འཕགས་པ་འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱ་རྩ་བའ་རྒྱད 271

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a day and ensure the retention of semen.¹⁶⁹² One should not disclose one’s auspicious dreams to anyone but offer them instead to the Blessed One.

“Proceeding on, one should speedily¹⁶⁹³ recite the One¹⁶⁹⁴ Syllable one hundred thousand times. At the end, one should read aloud [the text of] the blessed Prajñāpāramitā . At the time of recitation one should look at the face of Blessed One or the divine youth Mañjuśrī¹⁶⁹⁵ and recite without mixing up the syllables or words. [Each time] one reaches the end of the rosary, one should bow [to them] and offer [oneself to the deity]. Having, in this manner, completed the preliminary practice, one should install the painting in some good place, where one will be able to do the [main] rite in a happy frame of mind.”

This concludes the instructions on the painting procedure.

“Subsequently, one should fashion out of white sandalwood [an effigy of] Blessed Mañjuśrī sitting on a lotus seat, with the text of the blessed Prajñāpāramitā in his left hand and, in his right, a fruit.¹⁶⁹⁶ One should install the effigy facing west in a secluded, clean place and dig a fire pit in front of it. The pit should be, for all rites, square and two vitastis across. At the bottom, one should place the fragrances and all kinds of grain and make [the fire] above it.¹⁶⁹⁷ Following this procedure, one should start a new fire, using sticks of the bodhi tree or aśoka tree. One should procure ghee, rice grains, boiled rice, milk, curds, and honey, and place all of it together in a copper bowl. Having incanted it one thousand and eight times, one should perform the complete homa.¹⁶⁹⁸

“Later, on another day, starting during the bright fortnight, one should perform the following rite. One should make the fire using bodhi tree sticks and, seeing that the fire is without smoke, one should summon the god of fire:

“Come! Come, O tawny-yellow one! One with a flaming tongue and red eyes! Give, give generously, O tawny-yellow one! Svāhā! ¹⁶⁹⁹

“With this mantra, one should offer three oblations, and then summon Blessed Mañjuśrī¹⁷⁰⁰ with the mantra:

“Come, come, O divine youth!