To the Guru and Founder, the Endowed Transcendant Destroyer, the
One Gone Beyond, the Foe Destroyer, The Completely Perfected, Fully Awakened
Being, perfect in knowledge and in good conduct, Sugata, Knower of the World,
Supreme Guide of human beings to be tamed, teacher of gods and human beings; to
you, the Completely and Fully Awakened One, the Endowed Transcendant Destroyer,
the Glorious Conqueror, the Subduer from the Shakya Clan, I prostrate, make
offerings and go for refuge.
When, O supreme among humans, you were born on this earth, You
paced out seven strides, Then said,"I am
supreme in this world". To you, who were wise then, I prostrate.
With pure bodies, form supremely pure; Wisdom ocean,like a
golden mountain; Fame that blazes in the three worlds, Winner of the best
- Lord, to you I prostrate.
With the supreme signs, face like spotless moon, Colour like
gold - to you, I prostrate. You are immaculate, the three worlds are
not. Incomparably Wise One - to you I prostrate.
The Saviour having great compassion, The Founder having all
understanding, The Field of Merit with qualities like a vast ocean - To
you, the One Gone to Thusness, I prostrate.
The purity which makes one free from attachment, The virtue
which frees one from the lower realms, The one path, the sublime pure reality
- To that Dharma which pacifies, I prostrate.
Those who are liberated and who also show the path to
liberation, The holy field qualified with realisations, Who are devoted to
the moral precepts - To you, the sublime community intending virtue, I
prostrate.
Homage to the supreme Buddha! Homage to the Dharma
refuge! Homage to the great Sangha! To all three, ever-devout homage!
To all worthy of respect, Bowing with bodies as many as All
realms' atoms, in all aspects, With supreme faith I pay homage.
Do not commit any non-virtuous actions, Perform only perfect
virtuous actions, Subdue your mind thoroughly - This is the teaching of
the Buddha.
A star, a mirage, a flame of a lamp, An illusion, a drop of
dew, or a bubble, A dream. a flash of lightning, a cloud - See conditioned
things as such!
Through these merits may sentient beings attain the rank of
all-seeing, Subdue the foe of faults, And be delivered from samasara's
ocean, Perturbed by the waves of ageing, sickness and death.
OM, I prostrate to the Protector of the world, Guru of the world, praised by
the three realms, Chief of gods, praised by Mara and Brahma, by praising You,
the supreme King of sages, beings achieve your state. I prostrate to the
sublime Protector of the three worlds. Your noble body is the bodies of
countless Tathagatas, You are crowned by the Sugata Infinite Light, You
dispel hunger and thirst of pretas with your supremely giving right hand,
And are perfectly adorned with a golden lotus in your left hand. Your
orange colored garlands of scented hair are radiant, Beautiful One with a face like a full moon, You have
supremely good and encompassing lotus eyes, Fragrant One, white like a conch
shell or snow. Wearing clusters of flawless glittering pearls, adorned
by beautiful beams like the red of dawn, with hands arranged like a lotus
lake, Youthful, You have the color of autumn clouds. Both shoulders are
adorned by many jewels. Your palms are soft and young like exquisite leaves.
Your left breast is covered with a deerskin. You wear ornaments such as
beautiful earrings and bracelets. Standing on a supreme stainless lotus,
Your abdomen's surface is soft like lotus petals, Your exquisite golden
belt is adorned with jewels. You wear a skirt of fine cloth around your
hips. Having Buddha's supreme knowledge, You have gone beyond the great
ocean. You achieved the supreme state by collecting vast merit. Source
of continuous joy, Dispeller of aging and disease, Having fully
perfected compassion, wisdom and power, You show enlightened deeds.
Supreme amongst embodied beings, You won the battle against Mara's
forces. Your feet are attractive with the sound of golden anklets.
Avoiding Brahma's four abodes, You move with a swan's gait and like a
great proud elephant. Collector of full perfect merit and Caretaker of the
Dharma, You liberate from the ocean of milk and the ocean of water.
