The Aspiration of Samantabhadra

The Aspiration of Samantabhadra

With purity of body, speech, and mind,
I bow to all the heroic Buddhas of the past,
present, and future without exception in
every world in all the ten directions.

By the power of this Aspiration of
Samantabhadra, I bow with as many bodies
as there are atoms in the pure lands of all
those victorious buddhas manifest in my
mind, and I pay homage to all of them.

I conceive the entire realm of truth to
be completely filled with enlightened ones.
On each atom I imagine there to be as many
buddhas as atoms in the pure lands, each
buddha surrounded by many bodhisattvas.

I honor all these blissful lords, praising
their perfections with all the sounds of an
ocean of varied melodies, an ocean of
endless praise.

I offer to those heroic buddhas
the finest flowers, garlands, music, and
ointments, excellent canopies, choice lamps,
and the best incense.

I offer as well to those victorious ones
the finest array of all excellent things, the
finest robes and fragrances, and heaps of sweet
smelling powers as high as Mt. Meru.

By the power of my faith in the deeds
of Samantabhadra, I prostrate and present
vast and unequalled offerings to each of
the victorious buddhas.

I confess every type of wrong that I
have done in thought, word, or deed,
under the influence of desire, anger, or
ignorance.

I rejoice in the meritorious deeds of
all the buddhas of the ten directions,
the bodhisattvas, pratyeka buddhas,
arhats, practioners, and all
sentient beings.

I request the enlightened protectors who
have attained the detachment of buddhahood
and illumined the worlds of the ten directions
to turn the peerless wheel of dharma.

With folded hands, I beseech those
who intend to manifest the final nirvana,
to remain for as many eons as there are
atoms in all the pure lands, for the
benefit and happiness of all living beings.

May whatever small amount of virtue I
may have gained from prostrating, offering,
confessing, rejoicing, requesting, and
beseeching, be dedicated to attaining
perfect enlightenment.

May I worship the buddhas of the past
and those now present in the worlds of the
ten directions; may those to come quickly
fulfill their aspiration and reach buddhahood
by traversing the stages of enlightenment.

May all the worlds of the ten directions
become pure and filled with bodhisattvas and
victorious buddhas who proceed to the royal
tree of enlightenment.

May all living beings in the ten directions
always be happy and free of sickness. May
the display of the dharma be in hormony
with the needs of all living beings and fulfill
their hopes.

May I perform all the deeds of enlightenment
and remember all my lives in all states of
existence. And in all my lives, after death,
migration, and rebirth, may I always embrace
spiritual life.

May I follow all the victorious buddhas
and perfect all the deeds of Samantabhadra.
Pure in the immaculate deeds of morality,
may my conduct always be flawless and
without fault.

May I teach the dharma in every tongue,
in whatever sounds are understood by living
beings, in the language of the gods, nagas,
demons, spirits, and human beings.

May I always diligently and patiently
perform the perfections. May I never
disregard my intention to attain enlightenment
and completely remove whatever faults may
obscure it.

Freed from karma, defilements, and
actions of demons, as a lotus is unsoiled by
the mire, so in every rebirth in the world
may I proceed unhindered, like the sun
and moon in a clear sky.

Throughout all the lands in all the
directions, may the sufferings of the
lower realms be completely relieved.
Establishing beings in happiness,
may I work for the benefit of all
living beings.

Fully accomplishing the activities
of enlightenment, may I work in harmony
with the activities of all beings. May I
practice and demonstrate the deeds of
Samantabhadra, through all future eons.

May I associate with those
whose activities are similar to mine. May
we act alike in thought, word, and deed,
and may our aspirations be as one.

May those friends who wish to help
me, and also demonstrate the deeds of
Samantabhadra, always meet me again,
and may I never cause them pain.

May I always personally behold the
victorious buddhas, those guardians
surrounded by bodhisattvas. And
without tiring, in all future eons, may
I always present them magnificent offerings.

May I always uphold the buddhas'
sacred dharma and illuminate the deeds
of enlightenment. May I train in the
practice of Samantabhadra in all future
eons.

Through rebirth in all states of
existence, may I gather endless stores
of merit and wisdom. May I become an
inexhaustible treasure of all virtues of
method, wisdom, concentration, and
liberation.

May I always behold as many pure
lands as there are atoms present in
each pure land, with inconceivable
buddhas sitting in the midst of their
bodhisattvas and performing the
activities of enlightenment.

In this way may I be able to see
everywhere, even on every mote of dust,
countless buddhas of the past, present,
and future, limitless pure lands, and
endless eons.

May I always heed the pure speech of
the victorious buddhas, which holds within
each word the totality of the perfect dharma,
and an ocean of words and languages
precisely suited to the needs of all beings.

May I possess perfect intelligence so
as to heed the endless melody of speech
when the victorious buddhas of the past,
present, and future turn the wheels
of dharma.

