Thursday, December 08, 2011

Lamp to the Path of Enlightenment Part 3

(21) As for the seven classes for individual liberation,
The Accordingly Progressed has asserted in his explanations
That those of glorious abstinence are supreme;
And those are the vows for fully ordained monks.

(22) Through the ritual well expounded in
Take the (bodhisattva) vows
From an excellent, fully qualified guru.

(23) Know that an excellent guru is someone who
Is skilled in the vow ceremony,
By nature lives by the vows,
Has the confidence to confer the vows,
and possesses compassion.

(24) However, if you have made effort in this
And have been unable to find such a guru,
There is a ritual other than that for receiving the vows,
Which I shall explain in full.

(25) Concerning this, I shall write here very clearly
How Manjushri generated bodhichitta in previous times
when he was King Ambaraja,
Just as is explained in The Sutra of
An Adornament for Manjushri's Buddha-Field.

(26) "Before the eyes of my Guardians,
I generate bodhichitta
And, inviting all wandering beings as my guests,
I shall liberate them from uncontrollable rebirth.

(27) From now until my attainment
Of a supreme purified state,
I shall never act with harmful intentions,
An angered mind, miserliness, or jealousy.

(28) I shall live according to abstinent behavior;
I shall rid myself of negativities and attachment/greed.
Taking joy in the vows of ethical discipline,
I shall continually train myself as the Buddhas have done.

(29) I shall take no delight in attaining enlightenment
By a speedy means for my own self,
But shall remain until the end of the future,
If it be a cause for (helping) one limited being.

(30) I shall cleanse everything into
Immeasurable, inconceivable realms
And remain everywhere in the ten directions
For those who have called my name.

(31) I shall purify all the actions
Of my body and speech,
And purify as well the actions of my mind:
I shall never commit any destructive acts."