Part 2 Threefold Refuge and Five Percepts Ceremony

INCENSE PRAISE (LU XIANG)

The incense has just begun to burn in the censer, perfuming the Dharma Realm.

The Great Congregations Buddhas has perceived it from far

Everywhere there are gather auspicious clouds, in the midst of our almost sincerity

Buddhas manifest themselves in their entirety

Homage to the Bodhisattvas Mahasattvas under incense cloud canopies.

Homage to the Bodhisattvas Mahasattvas under incense cloud canopies.

Homage to the Bodhisattvas Mahasattvas under incense cloud canopies.

PRAISE TO THE BUDDHA

Homage to Our Original Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha

Homage to Our Original Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha

Homage to Our Original Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha

The Heart Sutra

When Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva was practising the profound Prajna Paramita, he illuminated the five skandhas and saw that they are empty, and he crossed beyond suffering and difficulty.

Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness; emptiness does not differ from form. Form itself is emptiness; emptiness itself is form. So, too, are feeling, cognition, formation and consiousness.

Shariputra, the dharmas are empty of characteristics. They are not produced, not destroyed, not defiled, not pure and they neither increase nor diminish.

Therefore, in emptiness there is no form, feeling, cognition, formation or consciousness, no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body or mind; no sights, sounds, smells, tastes, objects of touch or dharmas, no field of the eyes, up to and including no field of mind-consciousness; and no ignorance or ending of ignorance, up to and including no old age and death or ending of old age and death.

There in no suffering, no accumulating, no extinction, no way and no understanding and no attaining. Because nothing is attained, the Bodhisattva, through reliance on Prajna Paramita, is unimpeded in his mind. Because there is no impediment, he is not afraid, and he leaves distorted dreams and thoughts far behind. Ultimate Nirvana!

The Buddhas of the three periods of time attain Annutarasamyaksambodhi through reliance on Prajna Paramita. Therefore, know that Prajna Paramita is a great spiritual mantra, a great bright mantra, a supreme mantra, an unequalled mantra. It can remove sufferings; it is genuine and not false.That is why the mantra of Prajna Paramita was spoken. Recite it like this:

GA-TE GA-TE PARAGA-TE PARASAMGA-TE BODHI SVAHA

Gone, gone, gone beyond, utterly gone beyond

O What an Awakening! All hail!