LOTUS SUTRA (SADDHARMAPUNDARIKA SUTRA)

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)