The Way Of The Bodhisattva 2.1 - 2.29

The Way Of The Bodhisattva

Chapter 2 Confessions 2.1 - 2.29

2.1

To the buddhas, those thus gone,

And to the sacred Law, immaculate, supreme, and rare,

And to the Buddha’s offspring, oceans of good qualities,

That I might gain this precious attitude, I make a perfect

Offering.

2.2

I offer every fruit and flower

And every kind of healing medicine;

And all the precious things the world affords,

With all pure waters of refreshment;

2.3

Every mountain, rich and filled with jewels;

All sweet and lonely forest groves;

The trees of heaven, garlanded with blossom,

And branches heavy, laden with their fruit;

2.4

The perfumed fragrance of the realms of gods

And men;

All incense, wish trees, and trees of gems;

All crops that grow without the tiller’s care

And every sumptuous object worthy to be offered;

2.5

Lakes and meres adorned with lotuses,

All plaintive with the sweet-voiced cries of water birds

And lovely to the eyes, and all things wild and free,

Stretching to the boundless limits of the sky;

2.6

I hold them all before my mind, and to the supreme

Buddhas

And their heirs will make a perfect gift of them.

O, think of me with love, compassionate lords;

Sacred objects of my prayers, accept these offerings.

2.7

For I am empty-handed, destitute of merit,

I have no other wealth. But you, protectors,

You whose thoughts are for the good of others,

In your great power, accept this for my sake.

2.8

The buddhas and their bodhisattva children –

I offer them myself throughout my lives.

Supreme courageous ones, accept me totally.

For with devotion I will be your servant.

2.9

For if you will accept me, I will be

A benefit to all, and freed from fear.

I’ll go beyond the evils of my past,

And ever after turn my face from them.

2.10

A bathing chamber excellently fragrant,

With floors of crystal, radiant and clear,

With graceful pillars shimmering with gems,

All hung about with gleaming canopies of pearls –

2.11

There the blissful buddhas and their heirs

I’ll bath with many a precious vase,

Abrim with water, sweet and pleasant,

All to frequent strains of melody and song.

2.12

With clots of unexampled quality,

With peerless, perfumed towels I will dry them

And offer splendid scented clothes,

Well dyed and of surpassing excellence.

2.13

With different garments, light and supple,

And a hundred beautiful adornments,

I will grace sublime Samanthbhadra,

Manjughosha, Lokeshvara, and their kin.

2.14

And with a sumptuous fragrance that

Pervades a thousand million worlds,

I will anoint the bodies of the buddhas,

Light and gleaming bright, like pure and burnished

Gold.

2.15

I will place before the Buddha, perfect object of my

Worship,

Flowers like the lotus and the mandarava,

Utpala, and other scented blossoms,

Worked and twined in lovely scented garlands.

2.16

I will offer swelling clouds of incense,

Whose ambient perfume ravishes the mind,

And various foods and every kind of drink,

All delicacies worthy of the gods.

2.17

I will offer precious lamps,

All perfectly contrived as golden lotuses,

A bed of flower petals scattering

Upon the level, incense-sprinkled ground.

2.18

I will offer palaces immense and resonant

With song,

All decked with precious pearls and pendant gems,

Gleaming treasures fit to ornament the amplitude

Of space:

All this I offer to the loving bodhiattvas.

2.19

Precious parasols adorned with golden shafts

And bordered all around with jeweled fringes,

Upright, well-proportioned, pleasing to the eye,

Again all this I give to all the buddhas.

2.20

May a multitude of other offereings,

Accompanied by music sweet to hear,

Be made in great successive clouds,

To soothe the sufferings of living beings.

2.21

May rains of flowers, every precious thing,

Fall down in a unceasing stream

Upon the jewels of sacred Dharma,

The Triple Gem and all supports for offering.

2.22

Just as Manjughosha, gentle and melodious,

Made offerings to all the conquerors,

Likewise I will make oblation

To the buddhas and their bodhisattva children.

2.23

I will offer prayers by every way and means

To these vast oceans of good qualities

May clouds of tuneful praise

Ascend unceasingly before them.

2.24

To the buddhas of the past, the present and all future time,

And to the Doctrine and Sublime Assembly,

With bodies many as the grains of dust

Upon the ground, I will prostrate and bow.

2.25

To shrines and all supports

Of bodhichitta I bow down:

All abbots who transmit the vows, all learned masters,

And all nobles ones who practice Dharma.

2.26

Until the essence of enlightenment is reached,

I go for refuge to the buddhas.

Also I take refuge in the Doctrine

And all the host of bodhisattvas.

2.27

To perfect buddhas and bodhisattvas,

In all directions where they may reside

To them who are the sovereigns of great mercy,

I press my palms together praying thus:

2.28

“In this and all my other lifetimes,

Wandering in the round without beginning,

Blindly I have brought forth wickedness,

Inciting others to commit the same.

2.29

I have taken pleasure in such evil,

Tricked and overmastered by my ignorance.

Now I see the blame of it, and in my heart,

O great protectors, I declare it!”