The King of Aspirations: The Noble Aspiration for Excellent Conduct

 

I prostrate to the noble youthful Manjushri

 

I prostrate to all lions among humans,

As many as appear, excepting none,

In the three times in worlds of ten directions

Sincerely with my body, speech, and mind.

 

With the power of this prayer for excellent conduct,

I fully prostrate to all victors with

As many bodies as atoms in all realms

With all the victors right before my mind.

 

Upon one atom are as many buddhas

As atoms in the midst of bodhisattvas.

I thus imagine that victorious ones

Completely fill the entire dharma expanse.

 

With sounds from oceans of melodious traits

I extol the qualities of all the victors,

Whose oceans of praiseworthiness will never

Run dry, and praise all of the sugatas.

 

I make an offering to these victors of

The best of flowers and the finest garlands,

Cymbals and ointments, the best parasols,

The best of lamps, and incense the most fine.

 

I also make an offering to these victors

Of the best robes, the finest fragrances,

And powders in heaps equal to Mount Meru,

Arranged in the most sublime of displays.

 

I also imagine offering to all victors

That which is vast and unsurpassable.

I offer and bow to the victors with

The power of faith in excellent conduct.

Under the influence of desire, hatred,

And ignorance, I have committed wrongs

Using my body, speech, and also mind—

I confess each and every one of them.

 

And I rejoice in all that is the merit

Of all the victors and the buddhas’ children,

Of the self-buddhas, learners, and non-learners,

Of all the wanderers of the ten directions.

 

I request all those guardians who have

Wakened to buddhahood and found detachment—

The lamps of the worlds of the ten directions—

To turn the Wheel that cannot be surpassed.

 

With my palms joined, I supplicate all those

Who wish to demonstrate nirvana to stay

As many aeons as atoms in the realms

To aid and bring well-being to all wanderers.

 

I dedicate to enlightenment whatever

Slight merit I have gathered from prostrating,

And offering, confessing, and rejoicing,

Requesting, and from making supplications.

 

I offer to the buddhas of the past

And those who dwell in worlds in ten directions.

May those yet to appear fulfill their wishes

And swiftly awaken to enlightenment.

May every world in any of the ten

Directions become vast, completely pure,

And filled with bodhisattvas and with victors

Who’ve gone beneath the lordly Bodhi Tree.

May all the beings there are in ten directions

Be free of illness and be happy always.

May all the aims in Dharma of all beings

Be in harmony; may their hopes be fulfilled.

 

May I perform the conduct of awakening

And in all realms remember my past lives.

Upon my death and rebirth in all lives,

May I go forth and be fully renounced.

 

Following all the victors, may I train,

And bring excellent conduct to perfection.

May I act with pure, stainless discipline

That never lapses and is free of faults.

 

May I teach Dharma in every single language—

The language of the gods, the tongue of nagas,

The tongues of yakshas, kumbandhas, and humans,

And all the languages that beings speak.

 

May I be gentle, strive in paramitas,

And may I never forget bodhichitta.

May I completely purify all wrongs

Without exception that are obscurations.

 

Free from afflictions, karma, and the works

Of maras, may I act in every realm,

Like a lotus to which water does not cling,

Unhindered like the sun and moon in space.

 

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