May I accomplish the bodhisattva's
practice of entering the past, present,
and future in a fraction of a second.
May I enter all the future eons in a
single instant.

May I behold all the heroic buddhas
of the past, present, and future in a
single instant. May I always perform
their activities through the power of
liberation from illusion.

May I perceive upon a single atom
the perfect design of the pure realms of
the past, present, and future. Thus
may I enter into the realms of the
victorious buddhas in all directions.

May the illuminators of the worlds of
the future realize the stages of buddhahood,
of turning the wheel, and of the profound
peace of nirvana, and may I always be in
their presence.

May I acquire the perfectly accomplished
powers of enlightenment: the power of
miraculous swiftness, the power of perfection
of every spiritual path, the power of all
virtuous qualities.

May I acquire the power of all-pervasive love,
the power of the merit of every virtue,
the power of all-transcendent wisdom,
and the powers of perfect knowledge,
method, and meditation.

May the power of action be utterly purified,
the power of passions utterly subdued,
the power of demons utterly destroyed,
and the power of the deeds of Samantabhadra
perfected.

May the ocean of lands be purified,
the ocean of beings liberated,
the ocean of Dharma realized,
and the ocean of wisdom fully attained.

May the ocean of practice be purified
and the oceans of aspirations accomplished.
May the oceans of Buddhas be ceaselessly
worshipped and the deeds of enlightenment
tirelessly preformed.

May I completely fulfill all perfect
aspirations to enlightned activities,
in order to attain the stage of the
victorious Buddhas of the past, present,
and future according to the deeds of
Samantabhadra.

The eldest son of the victorious buddhas
is called Samantabhadra. I dedicate all
these virtuous actions, that my deeds may be
like his.

May my body, speech, mind, activities,
and environment always be pure, and may
I become equal to this excellent Aspiration
of Samantabhadra.

May I tirelessly accomplish the virtuous
deeds of Samantabhadra and the aspirations
of the bodhisattva Manjusri, throughout
all future eons.

May there be no limit to my activities.
May there be no limit to my virtues.
Through limitless perserverance may I
accomplish all miraculous deeds.

The limit of living beings is like the
limit of open space. May the limit of my
aspirations be equal to the limit of
their activities and passions.

Whoever offers to the victorious buddhas
all the perfect joys of gods
and men, and the infinite realms of
the ten directions adorned with jewels,
for as many eons as there are atoms in
those realms, shall gain great merit.

But whoever hears this greatest
dedication prayer and is inspired by
faith to intensely desire supreme
enlightenment, shall gain even higher
and holier merit.

Whoever recites this Aspiration of
Samantabhadra will never again endure
hellish rebirth, will abandon all evil
friends, and will soon behold the
buddha of boundless light.

They will gain all benefits, live
in happiness, attain precious human
rebirth, and soon become like
Samantabhadra himself.

Even those who in ignorance committed
the five unredeemable sins, will
soon be completely purified by reciting
this Aspiration of Samantabhadra.

They will achieve perfect wisdom,
a radiant countenance, ethereal form,
auspicious physical marks, and a noble
birth. Profane and devilish beings will
not trouble them, and they will be honored
in the three realms.

They will quickly reach the royal
tree of enlightenment, residing there to
benefit all beings. As enlightened
buddhas, they will turn the wheel of the
dharma, taming the demonic hosts.

Whoever knows, teaches, or recites
this Aspiration of Samantabhadra, shall
ultimately attain perfect buddhahood.
May none despair of complete enlightenment.

In whatever way valiant Manjusri
and Samantabhadra know how to transfer
merit, so do I dedicate all of my own
virtues, that I might train to be
like them.

Through this dedication, praised as
supreme by the victorious Buddhas of
the past, present, and future, I dedicate
all of these roots of virtue to
accomplishing the deeds of Samantabhadra.

At the moment of my death, may all
obscurations be removed that I may behold
the buddha of boundless light and go
to the pure land of perfect bliss.

In that blissful land, may I
completely fulfill all of these aspirations,
and benefit all beings as long
as the universe remains.

Joyful there, in that blessed assembly
of the buddhas, may I be reborn like the
holy ones, from an exquisite lotus, and may
the buddha amitabha himself foretell
my own enlightenment.

May I thereafter accomplish countless
benefits for living beings in all the
ten directions, by the power of perfect
wisdom in its myriad incarnations.

Through whatever small virtue I have
gathered by reciting this Aspiration
of Samantabhadra, may all the virtuous
aspirations of living beings be accomplished in a single instant.

Through the boundless merit gained
by so dedicating these Aspirations
of Samantabhadra, may the countless
beings drowning in the torrent of suffering
reach the stage of amitabha.

May this greatest of dedication prayers
benefit countless living beings.
May reciting this ornament of samantabhadra
release all beings from the sufferings
of the lower realms.

Edited, formatted for electronic media by Jai Maharaj

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