and clear away suffering,
And bring desire, anger, and ignorance to an end.
“ ‘May I always remember lifetimes—
A hundred lifetimes, ten billion lifetimes.
May I constantly recollect the lords of munis,
And may I listen to their vast speech.
“ ‘May I through these good actions
Always succeed in meeting with buddhas.
May I completely forsake bad actions
And may I practice good actions, the source of merit.⁸⁵
“ ‘May all the bad karma of all beings
In every realm come to an end in their worlds.
May those beings with impaired faculties and defective limbs
All possess complete faculties on this day.⁸⁶
“ ‘May those in the ten directions who have no protector,
And are sick, weak, and feeble in body,
All be quickly freed from illness
And gain health, strength, and their faculties.
“ ‘May those whose lives are endangered by attacks from kings⁸⁷ and robbers
And are in distress from hundreds of various kinds of suffering—
All those beings in misfortune and who are suffering—
Become freed from hundreds of the greatest, most dreadful terrors.
“ ‘Those who are beaten, who are in painful bondage,
Who remain in various kinds of distress,
1.19
Who are disturbed by thousands of tribulations
And meet various kinds of dreadful terrors and miseries,
“ ‘May they all become free from their bonds.
May those who are beaten be freed from beatings.
May those who are to be killed gain their lives,
And may they be free from all distress and fear.
“ ‘May the beings who are pained by hunger and thirst
Obtain various kinds of food and drink.
May the blind see the variety of forms.
May the deaf hear pleasant sounds.
“ ‘May the naked find a variety of clothes.
May poor beings discover treasures.
May all beings become happily possessed
Of many kinds of wealth, grain, and jewels.
“ ‘May no one be afflicted with the experience of suffering.
May all beings become beautiful,
With excellent, attractive, pleasant bodies,
And always fully possess many kinds of happiness.
“ ‘May beings, completely endowed with merit, have food and drink⁸⁸
As soon as they think of them.
May they have melodious vīnas, mṛdaṅga drums, and paṭaha drums;
Springs, lakes, ponds, and reservoirs,
“ ‘With golden lotuses, and blue and red lotuses;
Food and drink, clothes, wealth, pearls, jewels, and other treasures;
And jewelry of gold and various other jewels and beryls—
May they have them all as soon as they are thought of.
“ ‘May the word suffering not exist in any world.
May not a single inimical being be seen.
May they all have an illustrious⁸⁹ color
And may they illuminate each other.
“ ‘May that which is perfect in the human world,
And arises in the minds of beings,
Be complete as the result of their merit
As soon as they have wished for it.
“ ‘May various perfumes, garlands, ointments,
Clothes,⁹⁰ powders, and flowers
Rain down from trees throughout the three times,
And may beings obtain them and be made happy.
“ ‘May they make offerings in the ten directions
To all the countless tathāgatas,
Perfect bodhisattvas, śrāvakas,
1.20
And the eternal, spotless, stainless Dharma.⁹¹
“ ‘May they always avoid lower existences,
May they transcend the eight unfortunates states,
May they attain the king of fortunate states,⁹²
And may they always reach the presence of the buddhas.
“ ‘May they always be born into a high family.
May they possess a treasure of wealth and grain.
May they be perfectly adorned throughout many eons
By fame, renown, and excellent bodies and color.
“ ‘May all women always be males
Who are heroic, courageous, and wise.
May they all practice for the sake of enlightenment,
And may they practice the six perfections.
“ ‘May they see the buddhas in the ten directions
Seated blissfully on thrones⁹³ of beryl jewels
Beneath supreme, precious trees,
And may they hear their teaching of the Dharma.
“ ‘The bad karma that I have created
In perilous lifetimes I previously obtained,
And the undesirable results accrued by bad karma,
May all of that vanish without any remainder.
“ ‘Those beings who are in the bondage of existence,
Tightly bound by the noose of saṃsāra,
May the hands of wisdom untie their bonds,
And may they quickly be freed from suffering.⁹⁴
“ ‘I rejoice in the entirety
Of the various profound merits
Accomplished by beings in this Jambudvīpa
And by those who are in other world realms.
“ ‘Through the merit that is created
By my rejoicing in body, speech, and mind,
May I reach the spotless, highest enlightenment,
The result and fulfillment of my prayers.
“ ‘Someone who pays homage and praises
With a mind that is always clear,⁹⁵ pure, and unstained
Will through this recitation of a dedication
Avoid the lower realms for sixty eons.
“ ‘The men, women, brahmins, and kṣatriyas
Who praise the jinas, with palms together in homage,
Through the recitation of these verses
1.21
Will remember their lifetimes in all their lives.
“ ‘Their limbs will be adorned by all aspects and attributes.
They will be endowed with various merits and qualities.
They will be continually offered to by kings, the lords of men.
That is what they will be like wherever they are.
“ ‘Those into whose ears the sound of this confession has entered
Have not accomplished goodness in the presence of only one buddha,
Nor in the presence of only two, or four, or five, or ten,
But rather have accomplished goodness in the presence of a thousand buddhas.’ ”⁹⁶
Chapter 5: The Source of Lotus Flowers: A Praise of All the Buddhas
Then the Bhagavat said to the noble goddess Bodhisattvasamuccayā, “Noble goddess, at that time, in that time, there was a king by the name of Suvarṇabhujendra. Through this praise of all the tathāgatas, The Source of Lotus Flowers, he praised the buddha bhagavats of the past, future, and present.
“ ‘The jinas who have appeared in the past
And the jinas present in worlds in the ten directions,
I pay homage to those jinas
And I praise all those jinas.⁹⁷
“ ‘A lord of munis is peaceful, totally peaceful, and pure.
His body is a perfect golden color.⁹⁸
A buddha’s speech is pleasant with every utterance,⁹⁹
A speech that resounds like the voice of Brahmā.
“ ‘He has hair¹⁰⁰ like a bee, a peacock, and a blue lotus,¹⁰¹
With dark blue curls¹⁰² like the blue jaybird.¹⁰³
His teeth are pure white like snow or a conch,
And he is ¹⁰⁴ always beautiful like gold.
“ ‘His eyes are long, dark blue, and stainless;
They are like blossomed blue lotuses.
His broad, excellent tongue is the color of a red lotus,
Glowing like a red lotus, like red-lotus anthers.¹⁰⁵
“ ‘The ūrṇā hair on his face is the color of a conch or lotus root;¹⁰⁶
It curls to the right and is the color of white beryl.
It is like a sliver of moon, the last of the moon.
Linked texts (1)
- འཕགས་པ་གསེར་འོད་དམ་པ་མདོ་སྡེའི་དབང་པོའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ — Classical Tibetan