Toh 285The Noble Dedication “Fulfilling All Aspirations”

Summary

This text is a prayer of dedication, and is meant to be recited. Its
structure partly reflects the liturgy of “seven branches” or “seven limbs,” a
set of practices that serves as the basic structure of many Mahāyāna Buddhist
prayers and rituals. In this instance, however, the text consists of two
sections: the first is a detailed prayer of confession, and the second a prayer
of rejoicing, requesting that the wheel of the Dharma be turned, beseeching the
buddhas not to pass into nirvāṇa, and extensively dedicating the merit.

Acknowledgements

This text was translated from the Tibetan, introduced, and edited by the
translator Zsuzsa Majer in collaboration with Karma Dorje (Rabjampa), a native
Tibetan speaker and Tibetan language expert; Beáta Kakas, who checked the
Sanskrit terms; and Nathaniel Rich, the English-language editor, in the
framework of the Alexander Csoma de Kőrös Translation Group.

Introduction

This short text and
The
Dedication “Protecting Beings”
(Toh 286) seem to
constitute a pair, and this for several reasons. First, the two texts, both
of which lack Sanskrit titles, appear side by side both in the Denkarma
(ldan dkar ma) imperial catalogue
and in the extant Kangyurs of the Tshalpa and Thempangma lines. In the
Tshalpa Kangyurs, the two are placed at the very end of the Mahāyāna
division of the General Sūtra (mdo sde)
section, and in the Thempangma Kangyurs toward the end of the entire General
Sūtra section. Their function as dedications therefore seems to be reflected
in that placement, and—in the Tshalpa Kangyurs at least—the two appear to be
dedications meant specifically to seal the sections of Mahāyāna sūtras.

Furthermore, the fact that the two are consistently placed together
in most Kangyurs suggests at least the possibility that the colophon to the
following text refers also to this one, which otherwise lacks a colophon of
its own. Since the two texts are dedications, it is perhaps not surprising
that they are neither called sūtras, nor show features typical of sūtras,
such as the opening “Thus did I hear” or an introductory passage describing
the setting and audience of the discourse. What is somewhat
surprising is that both are nonetheless included in the sūtra section of the
Kangyur, indicating that they are to be considered discourses of the
Buddha. Along those lines, the lack of features
that typically distinguish sūtras led the fifteenth-century scholar Pekar
Sangpo (pad dkar bzang po), in his
analytical survey of all the sūtras found in the Kangyur, to conclude that
the two texts are extracts from another, longer sūtra—though he does not say
which, and
our own search for matches (at least in the Tibetan corpus) has not yet
identified any such text, sūtra or otherwise. Intriguingly, Pekar Sangpo
also characterizes the present text as a sūtra of the Third Turning
(bka’ tha ma). What can be said with a reasonable degree of confidence,
however, is that, regardless of their exact provenance, the two texts were
translated from Sanskrit or another Indic language in the early ninth
century, as evidenced by the fact that the present text is listed in both
the Denkarma and Phangthangma (’phang thang
ma) catalogs.

There is no extant Sanskrit text of this sūtra, and there are no
known canonical or Tibetan commentaries. There is no known English
translation of it nor any translation into any European language, and no
academic research or scholarly studies of it are known. A translation of the
Tibetan text is, however, available in the Mongolian Kangyur. The translation presented here is based on the Tibetan
version in the Degé Kangyur and consultation of the Comparative Edition
(dpe bsdur ma) as well as the Stok
Palace manuscript.

The structure of the present text partly reflects the liturgy of
“seven branches” or “seven limbs” (yan lag bdun
pa), a set of practices that came to serve as the basic
structure of many Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna Buddhist prayers, sādhanas, and
pūjās. The seven branches are commonly as follows: prostration or homage,
offering, confession, rejoicing in virtue, requesting the buddhas to teach,
requesting the buddhas not to pass into nirvāṇa, and dedication of merit.
Not all of these seven are present in this text, which suggests that perhaps
the set was formalized only later. Here, there is only a single line of
homage at the very beginning of the text, which might have been intended
only as the customary line of homage found at the beginning of all Kangyur
works. Offering is not mentioned at all. The body of the text consists of
two main sections, each of which opens with a request that the buddhas and
bodhisattvas pay heed to the reciter and closes (intriguingly) with the
sentence “Thus I recite a second time, and thus a third time.” The first
section is devoted solely to confession, while the second is devoted to
rejoicing, requesting to teach, requesting to remain, and dedication. Each
of these features a lengthy enumeration of deeds, qualities, and
accomplishments that are confessed, rejoiced in, requested, or dedicated.
This division into two parts, the one a detailed confession and the other
ending with a detailed dedication, has the effect of emphasizing those two
elements, the distinguishing feature of this prayer.

