Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Long Prayer for Rebirth in the Pure Land (淨土文)

I single-mindedly take refuge in Amitābha Buddha in the World of Ultimate Bliss. Illuminate me with Your pure light and draw me in with Your loving, kind vows! Thinking only of You, I now call the name of the Tathāgatha. For the sake of the Bodhi Way, I supplicate to be reborn in Your Pure Land.

Before this Buddha attained Buddhahood in the past, he made a vow: “Suppose there are sentient beings that, with earnest faith and delight, wish to reborn in my land, even if by only thinking ten thoughts. If they should fail to be reborn there, I would not attain the perfect enlightenment.”

My thinking of this Buddha is why I have gained entrance into the Tathāgata’s ocean of great vows. By the power of this Buddha’s lovingkindness, my sins will be expunged, and my roots of goodness will grow stronger. At the end of my life, I will know the coming of my time. My body will have no illness or suffering. My heart will have no greed or attachments. My mind will not be demented but will be peaceful as if in meditative concentration. This Buddha, holding a golden lotus-borne platform in His hands, together with a multitude of holy beings, will come to receive me. In the instant of a thought, I will be reborn in the Land of Ultimate Bliss. When the lotus flower opens, I will see this Buddha and hear the Buddha Vehicle, and my Buddha wisdom will suddenly unfold. I will widely deliver sentient beings, fulfilling my bodhi vow.

Homage to all Buddhas of the past, present, and future, in the ten directions!
Homage to all Bodhisattva-Mahāsattvas!
Homage to mahā-prajñā-pāramitā!

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