ཤས་པས་ཐམས་ཅད་མཐར་ཕྱན་པར་གྲབ་པའ་མཆད་རྟན་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་གཟངས 1

1

Homage to the Three Jewels.
Homage to the Blessed One, Vajradhara.
Homage to the blessed, thus-gone, worthy, perfect Buddha, the king with majestic power over the mode, discipline, and miraculous display of all things.

Homage to the buddhas of the three times!
Homage to the virtuous Three Jewels!
I pay homage to Akṣobhya,
Amitābha, and Avalokiteśvara!
Homage to the three families!¹⁴

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One, the great Vajradhara, was dwelling in a great caitya with a central palace made of various precious substances surrounded by four immeasurable caityas. It sat atop a foundation that had the nature of a caitya and was made from the five kinds of materials from the great Mount Meru.¹⁵ The nature of this great caitya was such that even the space above its summit had the quality of a caitya. He was dwelling there together with Vajrapāṇi, Mañjuśrī, Avalokiteśvara, Maitreya, and other bodhisattvas of the tenth level, as well as the protectors of the pure abodes, including Brahmā, Śakra, and the Four Great Kings.¹⁶

Then, a total of sixty quintillion¹⁷ light rays of various colors were emitted from the Blessed One’s uṣṇīṣa,