Homage to The One Who Looks Upon Beings with Compassion!
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Butter Lamp Offering
With this light offering, may the darkness of ignorance be dispelled.
May the luminous wisdom of great compassion arise in every realm, and may all beings swiftly attain awakening.
The Dhāraṇī of Noble Avalokiteśvara
The Dhāraṇī of Noble Avalokiteśvara
from the Words of the Buddha
Homage to noble Avalokiteśvara, the embodiment of great compassion!
Out of great love and the force of his boundless compassion, noble Avalokiteśvara generated bodhicitta, the heart of awakening. Seated upon a throne of lotus, sun, and moon he appeared through the emanation and reabsorption of light from the syllable hrīḥ. He manifests with one face and four arms: His first two hands are joined in the gesture of prayer. His lower right hand holds a white pearl mālā; his lower left, a white lotus. His body, white in colour, is seated in the full vajra posture, adorned with precious ornaments and a resplendent crown. At his side stand the mother Ṣaḍakṣarī and the father Maṇidhara. Around him gather countless male and female bodhisattvas, forming a vast retinue. Thus it was spoken:
O sons and daughters of noble family!
Whether you recite my mantra but once, whether you hold it in your heart with steady recollection, or write it down and carry it upon your body—if done with faith and devotion, you will purify the five gravest misdeeds and the negative actions that are almost as grave. You will be freed from the three lower realms and the eight situations that are inopportune for Dharma practice. You will never again be born into suffering. All harm from humans, non-humans, and wild beasts will be pacified. You will be released from all illnesses and obstructing influences.
oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ
By reciting this sacred mantra, you shall behold the face of noble Avalokiteśvara, and at the end of this life, you will be reborn in the pure land of Sukhāvatī. Have no hesitation, uncertainty, or doubt about this truth.
This concludes the Dhāraṇī of Noble Avalokiteśvara.
Refuge and Bodhicitta
༄༅། །སྐྱབས་འགྲོ་སེམས་བསྐྱེད།
Verses of Refuge and Bodhichitta
by Śākyaśrībhadra
dro nam dral dö sampa yi
Motivated by the wish to free all beings,
sangye chö dang gendün la
Continually, I shall take refuge
changchub nyingpor chi kyi bar
In the Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha,
takpar dak ni kyab su chi
Till the essence of enlightenment is reached.
sherab nying tsé dang chepé
With wisdom and with heartfelt love,
tsönpé semchen döndu dak
Diligently, for the sake of sentient beings,
sangye dündu né gyi né
I shall place myself before the buddhas,
dzokpé changchub semkyé do
And generate the perfect mind of bodhicitta.
Composed by the great Kashmiri paṇḍita Śākyaśrībhadra.
Dedication of Merit
The Dedication of Merit
from the Jātakas
sönam di yi tamché zikpa nyi
Through this merit, may all beings attain the omniscient state of enlightenment,
tob né nyepé dra nam pamjé shing
And conquer the enemy of faults and delusion,
kyé ga na chi balong trukpa yi
May they all be liberated from this ocean of saṃsāra
sipé tso lé drowa drolwar shok
And from its pounding waves of birth, old age, sickness and death!
Taken from the Jātakas.
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