ཤས་པས་ཐམས་ཅད་མཐར་ཕྱན་པར་གྲབ་པའ་མཆད་རྟན་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་གཟངས 10

10

An eight-petaled lotus should be drawn in each of the spaces where a caitya is to be placed.

Then, once the caitya maṇḍala has been set up, the request to remain is made using the mantra spell oṁ supratiṣṭha stūpe svāhā.⁴⁹ After reciting this three times and setting out the caitya, it will function extraordinarily to serve the aims of oneself and others. The sequence for arranging the caityas is as follows: the first is placed in the center, then one proceeds sequentially to set one in the east, south, west, and north. The great spell to be recited while placing them is oṁ vajra­padmasamaye svāhā.⁵⁰ After reciting it three times, say, “please be seated on the vajra and lotus seat” while imagining that everything—the ground, the expanse of the sky, and the depths of the sea—is filled with caityas. Alternatively, one offers incense, flowers, and the rest of the fivefold offering and makes the request to remain after each caitya is made and placed in the maṇḍala.

The color of the caityas and other features are painted observing the following correspondences: white for pacification, yellow for increasing, red for magnetizing, and green for protection.⁵¹ The cloth should follow the same scheme. This is what one should imagine.

Next, the maṇḍala of caityas should be blessed. One should recite the mantra of the great spell hūṁ raṃ svāhā, which has emerged from the red syllable raṃ located above the maṇḍala. After reciting it three times, a great flame of the wisdom of suchness will burn fiercely, purifying the concepts in those places⁵² so that the very foundation of the maṇḍala will be made of the five precious substances. This is what one should imagine.