Toh 1095The Noble King of Prayers of Good Conduct

Summary

The Prayer of Good Conduct is among the
most popular and widely recited aspiration prayers (Skt. praṇidhāna, Tib. smon lam) in all Mahāyāna Buddhist
traditions. It evokes, in the first person, the aspiration to worship all
buddhas who pervade every atom of the multiverse, and to pursue enlightenment
and the benefit of all beings. The prayer—and particularly its first twelve
verses that cover the seven aspects of homage, offering, confession, rejoicing,
entreaty, supplication, and dedication—is regularly recited as part of many
practices in Tibetan Buddhism. There are numerous translations of the prayer in
many modern languages made from Tibetan, Sanskrit, and Chinese.

Acknowledgements

This English translation was made by Peter Alan Roberts based on the
Tibetan and Sanskrit. Emily Bower was the project manager and editor. Ling Lung
Chen was the Chinese consultant and Tracy Davis was the copyeditor.

The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of
84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. George FitzHerbert edited the introduction, and Ven. Konchog Norbu copyedited the text.
Martina Cotter was in charge of the digital publication process.

Introduction

The King of Prayers of Good Conduct is among the few Kangyur texts
familiar to most practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism, as it is regularly
recited, and the first twelve verses in particular are often incorporated into
sādhanas.

The full prayer, in sixty-three verses, commences with a form of the
seven branches: homage, offering, confession, rejoicing, requesting that the
wheel of Dharma be turned, requesting the buddhas not to pass into nirvāṇa,
and the dedication of merit. This is followed by the aspiration to be pure
in mind and conduct, and to benefit beings by teaching the Dharma through
miraculous powers and the ability to speak many languages. Dedication is
then made to benefiting infinite beings throughout all time, and to
receiving teachings from the countless buddhas that pervade every atom of
the multiverse. The prayer then describes the benefits that come from its
recitation: purification of karma, excellence in life, rebirth in Sukhāvatī,
and eventually buddhahood. The prayer concludes with the aspiration to be
reborn in Sukhāvatī, and the aspiration that the prayer may benefit all
beings.

The Prayer of Good Conduct is included
in all the Kangyurs as a standalone text in sixty-three verses, and is also
found, in sixty-two verses, at the end of The Stem
Array, which itself concludes the Ornaments of the Buddhas (Skt. Buddhāvataṃsaka, Tib. phal chen; Toh 44). In The Stem
Array, it is stated that the prayer was put into verse by the
bodhisattva Samantabhadra. As a result, it is also referred to as “The
Prayer of Samantabhadra” (Tib. kun tu bzang po’i
smon lam).

The prayer likely first appeared in textual form in Sanskrit
sometime before the fifth century ce. Its
inclusion at the end of the Gaṇḍavyūha is
considered a relatively late accretion, since earlier versions of the sūtra,
such as those translated into Chinese by Shengjian between 388 and 408 ce (Taishō 294), by Buddhabhadra between 418 and
422 (Taishō 278), and by Śikṣānanda between 695 and 699 (Taishō 279), did
not include it. It was first translated into Chinese as a standalone prayer
in forty-four verses by Buddhabhadra between 418 and 420 (Taishō 296),
though he did not include it in the translation of the Gaṇḍavyūha that he was working on in the same
period. Amoghavajra’s eighth-century Chinese
translation of the standalone prayer contains sixty-two verses (Taishō 297).
The prayer then appears for the first time at the conclusion of the Gaṇḍavyūha in the Chinese translation made by
Prajñā in 798 (Taishō 293), reputedly from a Sanskrit manuscript donated to
the Tang emperor by the king of Orissa.

The translation of the Gaṇḍavyūha
into Tibetan in the early ninth century likewise includes the prayer in
sixty-two verses. The translators, as stated in the colophon to the entire
Ornaments of the Buddhas in the Degé
Kangyur, were the Tibetan master-translator Yeshé Dé, together with
Jinamitra and Surendrabodhi, indicating a translation made under Tibetan
imperial sponsorship in the early ninth century. The colophons of the
Narthang, Lhasa, Stok Palace, Ulaanbaatar, and Phukdrak Kangyurs, however,
ascribe the translation to Vairotsana, while the catalog (Tib. dkar chag) of the Degé Kangyur
mentions the three translators as above but adds that Lochen Vairotsana
acted as the editor.

