The speech of all Tathagatas is pure;
Each word contains an ocean of all sounds.
According with what beings like to hear,
The Buddhas’ sea of eloquence flows forth.
All Tathagatas of the three periods of time
Forever turn the wonderful Dharma Wheel of noumenon and phenomena.
Into the inexhaustible seas of words and languages,
I enter everywhere with the power of deep wisdom.
I can penetrate the future
And exhaust all kalpas in a single thought.
In a single thought I completely enter
All kalpas of the three periods of time.
In one thought I see all Lions of Men
Of the past, present, and future.
I constantly fathom the Buddhas’ states,
Their magical liberations and their awesome strength.
On the tip of an extremely fine hair,
Appear jeweled lands of eternal time.
Lands on hair-tips as many as dust-mote-like lands of the ten directions,
I deeply enter, adorn, and purify.
All lamps of the future that light the world,
Complete the Way, turn the Dharma Wheel, and awaken living beings;
As they perfect the Buddha’s work and manifest Nirvana,
I visit and draw near to each one and obtain
The spiritual power to rapidly go everywhere,
The power to universally enter the Mahayana through the Universal Door,
The power of wisdom and conduct to universally cultivate merit and virtue.
The subtle spiritual power to shield all with great kindness.
The power to everywhere purify and adorn supreme blessings,
The power of wisdom which is unattached and independent,
The awesome spiritual power and the powers of concentration, wisdom, and skill-in-means,
The power of universally accumulating Bodhi.
The power of good karma which purifies all things,
The power to eradicate all afflictions,
The power to subdue all demons,
The power to perfect Universal Worthy’s conduct.
The sea of lands I everywhere adorn and purify,
And I liberate the sea of all living beings.
With skill I make distinctions in the sea of all dharmas
And enter deeply into the wisdom sea.
I can purify the ocean of all practices,
Perfect and complete a sea of vows.
I draw near to a sea of Buddhas and make offerings,
And cultivate without fatigue for a sea of time.
To all Tathagatas of the three periods of time,
With Bodhi, conduct, and vows most supreme,
I completely offer up my perfect cultivation;
With Samantabhadra’s practices, I awaken to Bodhi.
Each Tathagata has an elder disciple
Named Universal Worthy, Honored One.
I now transfer all good roots, and I vow
To perform deeds of wisdom identical to his.
I vow that my body, mouth, and mind will be forever pure
And that all practices and Buddhalands will be also.
I vow in every way to be identical
To the wisdom of Universal Worthy.
I will wholly purify Samantabhadra’s conduct,
And the great vows of Manjushri as well.
All their deeds I will fulfill, leaving nothing undone.
Till the ends of the future I’ll never tire.
Infinite and measureless is my cultivation;
Boundless merit and virtue I obtain.
Amid limitless practices I will dwell in peace,
And penetrate the strength of spiritual powers.
Manjushri has wisdom, courageous and brave;
Samantabhadra’s conduct and wisdom are the same.
I now transfer all good roots
In order to follow them in practice and in study.
In the three periods of time, all Buddhas praise
Such vows as these, lofty and great.
I now transfer all good roots, wishing to perfect
The supreme practices of Samantabhadra.
I vow that when my life approaches its end,
All obstructions will be swept away;
I will see Amita Buddha,
And be born in his Land of Ultimate Bliss and Peace.
When reborn in the Western Land,
I will perfect and completely fulfill
Without exception these great vows,
To delight and benefit all beings.
The assembly of Amita Buddha is completely pure;
When from a matchless lotus I am born,
I’ll behold the Tathagata’s measureless light as he appears before me
To bestow a prediction of Bodhi.
Receiving a prediction from the Thus Come One,
I’ll transform countless kotis of bodies,
And with wisdom power vast and great pervade the ten directions
To benefit the realms of living beings.
Realms of worlds and empty space might reach an end,
And beings’ karma and afflictions be extinguished;
But they will never be exhausted,
Neither will any of my vows.
With myriads of jewels in boundless lands in all directions,
I make decorations and offerings to the Thus Come Ones.
For aeons as many as the motes of dust in lands, I bring
The foremost peace and joy to gods and humans.
Yet, if one believes in these kings of vows supreme,
As they pass by the ear but a single time,
And if in search of Bodhi one thirstily craves these vows,
The merit and virtue gained will that surpass.
With bad advisors forever left behind,
From paths of evil one departs for eternity.
Soon to see the Thus Come One’s limitless light
And perfect Samantabhadra’s supreme vows.
Easily obtaining the blessings of long life,
Assured of rebirth in the human realm,
Before long, he’ll perfect and complete
The practices of Universal Worthy.
In the past, owing to a lack of wisdom power,
The Five Unintermittent Offenses of extreme evil I have done,
In one thought can all be wiped away, by reciting
The great Kings of Vows of Universal Worthy.
His clan, race, and color, marks and characteristics
With his wisdom are all perfected and complete;
Demons and externalists will have no way to harm him,
And he’s worthy to receive the offerings of the three realms.
To the regal Bodhi Tree he will quickly go,
And seated there subdue a horde of demons.
Right and equally enlightened, he’ll turn the Dharma Wheel,
To benefit the host of living beings.
If one can read, recite, receive, and hold on high
Samantabhadra’s vows and proclaim them,
One’s reward only the Buddha’s will know,
And one will obtain Bodhi’s highest path.
If one recites Universal Worthy’s vows,
Then from just a small portion of one’s good roots,
Everything will be perfected in a single thought,
And the pure vows of living beings will all be fulfilled.
The supreme and endless blessings from Samantabhadra’s conduct
I now universally transfer.
May every living being, drowning and adrift,
Soon return to the Land of Limitless Light!
CONCLUSION
At that time, when Universal Worthy Bodhisattva Mahasattva finished speaking before the Thus Come One these pure verses on the great Kings of Vows of Universal Worthy, the Youth Good Wealth was overwhelmed with boundless joy. All the Bodhisattvas were extremely happy as well, and the Thus Come One praised him, saying, “Good indeed, good indeed!”
At that time, the World Honored One proclaimed this supreme Dharma door of the inconceivable state of liberation for all the sages and Bodhisattvas Mahasattvas, with Manjushri Bodhisattva as their leader.
Also present were all the great Bodhisattvas and the six thousand Bhikshus who had matured, with Maitreya Bodhisattva as their leader. All the great Bodhisattvas of the Worthy Kalpa, led by the immaculate Universal Worthy Bodhisattva, were present as well.
All the great Bodhisattvas who in one life would be the next Buddhas and who were at the position of anointment of the crown gathered together with all the assemblies of Bodhisattvas Mahasattvas, as numerous as fine motes of dust in an ocean of lands, who came from the remaining worlds of the ten directions. They were headed by the great wise Shariputra, Mahamaudgalyayana, and others.
All the great Sound Hearers, along with all the people, gods, and lords of all worlds, as well as dragons, yakshas, gandharvas, asuras, garudas, kinnaras, mahoragas, humans, non-humans and so forth, and the entire great assembly, upon hearing what the Buddha had said, were all greatly happy, faithfully accepted it, and put it into practice.
previous Contents
Chapter 40 New Edition
return to top
