FastCounter by bCentral
The Confessional Samadhi of the Lotus Sutra, page 8
5. Praising of the Three Treasures
The practitioner has already respectfully requested the Three Treasures with the five members1 falling prostrate onto the ground. With an erect body, a dignified bearing, and a single mind, one gets up, burns incense and scatters flowers. The mind thinks upon the subtle and wonderful merits and virtues of the Three Treasures.
From the mouth one speaks verse, praising the Buddha with prayers and spells:
“Your form and
countenance is most wonderful,
Its bright light
shines in the ten directions.
My offering of
service
Brings me back
into intimate audience.
Noble Lord, King
of Heaven,
With the voice
of the Kalavinka2,
Have mercy upon
us living beings
Who now worship
with reverence.”
By praising the Buddha's merits and virtues, one cultivates the practice of the best spiritual roots3 of the Great Vehicle. One venerates the blessings of the Higher Spiritual Realms:
May these Spirits of Heaven and Earth protect the True Dharma and those in the Samgharama9.
May the Emperors and Kings with all their realms and all their myriad subjects, the Teachers, the members of the Sangha, the Fathers and Mothers, and all of the friends and acquaintances good and bad who build temples and offer Danapati10 faithfully bestow the Dharma and broadly reach out to all living beings everywhere in the Ten Directions.
One vows to avail oneself of these good spiritual roots so that they will perfume all equally with the two kinds of adornment11, which are understood to be without birth.
One should thoroughly recognize that the actions of the body, the mouth, and the thinking mind that are filling the spiritual realm12 everywhere with praise of the Three Treasures are neither born nor extinguished and do not have an egotistical nature.
Next Page Text Outline Home Page
Footnotes:
1. The Five Members: The head, the two arms, and the two legs
2. Kalavinka: A bird said to have the most wonderfully melodious voice, even before it is hatched from its egg.
3. Spiritual Roots: Spiritual qualities; faith, diligence, presence of mind, mental concentration & spiritual insight - see the 37 facets of spiritual awakening
4. The Gods (Devas), the Dragons (Nagas) and the others of the Eight Groups: Yaksas, Gandharvas, Asuras, Garudas, Kinnaras, & Mahoragas - The eight groups of spiritual beings that are human but not human
5. The Great Heavenly King Brahma: Lord of prayer, Lord of the Heavens of Meditation - also known as the Heavens of Form and Formlessness (and representing the heaven of the religious world) & The 33 Gods: (S. Trayastrimsas) This refers to the 32 Gods of Heaven who are ruled by and report to Sakra Devendra (Indra), Lord of Heaven in the Realm of Desire (and representing the heaven of the secular world).
6. Yama: In Vedic & Brahmanic cosmogony, lord and judge of the underworld, where non-liberated spirits travel after death to undergo purgatory (the realm of repentence and atonement)
7. The Six Fast Days of the month: The Posadha or Uposatha; the 8th, 14th, 15th, 23rd, 29th, & 30th (or 1st) days of the lunar month, which are 2 days each for the full and new moons and one day each for the half moons; when one should observe the post-noon fast and the Eight Royal Days of the year: the solstices, equinoxes, and the first days of each of the four seasons.
8. The Demon Lord of Sickness & Disease with his retinue of followers: (S. Roga) Charioteer of Yama, leading tired, worn out living beings to the city of Yama, surrounded by a retinue of demons that personify the different diseases.
9. The Samgharama: The Monastery with its gardens. More broadly, it is the dwelling place of those that follow Buddhism.
10. Danapati: Alms, donations to the Sangha
11. The two kinds of adornment: 1. merits & virtues and 2. wisdom & insight
12. The Spiritual Realm: (S. Dharmadhatu) The reality of the mind, of the spiritual realm that pervades life everywhere, from the depths of hell to the supreme enlightenment.
Copyright © Peter Johnson 2001 - All rights reserved
Copyright Policy - Contact the Author at pj@tientai.net
Since July 9, 2001