The prayer is a fitting conclusion to The Stem
Array, even if it was not originally a part of it. The Stem Array often repeats the phrase “the
completely good conduct and aspiration of a bodhisattva,” and its longest
chapter centers on the bodhisattva Samantabhadra. As the name Samantabhadra
means “completely good,” it can be ambiguous in the Tibetan whether the
sūtra is referring to “completely good conduct and aspiration” or to
“Samantabhadra’s conduct and aspiration.” The Sanskrit syntax makes it clear
that it is the former, but in both name and qualities, Samantabhadra is
perfect for the recitation of the prayer.

The Tibetan standalone version of the prayer in sixty-three verses
has no colophon, which suggests that it was extracted from The Stem Array. However, the prayer is listed as a
standalone text in both the Denkarma and Phangthangma translation
catalogs.

The Tibetan throughout is in nine-syllable meter and four-line
verses for ease of recitation, and quickly became well known in Tibet. A
verse from the prayer was inscribed on a temple bell at Yerpa (near Lhasa)
in the early ninth century. The prayer is also found in many
iterations among the Tibetan manuscripts retrieved from the cave library at
Dunhuang and now kept at the Bibliothèque National de France and the British
Library.
A fine manuscript of the standalone prayer in sixty verses is found, for
example, at the beginning of Pelliot tibétain 116.

The earliest extant Sanskrit manuscript of the Gaṇḍavyūha dates to 1166, several hundred
years after the Chinese and Tibetan translations were made. It consists of
289 palm-leaf pages and was obtained from Nepal and presented to the Royal
Asiatic Society in London by Brian Houghton Hodgson in 1835. Modern critical
editions of the Sanskrit text are primarily based on this source. The Sanskrit Buddhist tradition has
continued in Nepal, where the Gaṇḍavyūha
remains one of the nine central works (Skt. navadharma) of Newar Buddhism.

The Tibetan standalone text of The Prayer of Good Conduct is among a selection of important aspiration
prayers found variously located in different Kangyurs. In Kangyurs of the
Tshalpa lineage that have a Compendium of Dhāraṇīs (gzungs ’dus), it is found at the end of that
section, and in those that do not, it is found at the end of the
corresponding part of the Tantra (rgyud) section. In the Themphangma lineage of Kangyurs, it is
found at the end of the General Sūtra (mdo
sde) section. In the Yongle, Peking Qianlong, Lithang, Choné,
and Berlin Kangyurs, the standalone text is also duplicated at the end of
the Vinaya (’dul ba) section. The
prayer is also found in the Dedication and Aspiration Prayers (bsngo smon bkra shis) section of the Degé
Tengyur (Toh 4377). Though there
are numerous small orthographic variations among these many Tibetan editions
of The Prayer of Good Conduct, no major
divergences have been identified. The main identifying features of the
standalone prayer, as compared to the version at the end of The Stem Array, are the homage to Mañjuśrīkumārabhūta at the beginning, and an additional
verse at the end.

The prayer has been translated a number of times into English and
other languages, particularly the first twelve verses that appear as part of
many practices in Tibetan Buddhism. It has
been the subject of many commentaries in the past, and in the present day
continues to be a frequent subject of oral teachings. With the exeption of the last verse of the prayer,
this translation has been excerpted in its entirety from the 84000 translation of
The Stem Array.

The Translation

The Noble King of

Prayers of Good Conduct

Homage to Noble
Mañjuśrīkumārabhūta.

However many lions among men there are

In the three times, in the worlds in the ten directions,

I pay homage to them all without exception,

With purity of body, speech, and mind. {1}

Thinking that all the jinas are before me,

With the power of the prayer of good conduct,

I bow down toward all the jinas

With as many bodies as there are atoms in the realms. {2}

There are as many buddhas as atoms within a single atom,

Seated in the midst of bodhisattvas.

I focus on the entire realm of phenomena,

Without exception, being filled by jinas in that way. {3}

I recite a praise of all the sugatas,

Enumerating the qualities of all the jinas,

With unending oceans of eulogies

And the sound of oceans of every quality of voice. {4}

I make an offering to those jinas

Of perfect flowers, perfect garlands,

Perfect music, ointments, and parasols,

Perfect lights, and perfect incenses. {5}

I make offerings to those jinas

Of perfect clothing and perfect perfumes,

Pouches of scented powders equal to Mount Meru,

And all perfect, sublime displays. {6}

Offerings that are unsurpassable and exalted

I am resolved to offer to all the jinas.

