Prayer for rebirth in Sukhavati

by Je Tsong Khapa
 

Text Layout by Jampa Namgyal – Milan, Italy, September 2007



Je Tsong Khapa - Prayer for Rebirth in Sukhavati
Whose outstanding deeds give endless glory to beings
Whose mere remembrance banishes the terror of the Lord of Death
Who considers every living being as his child with constant love
I salute Amitayus, Boundless Life, the Teacher of Gods and Humans!
Out of love, I will articulate as best I can
This prayer for rebirth in the Sukhavati heaven
Supreme realm highly, excellently praised
Numerous times by the Lord of Sages.

The state of good and evil obscured by the fog of nescience,
Life of ascendance deprived by the weapon of hatred,
Bound in the prison of samsara by chains of lust and craving,
Swept into the ocean of existence by the rivers of evolution,
Tossed by the many billows of miseries of sickness and decay,
Crushed by the burdens of unwanted sufferings,
Mangled in the jaws of the intolerable sharks of the Lord of Death,
This is my cry of torment, I who am unprotected.

If I reverently invoke the Lord as witness to my prayer,
Amitabha, Boundless Light, Leader, sole friend of th destitude,
And the Bodhisattvas, Avalokiteshvara
And Mahasthamaprapta, with their retinues,
Who have never failed the promise of their conception of
the supreme spirit,
For our sakes, throughout limitless aeons,

Like the king of birds swooping through the sky,
May they come here by their love and their miraculous power!
Depending on the power of the combined focusing of the oceans of
the two stores gathered by myself and others in past, present, and
future, as I approach the time of death, may I behold directly the
Leader Amitabha surrounded by His retinue such as the two powerful
Sons, and may I feel intense faith directed to the Victor with His
retinue!

May I be free of sufferings of torment and being cut off, and may I
remember without forgetting my faith and its objects, and so at the
moment after death, relying on the miraculous advent of the eight
Bodhisattvas to show me the proper path to go to Sukhavati, may I
be reborn on a jeweled lotus in the Sukhavati universe just as a
person with acute faculties in the Mahayana genealogy!

From the moment of rebirth there, may I attain retentions, samadhis,
the unconditional spirit of enlightenment, the inexhaustible eloquence,
and the limitless store of such excellences, and, pleasing the Unexcelled
Teacher Amitabha and the other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions, may I truly be favored with the Holy Teachings of theMahayana!
 
Je Tsong Khapa - Prayer for Rebirth in Sukhavati
May I understand their import correctly, and then in each instant
going without hindrance by magic power to the superlative Buddha
universes, may I completely fulfill all the energetic deeds of the
Bodhisattvas!

Then even though being born in a pure universe, still, motivated by
the most intense love, may I mainly proceed to the impure universes
by means of unhindered magical powers, and depending on teaching
each living being the Dharma according to his special lot, may I be
able to establish him on the pure path praised by the Victor!
And by quickly accomplishing those miraculous deeds, may I easily
attain the exaltation of Buddhahood for the sake of the infinite
beings!

When the creative energy of life is released,
May I behold clearly before my eyes,
Amitabha surrounded by His oceanic hosts,
And may my being be filled with faith and compassion!
From the moment when the visions of the Bardo arise,
May the eight Bodhisattvas show the unerring path,
And, being born in Sukhavati, thence by emanations,
May I lead all beings of the impure worlds!

And in all lives before attaining such supreme exaltation, may I
attain only that embodiment fit to practice the perfect learning,
thinking, and meditating on the verbal and realizational Teachings
of the Victor!

May such embodiments not lack the ornaments of the seven
excellences of ascendant status!
And in all those situations, may I attain the memory of lives that
remembers accurately all former lives!

And in all those lives, may I experience the hollowness in all
existences and be motivated by thoughts captivated by the excellence
of liberation, and may I renounce the world in the religious
discipline well taught by the Lord!

Having renounced, may I discover the great spirit of enlightenment
by ultimately accomplishing the deeds of morality, untainted by
even the smallest transgressions, and may I become like an unshakable
monk!

Further, in all those lives, understanding the processes of defilement
and purification accurately, may I attain the perfect retentions which
 
Je Tsong Khapa - Prayer for Rebirth in Sukhavati
retain without forgetting all the words and meanimgs of the Teachings,
the factors of perfection!

