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The Flower
Adornment Sutra
Chapter 40
(The Chapter on Entering
the Inconceivable State Of
Liberation of the Conduct and Vows of
Universal Worthy Bodhisattva)
Translated on Imperial Command by the T'ang
Dynasty
Tripitaka Master Prajna of Kubha
Part Three
Stanzas on Universal Worthy's Conduct
and Vows
At that time, the Bodhisattva Universal Worthy Mahasattva,
wishing to restate his meaning, contemplated everywhere in the ten
directions and spoke in verse:
 The First Vow:
To pay homage to and respect all Buddhas.
Before the Lions
Among Men throughout the worlds of the ten directions,
In
the past, in the present, and also in the future,
With body,
mouth, and mind entirely pure,
I bow before them all, omitting
none.
With the awesome spiritual power of Universal Worthy's
vows,
I appear at the same time before every Thus Come
One,
And in transformed bodies as numerous as motes of dust in
all lands,
Bow to Buddhas as numerous as motes of dust in all
lands.
In every mote of dust there are Buddhas as numerous as motes of
dust,
Each dwelling amid a host of Bodhisattvas.
Throughout
all the motes of dust in endless Dharma Realms, it is the
same:
I deeply believe they all are filled with Buddhas.
The Second Vow:
To praise the Thus
Come Ones.
With oceans of myriad sounds, I let fall everywhere
Words
and phrases, wonderful and endless,
Which now and through all
the aeons of the future,
Praise the wide, deep sea of the
Buddhas' merit and virtue.
The Third Vow:
To make abundant offerings.
Flower garlands supreme and wonderful
Music, perfumes,
parasols, and canopies,
And other decorations rich and
rare,
I offer up to every Thus Come One.
Fine clothing, superior incense,
Powdered and burning
incense, lamps and candles,
Each one heaped as high as mount
Sumeru,
I offer fully to all Tathagatas.
With a vast, great, supremely liberated mind,
I believe in
all Buddhas of the three periods of time;
With the strength of
Universal Worthy's conduct and vows,
I make offerings to all
Thus Come Ones everywhere.
The Fourth Vow:
To repent of and overcome karmic obstacles.
For all the evil deeds I have committed in the past,
Created
by my body, mouth, and mind,
From beginningless greed, anger,
and delusion,
I now know shame and repent them all.
The Fifth Vow:
To rejoice in all merits and virtues.
The Sixth Vow:
To request the turning of the Dharma
wheel.
Before the Lamps
of the Worlds of the ten directions,
To those who first
accomplished Bodhi,
I now request and beseech them all
To turn the foremost,
wondrous Dharma wheel.
The Seventh Vow:
To request that the Buddhas remain in the
world.
If there are Buddhas who wish for nirvana, I request with deep
sincerity
That they dwell in the world for a long time
To
bring benefits and bliss to every being.
I pay homage to them with blessings, praise them and make
offerings;
I request that the Buddhas remain in the world and
turn the Dharma wheel.
The good roots gained from following
them and rejoicing in their merit and virtue
And from
repentance and reform,
I transfer to living beings and the
Buddha Way.
The Eighth Vow:
To study always with the Buddhas.
I study with the Buddhas and practice
The perfect conduct of
Universal Worthy;
I make offerings to all the Thus Come Ones of
the past
And to all present Buddhas in all the ten directions.
All future Teachers of Gods and Men
Whose aspirations and
vows have been completed
I will follow in study throughout the
three periods of time
And quickly attain Great Bodhi.
In all lands in all of the ten directions,
Vast, great,
pure, and wonderfully adorned,
All Thus Come Ones sit beneath
regal Bodhi trees
While assemblies circumambulate them.
I vow that every being in all directions
Will be peaceful,
joyful, and without worry.
May they obtain the proper Dharma's
profound benefits,
And may all their afflictions be wiped away,
without exception.
While striving to attain Bodhi,
I will gain the knowledge of
past lives in all destinies.
I will always leave the home-life
and cultivate pure precepts,
Without outflows, never broken,
and without stain.