Whatever man or woman daily rises at dawn, respectfully directs the mind to
Avalokiteshvara, and recites purely and clearly these supreme praises, will have
all their worldly and transworldly needs fulfilled, in this life and all future
lives.
From the supreme abode of the Potala, the One born
from the green letter TAM, the light of TAM that rescues all beings, I
request You, Tara, to come with your entourage.
The gods and demi-gods with their crowns bow down to your lotus feet
and are rescued from all miseries. I request You Tara, to come with your
entourage.
OM! Homage to the venerable Arya Tara!
Homage! Tara, swift, heroic / eyes like instant flash of
lightning; Born from tear in op'ning staments / of Lord Chenrezig's lotus
face. Homage!
You whose face resembles / hundred shining autumn full moons;
Blazing with replendent light rays / as a thousand-star collection.
Homage! You who hold in your hand / golden-blue, water-born
lotus; Your field: giving, calm, ascetic, / patience, effort, meditation
Homage! Crown of Tathagatas, / You Triumphant over evil;
Honoured much by Bodhisattvas / having gained ev'ry perfection.
Homage! With TUTTARA HUM, You / fill the regions and
space-quarters. Trample seven worlds with your feet / powerful draw forth
all beings.
Homage! Worshipped by the All-lords / Sakra, Agni, Brahma,
Marut; honoured by the hosts of spirits, / corpse-raisers, gandharvas,
yakshas.
Homage! You whose TRAT and PHAT sounds / crush all of foes'
magic drawings, Beautiful in raging fire-blaze, / with your left leg out and
right bent.
Homage! TURE, very dreadful / having conquered Mara's champion;
With a frowning lotus visage, / You are slayer of all enemies.
Homage! You who show the mudra / of the Triple Gem at your
heart; Wheels adorning your hands and feet / spread their light in all
directions.
Homage! You possess the great joy, / diadem shining
light-garlands, Sparkling laughter of TUTTARE / overpowers maras, devas.
Homage! You able to summon / all earth-guardians assembly,
Frowning, shaking with your HUM-sign, / rescueing from all misfortunes.
Homage! In your crowning hair-locks / crescent-moon crown,
brightly shining, From Amitabha in your hair / radiate eternal light rays.
Homage! You in blazing circle, / like the eon-ending fire,
Right left out, left bent, destroying / enemies to the wheel-turners.
Homage! You whose palm smite the ground / and with your foot
beat the surface, With the HUM of wrathful wrinkles, / seven underworlds You
shatter.
Homage! Happy, virt'ous, peaceful / You whose field is peace,
Nirvana, You endowed with OM and SVAHA, / nat'rally destroy all downfalls.
Homage! You joyful crush bodies / of enemies to the
wheel-turners, Luminous with the HUM-mantra / and the ten-syllable garland.
Homage! TURE, Swift One, HUM-seed, / Foot-stamper, You shake the
mountains; Meru, Mandhara and Kailash / and make all the three worlds
tremble.
Homage! You who hold in your hand / deer-marked moon of
deva-lake form, With twice spoken TARA and PHAT / totally dispell all
poison.
Homage! You are honoured by gods, / rulers of gods and kinnaras,
Joy-producing One, your fullness / clears away conflicts and bad dreams.
Homage! You whose eyes are bright with / radiance of sun and
full moon, With twice HARA and TUTTARE, / You dispell all chronic fevers.
Homage! Full of liberating / force by three Realities-set,
Crushing crowds of spirits, yakshas / and corpse-raisers. Supreme TURE!
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SVAHA
With this, the praise to the root mantra and the 21 salutations is completed.
The intelligent one, who clearly recites the 21 praises, perfectly endowed
with respect to the deity, on waking at dawn and in the evening, and remembering
it, will grant all fearlessness by completely vanquishing all the non-virtues.
