ཤས་པས་ཐམས་ཅད་མཐར་ཕྱན་པར་གྲབ་པའ་མཆད་རྟན་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་གཟངས 5

5

Furthermore, if this great mantra spell is cast when making a single caitya, it will be as if ten million were made. If this great spell is not cast, even if ten million caityas are made it will be as if they are just one. Why would this be the case? The answer is the same as before.

The mantra for the great spell is tadyathā sūkṣme sūkṣme śānte śānte nirākule yaśo tejo sarvabuddhe adhiṣṭhāna adhiṣṭhite anumide svāhā.²⁷ Its procedure is as follows: if one makes a single caitya from a lump of clay after reciting the spell over it twenty-one times, it will be as if ten million are made. The corresponding amount and benefit of making a hundred cannot be expressed, even by the arhats among noble śrāvakas. The corresponding amount and benefit of making a thousand cannot be expressed, even by bodhisattvas. The corresponding amount and benefit of making ten thousand cannot be expressed, even by the tathāgatas. The corresponding amount and benefit of making a hundred thousand cannot be expressed, even by the tathāgatas of the three times and ten directions.

For these reasons, one should perform the ritual offering, including the five supports for offering.²⁸ First, the local deities should be appeased at the site where the caityas will be made, where the clay for the caityas will be stored, and where the clay for the caityas will be excavated. Next, a boundary should be created to thwart any ill-intentioned obstructing spirits who live there and would disrupt the caitya and its virtue. To infuse a thread with the mantra of this great spell, recite oṁ vajrasūtra hūṁ phaṭ ²⁹ while visualizing a thread to be a vajra thread. The area that encompasses the site for the caitya and the area that encompasses the site where the clay is located should be demarcated with the thread. When the ground is demarcated in this way, the specific patch of ground will take on the qualities of the various precious substances that are used for a caitya.