The Translation

The Noble Dedication

Fulfilling All Aspirations

Blessed buddhas residing in the inexpressibly many world systems of
the ten directions, and bodhisattva great beings who have entered the higher
stages of complete awakening, please pay heed to me!

Whatever sins and nonvirtuous actions I have committed and
accumulated from cyclic existence’s undiscoverable beginning, in this life
and in other lives, as a householder and as a renunciant—what I have done
physically, verbally, and mentally; what I have exhorted others to do and
what I have rejoiced in others doing; what I have done knowingly or
unknowingly, intentionally or unintentionally, and what I have remembered or
forgotten; what I have done under the influence of desire, under the
influence of anger, under the influence of ignorance, under the influence of
relationships with those who are not virtuous spiritual friends, under the
influence of ignorance, under the influence of place, and under the influence of birth at a particular time;
violations of proper ethics, violations of ethical rules, and violations of
natural ethics; the faults I have engaged in toward the Buddha, the
Teaching, the Assembly, my father and mother, my abbot, my spiritual master,
or other teachers through the three kinds of physical wrongdoing, the four
kinds of verbal wrongdoing, and the three kinds of mental wrongdoing;
turning sentient beings toward perverted views; creating obstacles for
sentient beings engaged in proper practice; dedicating my roots of virtue
incorrectly; speaking falsely to a tathāgata; teaching non-Dharma as Dharma
and teaching Dharma as non-Dharma; teaching what is not the vinaya as the
vinaya and teaching the vinaya as not the vinaya; teaching what is not the
path as the path and teaching what is the path as not the path; that,
clouded by whichever obscurations, I gave rise to nonvirtuous qualities and
did not establish my mind properly in virtue; that, clouded by other
obscurations, I was distracted and mentally agitated—all such faults I
confess. In whatever ways I was childish, in whatever ways foolish, in
whatever ways confused, in whatever ways unwise, and in whatever ways
misguided—all such faults I confess as faults. Having confessed those faults
as faults, I vow that in the future I will not act in such ways again.

Thus I recite a second time, and thus a third time.

Again, blessed buddhas, please pay heed to me!

I rejoice that all the buddhas who formerly were bodhisattvas
completely accomplished the six perfections, which is to say that they completely and manifestly awakened to
unexcelled, perfect, complete enlightenment by means of generosity, ethical
discipline, endurance, diligence, meditative absorption, and wisdom; that
they turned the wheel of the Dharma, blew the conch of the Dharma, beat the
drum of the Dharma, and set ablaze the lamp of the Dharma; that they led the
mass of sentient beings to the practice of the Dharma in accordance with the
Dharma; and that they taught the methods of the holy Dharma—and I rejoice in
the roots of virtue by which the pratyekabuddhas realized the state of a
pratyekabuddha; in the roots of virtue by which the śrāvakas realized the
state of a śrāvaka, realized the three knowledges and the six
superknowledges, and manifested discernment, the meditative absorptions, the
liberations, the meditative concentrations, and the meditative attainments;
in the roots of virtue by which sentient beings completely overcome falling
into the lower, infernal realms of the hells, the realms of animals, and the
realm of the Lord of the Dead; in their abandoning of the primary
afflictions of desire, anger, and ignorance and the secondary afflictions;
in their longevity, health, good complexions, excellent figures, great
splendor, great power, high status, great wealth, and great wisdom; in their
abandoning of all roots of nonvirtue and the possession of all roots of
virtue; and in even as little as a single prostration, joining the palms for
prayer even a single time, the offering of a single flower, and sentient
beings who give rise to just a single moment of faith—in all of these things
I rejoice! Supremely pleased I rejoice! I rejoice with rejoicing that is
most excellent, supreme, best, perfect,
unsurpassed, highest, even higher than the highest, unequaled, equal to the
unequaled, matchless, and pure, completely pure like the sky.