I praise and make offerings to all the jinas

Through the power of devotion to good conduct.{7}

Whatever bad actions I have done

Under the power of desire, anger, and ignorance,

With my body, speech, and mind,

I make a confession of them all. {8}

I am rejoicing in the entirety of merit

In the ten directions that is created by beings,

By practicing and accomplished pratyekabuddhas,

By the bodhisattvas, and by all the jinas. {9}

I make the request to all the lords,

The lamps of the worlds in the ten directions,

Who have attained without impediment the enlightenment of buddhahood,

That they turn the unsurpassable wheel. {10}

With palms placed together, I supplicate

Those who wish to manifest passing into nirvāṇa

That they remain for as many kalpas as there are atoms in the realms,

For the benefit and happiness of all beings. {11}

Whatever little virtue I have accumulated

Through homage, offering, confession,

Rejoicing, supplication, and entreating,

I dedicate it all to enlightenment. {12}

May the buddhas of the past and those who are present

In the worlds of the ten directions be offered to.

May those in the future swiftly fulfill

Their aspirations for the enlightenment of buddhahood. {13}

May the realms that are in the ten directions

Become purified and sublime.

May they become filled with jinas, who have come

To the Bodhi tree, the lord of trees, and with bodhisattvas. {14}

However many beings there are in the ten directions,

May they all be always happy and healthy.

May all beings be successful in their Dharma goals,

And may their wishes be fulfilled. {15}

May I practice the conduct of enlightenment

And remember my lives in all existences.

May I always practice mendicancy

In all my lifetimes of deaths and rebirths. {16}

Following the teaching of all the jinas

And perfecting my good conduct,

May I always practice stainless, pure,

Correct conduct that is flawless and unblemished. {17}

May I teach the Dharma in all languages,

Whatever the languages of beings:

Through the languages of devas, the languages of nāgas,

The languages of yakṣas, kumbhāṇḍas, and humans. {18}

May one who is gentle and dedicated to the
perfections

Never forget the aspiration to enlightenment.

May the obscurations of bad karma

Be purified without any remainder. {19}

May my conduct, even in the worldly existences,

Be free of karma, kleśas, and the actions
of Māra,

Just as the lotus is unstained by water

And the sun and moon are unobstructed in the sky. {20}

May I end all the sufferings of lower existences

And establish all beings in happiness,

Practicing a conduct that brings benefit to all beings

Throughout the directions and the extent of
realms. {21}

May I practice this conduct in all future kalpas,

Conforming with the conduct of beings,

Perfecting the conduct of enlightenment,

And teaching good conduct. {22}

May I always be in the company of those

Whose conduct is in harmony with my conduct.

May my body, my speech, and also my mind

Practice the same conduct and have the same prayer. {23}

May I always associate

With friends who wish to benefit me

And teach me the correct conduct,

And may I never displease them. {24}

May I always see before me the jinas,

The lords who are encircled by bodhisattvas,

And may I make vast
offerings to them,

Without wearying, throughout all future kalpas. {28}

Keeping the good Dharma of the jinas,

Expounding the conduct of enlightenment,

And purifying the good conduct,

May I practice that conduct in all future kalpas. {26}

While circling through all existences,

May I obtain inexhaustible merit and knowledge.

May I be
an inexhaustible treasure of wisdom,

Methods, samādhis, liberations, and all good qualities. {27}

There are realms as numerous as atoms in each atom,

And while practicing the conduct of enlightenment,

May I see in those realms countless buddhas

Who are seated in the midst of bodhisattvas. {28}

May I engage in practicing conduct for an ocean of kalpas

Within every hair’s breadth in every direction,

Without exception, in which there are an ocean

Of buddhas of the three times, and an ocean of realms. {29}

May I always comprehend the speech
of the buddhas,

Which, through having an ocean of languages in a single syllable,

Has the purity of the aspects of the speech of all the jinas

And words that accord with the aspirations of all beings. {30}

May I comprehend, through the power of the mind,

The unceasing sounds of the voices

Of the jinas in the three times,

Who are turning the wheel in various ways. {31}

May I enter all the future kalpas,

Entering them in a single instant,

And in a fraction of an instant practice

The conduct throughout the kalpas of the three times. {32}

May I in a single instant see

The lions among humans in the
three times.

Through the power of the liberation of being an illusion,

May I always enter into their conduct. {33}

May the displays of realms in the three times

Be accomplished within a single atom.