May I attain the unimpeded pure eloquence that teaches others what
I have understood myself! Further, in all those lives may I never
lack attainment of the doors of samadhis such as the "Hero's March",
the eyes such as the physical eye, and the superknowledges such as
the knowledge of feats of magic!

May I attain the clear wisdom that can distinguish without confusion
precisely the subtlest of the subtle facets of defilement and purification!
May I quickly attain the wisdom that can completely cease at the
moment of arisal all non-understanding, misunderstanding, and
doubting considerations!

May I attain the profound wisdom that mysteriously penetrates the
words and meanings of the Scriptures whose measure cannot be taken
by any other!

In short, may I become like the Holy Manjughosha who consummates
all the deeds of the Bodhisattvas through his wisdom of skill in
liberative technique which discerns the words and meanings of the
teachings, a wisdom free of all the faults of pretended wisdom!
Thus having easily found the deep, swift, clear, and great wisdom,
may I attain transcendent skill in explanation, argument and
composition concerning all the Victor's teachings, which are,
respectively, the factors of sustaining the fortunate, chastizing
the false philosophers, and gladdening the wise!

Further, in all lives stopping all attitudes that behold my own purposes
most important and all feelings of laziness and discouragement about the
energetic deeds of the Bodhisattvas, while reaching the ultimate of the
supreme powerful heart that undertakes the purposes of others, may I
become like the Holy Avalokiteshvara, who consummates all Bodhisattva
deeds through the spirit of enlightenment which is skill in liberative
technique!

Further, may I reach the ultimate in the deeds of the Bodhisattva by
competent skill in liberative technique in conquering all demons,
fundamentalists, and antagonists, while I am engaged in the purposes
of myself and others, becoming like the Holy Lord of the Esoteric,
Vajrapani!
In all my lives, may I find the great enlightenment through the massive
effort that never deviates an instant from the moment of the spiritual
conception to perfect the Bodhisattva deeds whose energy abandons all
laziness, and may I become like the incomparable King of the Shakyas!
 
Je Tsong Khapa - Prayer for Rebirth in Sukhavati
May I become in all my lives like the Buddha Medicine-King, Bhaishajya
Guru, able to heal all pains of body, speech, and mind, just by having
His name pronounced, by conquering all ills of mind and body that
obstruct the achievement of enlightenment!

May I become in all my lives like the Victor Amitayusm able to overcome
all untimely deaths just by having His name pronounced, having reached
the ultimate in voluntary control of the lifespan!

When an obstacle to life is approaching, may I behold my refuge
Amitayus' manifestation of the vision of His body which conforms
to the Discipline by means of His four activities, and may all
such obstacles be eradicated the moment I see that body!

As for that manifestation of the vision of His body according to the
Discipline, may I recognize it as the protector Amitayus and generate
a firm and non-artificial faith, and by the power of that, may I never
fail to have the Victors Amitayus work openly as my spiritual friend
in all my lives!

Furthermore, may the full-fledged spiritual friends of the Mahayana,
the root of all mundane and transcendent virtues, be pleased with me
and look after me throughout all of my lives!

While he looks after me, may I attain unbreakable faith in that
spiritual friend and may I only please him through all doors of
activity!

May I not bring about even an instant of his displeasure!
May I be not incompletely instructed by all the advice and instructions
of the spiritual friend!

May I be able to understand correctly all the meanings of those teachings
and to perfect them through practice!
May I not go under the influence of the non-spiritual and sinful
friends even for an instant!

In all my lives, may I realize faith of confidence in the effects of
evolution, the mind of renunciation, the spirit of enlightenment, and
the perfected view, and may I enter uninterruptedly the experience of
effortlessness!

Whatever root of virtue I have made through my physical, verbal, and
mental actions throughout all my lives, may it all serve as the cause
of only the purposes of others and the pure enlightenment!
 
Je Tsong Khapa - Prayer for Rebirth in Sukhavati
Written by the learned Easterner, Tsong Khapa Losang Dragpai Pal, at Dzing-ji
Temple, in 1395. Translated by Robert Thurman and the staffs of Library of Tibetan
Works & Archives.
 

Source

www.urbandharma.org