I am posting this because I find this prayer, from Tibetan Buddhist tradition, exceptionally inspiring. I want to share this prayer as reciting it turns the mind from obstacles and hindrances, and focuses the mind on higher aspirations, while simultaneously, dissolving those obscurations.
Also, in many ways, this prayer reminds me of the "spirit of Barbelith", in that it calls for an ever-mindful, personal evolutionary process, in order to benefit oneself and one's family, community, culture, world, and so on...It is a prayer of impeccability.
The version I have, which I am rewriting here, is not checked for PC-ness, but it is the version I received and transcribed here. This version is translated into English by Glenn H. Mullin with Thepo Tulku. The only change I made, is to add the *first line of homage, which is not in my version, but is in most other translations I have seen online.
King of Prayers
"The Prayer of Ways High and Sublime"
*I bow down to the youthful Arya Manjushri.
O, lions amongst men,
Buddhas past, present and future,
To as many of you exist in the ten directions
I bow down with my body speech and mind.
On waves of strength of this King
Of prayers for exhalted sublime ways
With bodies numerous as atoms of the world
I bow down to the Buddhas pervading space.
On every atom is found a Buddha
Sitting amongst Buddha Sons
I l ook with eyes of faith to the Victorious Ones,
Thus filling the entire Dharmadhatu.
Of these with endless oceans of excellence
Endowed with an ocean of wondrous speech
I sing praises of the greatness of all the Buddhas
A eulogy of Those Gone to Bliss.
Garlands of flowers I offer them,
And beautiful sounds, supreme perfumes,
Butter lamps and sacred incense
I offer to all the Victorious Ones.
Excellent food, supreme fragrances,
And a mound of mystic substances high as Mount Meru
I arrange in a special formation
And offer to those who have conquered themselves.
And all peerless offerings I hold up
In admiration of Those Gone to Bliss
With the strength of faith of sublime ways
I prostrate and make offerings to the Conquerors.
Long overpowered by attachment, aversion nd ignorance
Countless evils I have committed
With acts of body speech and mind -
Each and every one of these I now confess.
In the perfections of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas
The Arhats, training and beyond,
And in the latent goodness of every living being,
I lift up my hear and rejoice.
O lights into the ten directions,
Buddhas who have found the passionless state of Enlightenment,
To all of you, I direct this request:
Turn the Incomparable Wheel of Dharma.
O, Masters wishing to show Parinirvana,
Stay with us and teach, I pray,
For as many aeons as there are specks of dust,
In order to bring joy and goodness to all beings.
May any small merits that may have amassed,
By thus prostrating, making offerings, confessing and rejoicing
And asking the Buddhas to remain and teach Dharma
Be dedicated now to supreme and perfect Enlightenment.
May my offerings be recieved by all past Buddhas
And by all those now abiding in the ten directions,
And may all the Buddhas who have not yet come
Quickly perfect their minds and reach Buddhahood, the state of supreme full awakening.
May all the Buddha realms of the ten directions
Remain forever vast and completely pure
May the world be completely filled with Buddhas who have attained illumination under sacred trees,
And may they all be surrounded by Bohdisattvas.
May all living beings in the ten directions
Always abide in health and joy.
May they live in accord with the way of the Dharma
And may their every wish become fulfilled.
By my living in the ways of Enlightenment
May I remember my past lives and all my reincarnations
And in all cycles of death, migration and rebirth,
May a sensitivity for truth be ever strong in me.
By my following in the footsteps of the Buddhas
May I utterly perfect the sublime ways of the Bodhisattvas,
And may I practice the faultless, undegenerating, stainless and pure ways of self control,
May I master all languages that exist, including those of the gods, yakshas, spirits and varieties of men,
As well as all forms of communication of living beings,
That I may be able to show Dharma in every way.
Striving thus in transcending perfections,
May I never forget the Bodhimind,
And may I totally cleanse from within my minstream
All negativities and mental veils.
May I gain freedom from karma, delusion and karmic maras
To be able to live in the world unaffected by it's stains
Like an untainted lotus grows in mud,
And like the sun and moon shine without obstruction in the sky.
For as long as there are Buddhafields and directions
May I strive to quell the misery of the lower realms,
May I place all living beings only in happiness
And bring them only happiness and joy.
May I strive to complete the ways of Enlightenment
And to abide in ways harmonious with the world,
May I expose to others the ways most sublime
And myself abide by them throughout all future aeons.
May my ways and the ways of the Bodhisattva
Always got together hand in hand
In body, speech and mind
May I attune to their sublime ways.
May I never be separated from the good friends
Who reveal the path of sublime ways
And who wish only to benefit me -
May I never disappoint them even for a moment.
May I constantly envision the Perfect Buddhas,
The protectors who are surrounded by Bodhisattvas,
And in the future may I never weary
Of devoting myself to them with all my strength.
May I forever uphold the holy Dharma of the Buddhas
And illumine the sublime way of Enlightenment,
May I practice throughout all future ages
The ways and deeds of the sublime path.
Circling in various realms of existence
May I amass inexhaustible goodness and wisdom,
And may I become an unending treasure of qualities
Such as methods, wisdom, samadhi and the experiences of a Bodhisattva.
