འཕགས་པ་འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱ་རྩ་བའ་རྒྱད 259

259

I will be the last tathāgata.¹⁶³⁴ During that debased time, the lowest eon, this excellent mantra will effectively protect my teachings.

“I will now teach the ritual of this [mantra]. Listen, Mañjusvara,¹⁶³⁵ O divine youth with a pleasant voice, to the detailed instructions on the great ritual of your [mantra]! I will [now] teach at great length the king of rituals [that employs] this [mantra].

“To start, one should climb a mountain and recite the mantra two million¹⁶³⁶ times; this constitutes the preliminary practice. One should recite while living on a diet of milk dishes, observing silence, focusing the mind on the mantra and nothing else,¹⁶³⁷ fully embracing the triple refuge, generating bodhicitta, observing [the prescribed fasts] and the precepts of morality, and fully embracing the conduct consistent with the bodhisattva vows.¹⁶³⁸ After this, one can commence the rites.

“First, one should commission a painting. This should be done in a clean place by a painter who is observing the ritual fast, using uncontaminated paints and a clean piece of either cloth or silk suffused with sandalwood, camphor, and saffron. The painter himself must be clean, eat the three white foods,¹⁶³⁹ and wear clean¹⁶⁴⁰ clothes. He should be requested to paint during an auspicious nakṣatra, on the fifteenth day of the bright fortnight when the moon is perfectly full, [starting] at sunrise and [continuing] until midday. He should avoid [painting] past [midday]. He should continue in this way day after day until the painting is finished.

“On the canvas, one should first paint the world called Amitāyurvatī. On a cloth measuring one cubit, or a square piece of silk one width of the Buddha’s hand across, one should paint Amitāyurvatī, adorned below with mountains consisting of ruby, sapphire, and emerald, with palaces upon them embellished with fine jewels and adorned with raised flags and banners.

“In the center, one should paint Tathāgata Amitāyurviniścaya­rājendra,