The very detruction of all the unfortunate realms will be obtained. The
seven million Tathagatas will soon give the empowerments. By this, the Very
Great One will be achieved and one will go to the ultimate state: Buddhahood.
By remembering this praise, complete cure will be obtained from the most
dreadful poisons, long lasting or transient which one has either eaten or drunk.
If oneself or others are afflicted by evil spirits, epidemicsa and poisons,
all sufferings will be completely overcome. If one recites the praise twice,
thrice or even seven times, one who wishes a son will obtain a son, one who
wishes weath will obtain wealth. All wishes will be fulfilled and all
obscurations will be cleared when they arise.
Colophon: Slightly edited version (by webmaster) from Martin Wilson's
translation. Note that this version can be chanted with the same tune as the
traditional Tibetan version.
Obeisance to my Guru and Protector, Manjushri. You hold to your heart a scripture
symbolic of seeing all things as they are. Your sun-like understanding
shines unclouded by defilements or traces of ignorance. With the loving
compassion of a father for his only son, You teach in sixty ways all beings
caught in the prison of samsara, who are confused in the darkness of their
ignorance and overwhelmed by suffering. Your dragon-thunder proclamation of
the Dharma arouses us from the stupor of our delusions and frees us from the
iron chains of our karma. Your powerful sword of wisdom hews down suffering
wherever its sprouts appear, clearing away the darkness of all
ignorance. Your princely body is adorned with the 112 marks of a Buddha.
You have completed the ten stages, achieving the highest perfection of a
Bodhisattva. You have been pure from the beginning. I prostrate to You,
Manjushri.
OM A RA PA TSA NA DHIH
Compassionate One, with the brilliance of your wisdom, illuminate the
darkness enclosing my mind. Enlighten my intelligence and wisdom, so that I
may gain insight into the Buddha's words and the texts that explain them.
OPENING THE DOOR OF THE PURE LAND BY LAMA TSONG
KHAPA (PRAISE TO AMITABHA)
NAMO SHRI-GURU-MANJUGHOSAYA! Ruler of Sukhavati Pure Land, praised by all
the Sugatas - Bhagavan Lord Amitayus, Teacher of gods and humans, king of
Conquerors - You grant long life to beings. As the cloud-free moon is
reflected in clear water in all infinite kinds of vessel, so to countless
fortunate beings at once, in many aspects You display your body. In the
same instant You cut every net of doubt besetting infinite disciples and open
the eye of wisdom to reality with your speech, unceasingly proclaimed.
Spreading pervasive knowledge to all knowables, ruled by compassion for
beings of the five streams, its' power of wisdom and love saves from fears of
samsara and peace, as your mind is unstirred by signs or effort. With your
body, a heap of splendour that fills with endless masses of light all countless
lands, as the sun's rays do the heaven's vault, provide a banquet for my
fortunate eyes. With your brahmic voice, of five members, just to hear which
grants the highest bliss, like sweet thunder to the peacocks' heart, sprinkle
drops of nectar in my ears. With supreme calm mind, all fancy stilled by
putting your awareness in emptiness, like a still cloud-mass in the sky's
expanse, quell all mental focus (on) imagining. Even if all Conquerors
described for countless eons your (great) mass of virtues, to find the end would
be no easy task; just so, they are more than I can tell. Therefore, there's
no other teacher like You, an inexhaustible store of qualities from whom all
seeds of faults have gone forever. You alone, then, are migrators' refuge.
Through your thousand million vows, Protector, You founded well the best of
Supreme Lands where even the name of suffering is not found, hence called the
Pure Land, Sukhavati. There, as soon as the light of this life fades, let me
be born in a thousand-petalled lotus, rise from within the lotus without
hindrance, behold your form, and drink my fill of your speech. When, Lord,
I've heard your mahayanic speech, just as Avalokita behaves to free those
sinking in samsara's mire, and mahasthama-prapta, let me too.