Be they gods, nagas, yakshas, or
kumbhandas,
Humans, non-humans, or any of the rest,
In the many languages of all such living beings,
With every
sound I will speak the Dharma.
I will cultivate the pure paramitas with vigor,
And
never abandon the Bodhi Mind.
I will banish all obstructions
and defilements
And fulfill all wondrous practices.
From all delusions, karma, and demon-states
Amid all worldly
paths, I will be freed,
As the lotus does not touch the
water,
As the sun and moon do not stop in space.
The Ninth Vow:
To be in harmony with living beings always.
Ending the sufferings of the paths of evil,
And to everyone
equally bringing joy,
May I for aeons as numerous as the motes
of dust in all lands
Ever benefit all in the ten directions.
Always in harmony with living beings,
Cultivating through
all future aeons
The vast conduct of Universal Worthy,
I
will perfect he unsurpassed Great Bodhi.
May all who cultivate with me
Assemble with me in one
place,
With identical karmas of body, mouth, and mind
As we
cultivate and study all practices and vows.
With all advisors good and wise who aid me
Explaining
Universal Worthy's deeds,
I vow always to congregate
together:
May they never be displeased with me.
I vow always to meet Thus Come Ones face to face,
And the
hosts of disciples who gather around them.
I will raise
offerings which are vast and great,
Untiring to the end of
future eons.
I will hold high the subtly wondrous Buddha Dharma
And will
illuminate all the practices of Bodhi;
I will be ultimately
pure in Universal Worthy's way,
Practicing until the end of
time.
Inexhaustible blessings and wisdom
I cultivate throughout
all worlds;
By concentration, wisdom, skillful means, and
liberation,
I will gain an endless store of merits and virtues.
In one mote of dust there are lands as numerous as motes of
dust;
In each land are incalculable numbers of Buddhas.
In
every place where Buddhas dwell I see the host
assembled,
Endlessly proclaiming all the practices of Bodhi.
In all the ten directions everywhere, throughout the sea of
lands,
Every hair-tip encompasses oceans of past, present and
future.
So, too, there is a sea of Buddhas, a sea of Buddha
lands;
Pervading them all, I cultivate for oceans of endless
time.
The speech of all Thus Come Ones is pure;
Each word contains
an ocean of sounds.
In accordance with what beings like to
hear,
The Buddhas' sea of eloquence flows forth.
All Thus Come Ones throughout the three periods of
time
Forever turn the wonderful Dharma wheel;
With these
inexhaustible seas of words and languages,
I understand all
with my deep wisdom.
I can penetrate the future
And exhaust all aeons in a single
thought;
In a single thought I completely enter
All aeons
troughout the three periods of time.
In one thought I see all Lions
of Men
Of the past, present, and future;
I constantly
fathom the Buddhas' states,
Their magical liberations and their
awesome strength.
On the tip of an extremely fine hair
Appear jeweled lands of
past, present and future:
Lands on hair-tips as numerous as
dust motes in all lands of the ten directions,
I deeply enter,
adorn, and purify.
All Lamps of the Future that light the world
Complete the
Way, turn the Dharma wheel, and rescue living beings.
As they
perfect the Buddhas' work and manifest nirvana,
I draw near to
and attend each one, and obtain
The spiritual power to go everywhere swiftly;
The power to
enter the Mahayana universally through the Universal Door;
The
power of wisdom and conduct to cultivate merits and virtues
universally;
The subtle spiritual power to shield all with
Great Compassion;
The power to purify and adorn all with supreme blessings
everywhere;
The power of wisdom which is unattached and
independent;
The awesome spiritual powers and the powers of
concentration, wisdom, and skill-in-means;
The power of
universally accumulating Bodhi;
The power of good karma which purifies all things;
The power
to eradicate all afflictions;
The power to subdue all
demons;
The power to perfect Universal Worthy's conduct.
I everywhere adorn and purify a sea of lands,
And I
liberate all living beings, without exception.
With great skill
I make selections from among the sea of Dharmas
And enter
deeply into the wisdom sea.
I cultivate the ocean of practices for attaining purity;
I
perfect and complete a sea of vows.