May I perceive such displays of the realms of the jinas

That are in every direction without exception. {34}

May I go into the presence of all those lords,

Those future lamps of the world, who will successively

Attain enlightenment, turn the wheel,

And demonstrate the final peace of entering nirvāṇa. {35}

Through the power of miracles that has complete speed,

Through the power of yānas that possesses every gateway,

Through the power of conduct that has the complete qualities,

Through the power of love that is universal, {36}

Through the power of merit that has complete goodness,

Through the power of knowledge that is without impediment,

Through the power of wisdom, methods, and samādhi,

May I accomplish the power of enlightenment. {37}

May I purify the power of karma,

Destroy the power of the kleśas,

Render powerless the power of the māras,

And make complete all the powers of good conduct. {38}

May I purify an ocean of realms,

Liberate an ocean of beings,

See an ocean of the Dharma,

And realize an ocean of knowledge. {39}

May I purify an ocean of conduct,

Fulfill an ocean of prayers,

Make offerings to an ocean of buddhas,

And have tireless conduct for an ocean of kalpas. {40}

May I, through good conduct, realize enlightenment

And fulfill, without exception,

All the specific prayers of enlightened conduct

That are made by the jinas in the three times. {41}

I dedicate all this virtue

So that I may have the same conduct as that wise one,

The eldest son of all the jinas,

Whose name is Samantabhadra. {42}

Just as the good wise one made a dedication

For a pure body, speech, and mind,

A pure conduct, and a pure realm,

May it be the same for me. {43}

May I practice the conduct of Mañjuśrī’s prayer

Of good conduct, for complete goodness,

Without weariness throughout the kalpas to come.

May I complete all those activities without exception. {44}

May there be no limit to that conduct;

May there be no limit to those good qualities,

And having maintained a conduct that has no limit,

May I give rise to all those miraculous powers. {45}

If there were an end to space,

There would be an end to all beings.

Only when their karma and kleśas end

Will my prayers also come to an end. {46}

If someone offered to the jinas the endless realms

In the ten directions adorned with jewels

And the most excellent pleasures of devas and humans

For kalpas as numerous as the atoms in a realm, {47}

Someone who has faith just once

On hearing this king of dedications

And aspires to attain perfect enlightenment

Will have a higher, superior merit. {48}

Whoever recites this prayer of good conduct

Will be free from all lower
existences,

Will be free from bad companions,

And will quickly see Amitābha. {49}

They will have in this life the good fortune

Of obtaining success, a happy life,

And will soon become

The same as Samantabhadra. {50}

If someone through the power of ignorance

Has the bad karma of the five actions with immediate results,

They will be purified of it, without any remainder

Through reciting this prayer of good conduct. {51}

They will have the wisdom, form,

Features, family, and color,

Be invincible to hosts of māras and tīrthikas,

And be offered to by the entire three realms. {52}

They will soon go to the Bodhi tree, the lord of trees,

And having reached there be seated for the benefit of beings,

Become enlightened in buddhahood, turn the wheel of the Dharma,

And overpower Māra and his entire army. {53}

The Buddha knows the result that ripens

For the one who possesses, recites,

Or teaches this prayer of good conduct.

Do not doubt the supreme enlightenment! {57}

Just as the hero Mañjuśrī knows,

In that way so does Samantabhadra.

In practicing in the same way as they do,

I am dedicating all this merit. {55}

With the prayer that is praised as supreme

By all the jinas in the three times,

I am dedicating all this merit

For the supreme good conduct. {56}

When the time has come for me to die,

May I dispel all obscurations,

See Amitābha before me,

And go to the Sukhāvatī realm. {57}

When I have gone there, may these prayers

All become completely manifest.

May I fulfill them all without exception

And benefit beings for as long as there are worlds. {58}

May I be born from a beautiful, perfect lotus

In that pleasant, beautiful circle of the jinas,

And there obtain my prophecy

Directly from the Jina Amitābha. {59}

Having obtained there the prophecy,

May I through the power of mind

Bring many benefits to beings in the ten directions

Through many billions of emanations. {60}

May what little merit I have accumulated

Through reciting the good conduct prayer

Cause the virtuous prayers of beings

All to be fulfilled in an instant. {61}

Through the sublime, endless merit attained

By my dedicating the good conduct,

May the beings drowning in a river of suffering

Depart to the supreme residence of Amitābha. {62}

The principal excellence of this King of Prayers

Brings benefit to all beings without end,

And being a text ornamented by Samantabhadra,

May the three lower realms, without exception, be emptied. {63}

This concludes “The Noble King of Prayers
of Good Conduct.”

Notes

Bibliography

Source Texts—Tibetan

Source Texts—Sanskrit

Source Texts—Chinese

Commentaries—Tibetan

Reference Materials—Tibetan

Western Languages