CHAPTER ON THE UNIVERSAL DOOR (SAMANTA MUKHA)

LOTUS SUTRA (SADDHARMAPUNDARIKA SUTRA)

Buddha of ten thousand beautiful aspects

Please may I ask you this question

Why did they give that Bodhisattva

The name Avalokita?

The world honoured one, adorned with all beauties

Made this reply to Aksayomati

It is because the actions due to deep aspirations

Can reach 10,000 different places

The aspirations as wide as the oceans

Were made countless lives before

She has already attended billions of Buddhas

And made her great aspiration pure by mindfulness

Whoever says her name, whoever sees her image

With mind perfectly collected and pure

That person shall be able to overcome

The sufferings of all the worlds

If anyone of cruel intent

Should push you into a pit of fire

The name of Avalokita said in mindfulness

Will make that pit of fire a refreshing lake

Adrift on the waters of the great ocean

In great danger from the monsters of the deep

The name of Avalokita said in mindfulness

Will save you from drowning in the storm waves.

Standing on the top of Mount Meru

Should people want to push you down

The name of Avalokita said in mindfulness

You are safe, not even a hair of your body is in danger.

Encircled and assaulted by pirates

Holding swords to wound and kill

The name of Avalokita said in mindfulness

The sword blades will break in small pieces

Imprisoned or in iron chains

Hands and feet placed in a yoke

The name of Avalokita said in mindfulness

Will release you into freedom

In the case of poisoning, being cursed or bewitched

Putting us in great danger

The name of Avalokita said in mindfulness

Will build our ability to withstand

If a fierce and cruel yaksha

A poisonous naga or an unkind spirit

The name of Avalokita said in mindfulness

Will prevent them from doing you any harm

With fierce wild animals all around you

Of terrible tusks and claws

The name of Avalokita said in mindfulness

Will make them run far away

The poisonous snake or scorpion

The fire filling a room with smoke

The name of Avalokita said in mindfulness

Just that sound will send them away

Lightening, thunder and dark clouds

Hail pouring down in torrents

The name of Avalokita said in mindfulness

In a short time they will come to an end

Living beings in great distress

Oppressed by measureless suffering

The wonderful power of her understanding

Will rescue them in ten thousand different ways

Her miraculous power lacks nothing

The wisdom of her skilful means extends widely

There is no place in the ten directions in all the worlds

Where she does not appear

The paths to suffering realms

The hells the hungry spirits or the animals

The pain of birth, old age, sickness and death

Bit by bit they are purified and ended

Look of truth, look of purity

Look of unlimited wisdom

Look of love, look of compassion

The look that should be permanently honoured and practised.

Look of immaculate light and purity

The wisdom light which destroys darkness

Which masters disaster, fire and wind

And illumines the whole world

Heart of Compassion like the roll of thunder

Heart of Love like the gentle clouds

Water of nectar raining down

To put out the fire of afflictions

In the courtroom and the place of lawsuits

Where the military cause fear

The name of Avalokita said in mindfulness

Will cause enemies to become friends

The sound of wonder, the sound which observes the cries of the world

The supreme sound, the sound of the rising tide

The sound which goes beyond the sound of ordinary life

We should be permanently mindful of all of these

Every moment of mindfulness without doubt

The purity of the being of Avalokita

Is the place where we need to take refuge

In times of danger and the suffering of death

Let us bow deeply to one

Who has laid the causes for every possible happiness

Who looks on the world with eyes of love

Whose ocean of well-being cannot be measured.

Namo Avalokitesvaraya (3 times)

THE EIGHT REALISATIONS OF THE GREAT BEINGS (p. 98)

MAY THE DAY BE WELL

May the day be well and the night be well,

May the midday hour bring happiness too.

May the day and night always be well

By the blessing of the Triple Gem

May all things be protected and safe.

May all beings born in the four ways live in a pure land.

May the three worlds become lotus thrones.

May countless pretas realise the three goodnesses.

May the one hundred thousand species ascend the bodhisattva levels.

The countenance of the blessed one is like the bright moon

or like the orb of the sun sending out the light of clarity.

The halo of wisdom shines in ten thousand directions

impregnating all with love, compassion, joy and equanimity.