I exhort those who, having understood all of the holy Dharma, know
how to delight in the Dharma, how to discern the Dharma, how to generate all
roots of virtue, how to protect all beings, and how to nurture and dedicate
all good qualities; who know all the thousands of compilations of the
Dharma, and all the meditative absorptions, liberations, meditative
concentrations, and meditative attainments; who know the vows, the prayers, and the
exhaustion of defilements; who know beings’ intentions, latent dispositions,
temperament, and intrinsic nature
and understand them correctly; yet who, having that understanding, also know
that sentient beings do not delight in instruction, and so remain at ease,
rest their minds and do not teach the Dharma—I exhort them! For the benefit
of the many, for the happiness of the many, out of compassion for the world,
for the sake of the many masses of beings, and for the benefit and happiness
of gods and humans, I entreat them to explain the holy Dharma. I entreat
them to turn the wheel of the Dharma. I entreat them to blow the conch of
the Dharma. I entreat them to beat the drum of the Dharma. I entreat them to
set the lamp of the Dharma ablaze. I entreat them to establish the mass of
sentient beings in the practice of the Dharma in accordance with the Dharma.

I entreat those who have gained mastery over life, mastery of
emanation, mastery of blessing, and mastery of miraculous power; those who
have and have not gained mastery of ripening the mass of sentient beings to
be trained, who have forsaken life,
intending to enter final nirvāṇa—I entreat them. For the benefit of the
many, for the happiness of the many, out of compassion for the world, for
the sake of the many masses of beings, and for the benefit and happiness of
gods and humans, I entreat them to grant the blessing of the conditions for
their longevity.

I dedicate whatever roots of virtue I have created and accumulated
from cyclic existence’s undiscoverable beginning—what I have done
physically, verbally, and mentally; what I have exhorted others to do and
what I have rejoiced in others doing; meritorious deeds arisen from
generosity; meritorious deeds arisen from ethical discipline; meritorious
deeds arisen from meditation; and even causing just a single sentient being
to give rise to a single moment of faith—all of these I dedicate to all
sentient beings. By these roots of virtue may all the roots of virtue of all
sentient beings be completely perfected!

Having a long life, health, a good complexion, an excellent figure,
great splendor, great power, high status, great wealth, great wisdom,
possessions, magic spells, and medicine; encountering virtuous spiritual
friends; listening to the holy Dharma; directing the mind appropriately; the
practice in accordance with the Dharma; the abandoning of the primary
afflictions of desire, anger, and ignorance as well as the secondary
afflictions; completely overcoming falling into the lower, infernal realms
of the hells, the realms of animals, and the realm of the Lord of the Dead;
attaining all the meditative absorptions, liberations, meditative
concentrations, and meditative attainments; completely overcoming physical
and mental unhappiness; attaining all
bliss and happiness; attaining the excellence of the enlightened attributes
of the śrāvakas, the excellence of the enlightened attributes of the
pratyekabuddhas, the ten powers of the tathāgatas, the four states of
fearlessness, the four discernments, the eighteen distinctive qualities of a
buddha, great loving kindness, great compassion, great joy, great
equanimity, the vanquishing of the latent tendencies, the state of
non-forgetfulness, the state of omniscience, the state of the knowledge of
all aspects, the state of inexhaustible wisdom, the state of inexhaustible
knowledge, the state of inexhaustible courage, the state of inexhaustible
merit, the state of the sky treasury, the state of the jewel holder, and the
unsurpassed wisdom of omniscience; and whatever mundane and transcendent
roots of virtue
there are—may all of these come to be for all sentient beings!

Whatever fruit there may be from the merit of dedicating my roots of
virtue to all sentient beings, by the roots of virtue of having so dedicated
them, having completely and manifestly awakened to unexcelled, perfect,
complete enlightenment, may I ferry those sentient beings across who have
not crossed over, may I liberate those who are not yet liberated, may I give
relief to those who are unrelieved, may I cause all those who have not
entered nirvāṇa to enter final nirvāṇa, and may I establish them in the
realm of ultimate benefit and bliss!

