菩薩五法懺悔文

The Buddhas of the three periods and the ten directions, using the five eyes, illumine the world, knowing fully the three ages and seeing clearly the marks of sin and merit. We, your disciples, named…, from countless kalpas until now, have not met a good spiritual friend, and have committed every kind of sin: breaking the precepts, perpetrating the four grave offenses, the six grave offenses, and the eight grave offenses, slandering the true Dharma, severing our roots of goodness, and becoming icchantikas.

Today we possess the wholesome conditions to encounter the Tathagatas, the teaching of the Dharma, and the assembly of the Worthies and Saints, and so are able to extinguish these sins. Your disciples bow our heads in reverent homage, vowing that all our sins be wholly eradicated, and that supreme wisdom be brought forth. Having repented, we prostrate the five parts of the body to the ground.

When the Buddhas first ascended the place of enlightenment and gazed upon the tree of walking meditation, before they had yet turned the wheel of the Dharma, they beheld sentient beings sunk in the long night of ignorance, truly pitiable in their aging and death, and so they vowed to reveal the medicines of the Dharma, to heal the afflictions of suffering, and to let the rain of the Dharma fall everywhere, rescuing the withered sentient beings so that they might attain the radiant Way.

The Buddhas now present in the ten directions have already delivered all those with whom they had affinity, but because sentient beings are for the most part given to indolence, those Buddhas have all, through skillful means, entered nirvana. Your disciples, with sincere hearts, bow in reverent homage, beseeching the Buddhas to abide long in the world. May all the Bodhisattvas, having already brought forth the supreme aspiration, then advance with even greater diligence, manifesting the attainment of Perfect and Complete Enlightenment in worlds without a Buddha, delivering all the multitude of beings.

Since no compassion surpasses that of the Buddhas, we therefore, with utmost sincerity, make this reverent entreaty. Having entreated the Buddhas, we prostrate with head and face to the ground.

Through many lifetimes we have constantly harbored jealousy, conceit, anger, and delusion; seeing others gain benefit, we ached as though an arrow had pierced our heart; hearing of others' joy, we smarted as though a nail had been driven into our eye. Because of these obstructive sins, we have been made to fall into the three evil destinies, where we constantly fail to meet the Buddhas. Today, the very moment our minds awaken, we give rise to great sympathetic joy.

The Buddhas of the three periods and the ten directions, together with their immeasurable assemblies of disciples beyond all measure—from the moment they first roused a single thought until they sat upon the place of enlightenment, spreading abroad the great vital force of the four impartial minds, upholding the pure prohibitive precepts, with concentration, wisdom, and liberation, and immeasurable forms of knowledge and vision—in all of this we, your disciples, beg to rejoice.

When the mind of wisdom is luminous, the darkness of delusion is destroyed; rousing but a single thought of sympathetic joy, the merit fills all the ten directions, and one attains wisdom like that of the Buddhas. Having rejoiced, we prostrate the five parts of the body.

Coming and going within birth and death, from birth all the way to death, from wealth and nobility to poverty and lowliness—though we have not yet attained nirvana, the Dharma body is ever pure, and prajna is always the sublime liberation. Now, seeking these benefits, whatever deeds are able to give rise to meritorious karma, we wholly blend together and dedicate to all sentient beings, that all alike may accomplish the supreme Way—vast as empty space, signless as true wisdom, ultimate and exhaustive throughout the whole Dharma realm, the adamantine wisdom of emptiness ever present before us, with spiritual powers free of effort, so that wherever there is a stirring, there too is a response. Having dedicated the merit, we bow our heads in reverent homage.

Once more, with sincere hearts, we bring forth the great vow, practicing the Way in accordance with our oath, our mind of wisdom like a mighty wind, our power of concentration like the adamantine vajra. After dedicating the merit in this way, may thought after thought be transformed into loving-kindness and compassion, may we depart far from thoughts of craving and attachment, and joyfully deliver all beings. When at last we cast off this body, may we meet a Buddha radiating light, dispelling every obstruction and calamity; may we be born by transformation into the Tushita Heaven and there encounter the Compassionate One, Maitreya, complete in all the marks, our six senses wholly penetrating;

hearing the Buddha expound the sublime Dharma, may we straightaway realize the forbearance of the non-arising of phenomena, abide in the stage of non-retrogression, wield the strength of great spiritual powers, roam through all the Buddha lands of the ten directions, make offerings to all the Buddhas, and with immeasurable sublime sounds praise the merit of the Buddhas, manifesting our bodies at every moment throughout the twenty-five realms of existence.

Like the sun shining upon the world, whose radiance illumines all ten directions, may we become a bright lamp for every place of darkness. Though we attain the Buddha Way, turn the wheel of the Dharma, and manifest nirvana, yet so long as sentient beings have not all completely become Buddhas, we shall leave none behind, bringing forth a vow as vast as that of Samantabhadra and Manjushri. Having brought forth this vow, we cleanse our hearts and bow in reverent homage.