Namo Sakyamunaye Buddhaya

(stand up and practise circumambulation while recollecting the Buddha)

PROSTRATIONS

Teaching and living the way of awareness in the very midst of suffering and confusion, Sakyamuni Buddha the Awakened One, to whom we bow in gratitude. (B)

The Buddha Amitabha, to whom we bow in gratitude. (B)

The bodhisattva of Great Compassion, Avalokitesvara, to whom we bow in gratitude. (B)

The bodhisattva of Great Strength, Mahasthamaprapta, to whom we bow in gratitude. (B)

The bodhisattva of the Great Vow, Ksitigarbha, to whom we bow in gratitude. (B)

Showing the way fearlessly and compassionately, the stream of all our ancestral teachers, to whom we bow in gratitude. (B)

The Recitation on Happiness

To be sitting here

In this moment,

Protected by the sangha,

I see how happy I am.

It is a great fortune

To have been born human,

To have met the true teachings

Which water the bodhicitta

And to have the chance to live

In harmony with the fellow-practitioners.

The energy of the sangha,

The precepts and fine manners

Are protecting me,

Helping me not to make mistakes,

Not to be swept along

By the seeds of unwholesome acts

Into paths of darkness.

With kind spiritual friends

I am on the path of true goodness,

Illumined by the light

Of Buddhas and bodhisattvas.

Even though the seeds of suffering

Are still present in me,

As afflictions and habit energies,

Nevertheless mindfulness is there

And it is always able to manifest,

Helping me to be in touch

With everything that is wonderful

In my own person

And in all that is around me.

I still have all six senses.

My eyes can see the blue sky.

My ears hear the birds singing.

My nose knows the scent of sandalwood.

My tongue tastes the taste of the Dharma.

My sitting position is stable

And my mind is in union with my body.

If there was not the World Honoured One,

If there was not the wonderful Dharma,

If there was not the Sangha,

How would I have this good fortune

To enjoy Dharma happiness today?

For my family and my ancestors,

For the future generations

And for the whole of society

I wholeheartedly desire

To do the work of the practice.

My own peace and happiness

Are the resources for my practice.

I make a vow to cultivate them,

To water and to nourish them

By my daily mindfulness.

In my society I know

There are countless people suffering,

Drowning in the five sensual pleasures,

In jealousy and hatred.

Seeing all these circumstances,

I am determined to practise

To master my mental formations

Of craving and hatred,

To develop the capacity of listening deeply

And to use loving speech,

In order to establish communication

And bring about understanding,

To be able to accept and love.

Just as those bodhisattvas

I vow to practise looking

At everyone around me

With the eyes of love and compassion

With a heart of understanding.

I shall practise to listen deeply

With the ears of compassion

With a heart of fellow feeling.

Looking and listening like that

Is the action of the bodhisattva

Which is able to lighten and alleviate

Suffering in the heart of someone

And bring back peace and joy

To the other and to myself.

We are all aware

That it is the affliction of ignorance

Which has made this world

Into a hell of fire.

If we practise to transform

And can produce understanding,

Communication and loving kindness,

We shall be able to build

A pure land right in this place.

Although life is impermanent,

Although there are birth, death, sickness and old age

Once we have a path of practice,

We shall have no more to fear.

It is great happiness just to be alive

In the sangha of the Buddha,

To be able to practise precepts and concentration,

To stay in stability and freedom

At each moment and each hour

Of our everyday life

And directly to take part in

The work of rescuing beings,

The career of Buddhas and bodhisattvas.

This moment which is so precious

Makes me feel overwhelmingly grateful

I bow deeply to the World Honoured One.

Please bear witness to this gratitude

And embrace us with compassion.

GATHA ON IMPERMANENCE

The day is now ended.

Our lives are shorter.

Let us look carefully

at how we have acted.

Sisters, with all our heart

let us diligently

engage in the practice.

Let us live deeply, as free people

always aware of impermanence

so life does not drift away meaninglessly.

TAKING REFUGE.

I take refuge in the Buddha, the one who shows me the way in this life.

I take refuge in the Dharma, the way of understanding and love.

I take refuge in the Sangha, the community which lives in harmony and awareness. (B)

Since I have taken refuge in Buddha,

I see clearly a path of beauty in the world.

Since I have taken refuge in Dharma,

I am learning and practising ways of transformation.

Since I have taken refuge in Sangha

I have the Sangha to shine light on my practice

And support me on the path of practice.(B)

Taking refuge in the Buddha in myself,

I aspire that all people

May recognise the awakened nature

And quickly realise bodhicitta

Taking refuge in the Dharma in myself,

I aspire that all people

Can grasp firmly the ways of practice

and together go on the path of transformation.

Taking refuge in the Sangha in myself

I aspire that all people

May build four-part sanghas to transform