I draw near to a sea of
Buddhas and make offerings,
And cultivate without fatigue for a
sea of time.
To all Thus Come Ones throughout the three periods of
time,
With Bodhi, conduct, and vows most supreme,
I fully
offer up my perfect cultivation;
With Universal Worthy's
practices, I awaken to Bodhi.
Each Thus Come One has an elder disciple
Named Universal
Worthy, the Honored One.
I now transfer all good roots, and I
vow
To perform deeds of wisdom identical to his.
I vow that my body, mouth, and mind will be forever pure
And
that all practices and lands will be also.
I vow in every way
to be identical
To the wisdom of Universal Worthy.
I will wholly purify Universal Worthy's conduct,
And the
great vows of Manjushri as well.
I will fulfill all their
deeds, leaving nothing undone.
Until the future ends, I will
never tire.
My cultivation is infinite and immeasurable;
I obtain
boundless merit and virtue.
I will dwell in peace amid
limitless practices,
And will penetrate the strength of
spiritual powers.
The Tenth Vow:
To transfer all merit and virtue.
Manjushri has wisdom, courage and bravery;
Universal
Worthy's conduct and wisdom are the same.
I now transfer all
good roots
In order to follow them in practice and in study.
Throughout the three periods of time, all Buddhas
praise
Such vows as these, lofty and great.
I now transfer
all good roots, wishing to perfect
Universal Worthy's supreme
practices.
I vow that when my life approaches its end,
All obstructions
will be swept away;
I will see Amitabha Buddha
And will be
born in his Land of Ultimate Bliss and Peace.
Reborn in the Western Land,
I will perfect and completely
fulfill,
Without exception, these Great Vows,
To the
delight and benefit all beings.
The Assembly of Amitabha Buddha is completely pure;
When
from a matchless lotus I am born,
I will behold the Thus Come
One's Immeasurable Light as he appears before me
To bestow a
prediction of Bodhi.
Receiving a prediction from the Thus Come One,
I will
manifest countless appearances and forms,
And with wisdom power
vast and great, pervade ten directions
To benefit all the
realms of living beings.
Realms of worlds in empty space may come to an end,
And
living beings, karma and afflictions may be extinguished;
But
they will never be exhausted,
And neither will my vows.
With myriad jewels in boundless lands in all directions,
I
make decorations and offerings to the Thus Come Ones.
For aeons
as numerous as the motes of dust in all lands, I bring
The
foremost peace and joy to gods and humans.
Yet, if anyone believes in these Great Vows,
As they pass by
the ear but a single time,
And in search of Bodhi thirstily
craves these vows,
The merits and virtues thus gained will
surpass these offerings.
With bad advisors forever left behind,
From paths of evil he
departs for eternity,
Soon to see the Buddha of Infinite
Light
And to perfect Universal Worthy's Supreme Vows.
Easily obtaining the blessings of long life,
Assured of a
noble rebirth in the human realm,
Before long he will perfect
and complete
Universal Worthy's practices.
In the past, owing to a lack of wisdom power,
The five
offenses of extreme evil he has committed;
In one thought, they
can all be wiped away by reciting
Universal Worthy's Great
Vows.
His clan, race, and color, marks and characteristics
With
his wisdom are all perfected and complete;
Demons and
externalists will have no way to harm him,
And he will be a
field of merits in the Three Realms.
To the regal Bodhi tree he will quickly go,
And, seated
there, subdue hordes of demons.
Supremely and perfectly
enlightened, he will turn the Dharma wheel
To benefit the host
of living beings.
If anyone can read, recite, receive, and hold high
Universal
Worthy's Vows and proclaim them,
His reward only the Buddhas
will know,
And he will obtain Bodhi's highest path.
If anyone recites Universal Worthy's Vows,
I will speak of a
portion of his good roots:
In one single thought he can
fulfill
The pure vows of sentient beings.
The supreme and endless blessings from Universal Worthy's
conduct
I now universally transfer.
May every living being,
drowning and adrift,
Soon return to the Land of Infinite Light!
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