Thus I recite a second time, and thus a third time.

The Noble Dedication “Fulfilling All Aspirations” is
concluded.

Notes

Bibliography

Source Texts

Secondary Sources

Dedication of the
merit at the end of a spiritual practice or virtuous action, usually
for the attainment of full enlightenment by all sentient beings. In
this way the actions thus dedicated contribute to the purpose of
attaining enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings.
dedicating
dedicate

Diligence or
perseverance. One of the six perfections of the bodhisattva.

eighteen distinctive qualities of a buddha
sangs rgyas kyi chos ma ’dres pa bco brgyad
སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཆོས་མ་འདྲེས་པ་བཅོ་བརྒྱད།
aṣṭādaśāveṇikabuddhadharma
They are as follows: (1) he never makes a
mistake; (2) he is never boisterous; (3) he never forgets; (4) his
concentration never falters; (5) he has no notion of distinctness;
(6) his equanimity is not due to lack of consideration; (7) his
motivation never falters; (8) his endeavor never fails; (9) his
mindfulness never falters; (10) he never abandons his concentration;
(11) his wisdom (prajñā) never
decreases; (12) his liberation never fails; (13) all his physical
actions are preceded and followed by wisdom (jñāna);
(14) all his verbal actions are preceded and followed by wisdom (jñāna); (15) all his mental actions are preceded and
followed by wisdom (jñāna); (16) his wisdom (jñāna) and
vision perceive the past without any attachment or hindrance; (17)
his wisdom (jñāna) and vision perceive the future without any
attachment or hindrance; and (18) his wisdom (jñāna) and
vision perceive the present without any attachment or
hindrance.

The four sinful or nonvirtuous verbal actions,
namely telling lies, using abusive language, slandering others, and
indulging in irrelevant talk. Their counterparts are the four
wholesome or virtuous actions of speech, namely, not telling
falsehoods, not using abusive language, not slandering others, and
not indulging in irrelevant talk.

six perfections
pha rol tu phyin pa drug
ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་དྲུག
ṣaṭpāramitā
The six practices or qualities that a
bodhisattva perfects and by which a bodhisattva transcends cyclic
existence. A bodhisattva practices these perfections motivated by
bodhicitta, the intention to attain full enlightenment for the sake
of all sentient beings, and with an awareness of the ultimate
reality of all phenomena. These six
perfections are generosity, ethics, endurance, diligence,
meditative absorption, and wisdom.

six superknowledges
mngon par shes pa drug
མངོན་པར་ཤེས་པ་དྲུག
ṣaḍabhijñā
The six modes of supernormal cognition or
ability, namely, clairvoyance, clairaudience, knowledge of the minds
of others, remembrance of past lives, the ability to perform
miracles, and the knowledge of the destruction of all mental
defilements. The first five are considered mundane or worldly and
can be attained to some extent by non-Buddhist yogis as well as
Buddhist arhats and bodhisattvas. The sixth is considered to be
supramundane and can be attained only by Buddhist yogis.

ten powers of the tathāgatas
de bzhin gshegs pa’i stobs bcu
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྟོབས་བཅུ།
daśatathāgatabala
A category of the distinctive qualities of a
tathāgata. They are: knowing what is possible and what is
impossible; knowing the results of actions or the ripening of karma;
knowing the various inclinations of sentient beings; knowing the
various elements; knowing the supreme and lesser faculties of
sentient beings; knowing the paths that lead to all destinations of
rebirth; knowing the concentrations, liberations, absorptions,
equilibriums, afflictions, purifications, and abidings; knowing
previous lives; knowing the death and rebirth of sentient beings;
and knowing the cessation of the defilements.

The three sinful or nonvirtuous mental actions,
namely being covetous, being malicious, and holding perverted views.
Their counterparts are the three wholesome or virtuous mental
actions. These are the following: not being covetous, not being
malicious, and not holding perverted beliefs.

The three sinful or nonvirtuous physical
actions, namely, destroying life, taking what has not been given,
and engaging in improper sexual practices. Their counterparts are
the three wholesome or virtuous physical actions, namely, not
destroying life, not taking what has not been given, and refraining
from improper sexual practices.