In every atom are Buddhafields numberless as atoms,
Each field is filled with Buddhas beyond conception
And each Buddha is surrounded by a myriad of Bodhisattvas -
To all these dwellers in sublime ways I turn my attention.
Thus all atoms within the directions
Abide within the space of a single hair
An ocean of Buddhas within an ocean of Buddhafields
Performing Enlightened activities for an ocean of aeons.
Each Buddha with perfect speech releases
An ocean of sound with every word said
To satisfy the infinitely diverse tendencies of beings,
Thus does the speech of a Buddha constantly flow.
All these Conquerors past, present and future
Continually turn the methods of Dharma wheels,
With all the powers of my mind I listen
For the inexhaustible sound of their words.
All future aeons that could possibly be
Manifest within me in a single instant
And myself in a fraction of a moment
Enter into all these aeons of the three times.
All past, pressent and future lions among men
I envision with the instantaneous wisdom
And by the power of the Bodhisattvas' examples
I focus upon the objects of their experience.
I manifest Buddhafields, past present and future
Upon a single atom of existence,
And then, I transform every single atom
Of existence into a Buddhafield.
By this when the future lights of the worlds
Eventually gain Bodhi, turn the Dharma wheels
And reveal the passing into Nirvana's supreme peace,
May I take rebirth in their very presence.
Then may I attain the ten powers:
The power of instant magical emanation,
The power which is a vehicle with every door,
The power of excellent activity,
The power of all pervading love,
The power of constantly positive energy,
The power of passionless wisdom,
The power of knowledge, method and samdhi,
And the power of Enlightenment itself.
May I purify the powers of karma
May I crush the powers of delusion
May I render powerless, powerful maras
And may I perfect the powers of sublime ways.
May I purify an ocean of realms
May I liberate an ocean of sentient beings
May I see an ocean of truths
And may I realize an ocean of wisdom.
May I perform an ocean of perfect deeds
May I perfect an ocean of prayers
May I revere an ocean of Buddhas
And may I practice untiringly for an ocean of aeons.
Through my practice of the Sublime Bodhisattva ways
May I gain the Enlightenment of Buddhahood
And then fulfill the enlightened and sublime aspiration
In order to match the ways of the sage
Called Samantabadra, the Always Sublime One,
Chief amongst the Awakened One's Sons,
I now dedicate all virtues that I possess.
Just as the sublime sage Samantabadra
Dedicated all pure practices of body, speech and mind
To the attainment of a pure state and pure realms,
So now do I dedicate the fruits of all my efforts.
In order to engage in all sublime virtues
I offer the prayer of Manjushri
In the future may I never become faint
In striving to perfect the exalted Bodhisattvas' way.
Limitless is the extent of space,
Limitless is the number of sentient beings
And limitless are the karma and the delusions of beings,
Such are the limits of my aspirations.
One may offer supreme ornaments of the Buddhafields
Of the ten directions to the Conquerors
And also offer the highest joys of men and gods
For aeons numerous as atoms of the world.
But to read or hear the King of Prayers
With eyes looking toward supreme illumination
And faith shining in one's heart even for an instant
Gives birth to a far more superior merit.
Should anyone recite this aspiration of sublime ways
They will pass beyond all states of sorrow,
Will rise above all inferior beings and gain
A vision of Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Light.
Even in this very lifetime
All sublime joys will be theirs,
The experiences of the all sublime Samantabadra,
Without obstruction, will quickly be theirs.
Merely by giving voice to these aspirations
All evils, such as the five inexplicable deeds
That out of ignorance were done,
Will be completely and utterly washed away.
One will gain the wisdom, form, marks, family,
And complexion of a supreme Nirmanakaya
The most revered goal of all three worlds
And thus transcend the harm of devils and fools.
One will travel to the great tree of illumination
And there, for the sake of living beings, will make one's seat
Then one will turn the mighty wheel of Dharma
And tame evil mara and his forces.
Should anyone touch, read, or teach to others
This prayer of sublime ways of a Bodhisattva,
The effects can only be known by a omniscient Buddha
Therefore doubt not that it leads to Enlightenment.
In order to follow the excellent examples set
By wisdom of the Bodhisattva Manjushri
And the always sublime Samantabadra,
All virtues I dedicate to their peerless ideals.
All Conquerors passed into the three times
Have praised as supreme this peerless dedication.
Therefore I also surrender all roots of my activities
To the sublime goals of a Bodhisattva.
When the moment of my death arrives,
May I remain free from the spiritual obscurations,
May I perceive the countenance of Amitabha
And transmigrate to Sukhavati, the pure land of joy.
Having arrived there, may I fulfil
All aims of this prayer of aspirations
And benefit the countless living beings
Residing throughout the ten directions.
In the joyous mandala of Amitabha Buddha
May I be reborn from a beautiful lotus
And may I there have the pleasure of gaining
A pure prophesy from Amitabha himself.
Having won this word of prophesy
By the power of mind, may I fill all directions
With many mystical emanations
And bring limitless benefits to the world.
If by reciting this prayer of sublime ways
I have amassed a tiny fragment of goodness
May it work immediately to fulfill
All Dharmic hopes of the living beings.
SARVAM MANGALAM
May the merit gained by the posting of this prayer be dedicated to all ailing Barbelithers. |
