Chants
At the beginning of each daily session, we chant the Gatha of Repentance:
Gatha Of Repentance
All evil karma ever created by me of old
On account of my beginningless greed, hatred, and ignorance
Born of my conduct, speech and thought
I repent of it now.
Alternate:
All harm caused by me
Because of my greed, hatred, and ignorance
Through my conduct, speech and thought
I now deeply regret.
At the end of of each daily session, we chant the four great vows:
The Four Great Vows (English)
Creations are numberless, I vow to be one with them
Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to endure them
Dharmas are boundless, I vow to be teachable
The enlightened way is unsurpassable, I vow to embody it.
Shi Gu Sei Gan Mon (Japanese)
Shu Jo Muhen Sei Gan Do
Bon No Mujin Sei Gan Dan
Ho Mon Muryo, Sei Gan Gaku
Butsodo Mujo Sei Gan Jo.
四弘誓願 Sì hóng shì yuàn (Chinese with pinyin)
眾生無邊誓願度 Zhòng shēng wúbiān shì yuàn dù
煩惱無盡誓願斷 Fánnǎo wújìn shì yuàn duàn
法門無量誓願學 Fǎ mén wúliàng shì yuàn xué
佛道無上誓願成 Fó dào wúshàng shì yuàn chéng .
At the end of an all-day sit, or at the end of an evening program, we chant the Evening Gatha:
Evening Gatha
Let me respectfully remind you
Life and death are of supreme importance
Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost
Each of us should strive to awaken, awaken
Take heed, this night your days are diminished by one
Do not squander your life.
By the power and truth of this practice…
From: The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying
By: Sogyal Rinpoche
By the power and the truth of this practice,
may all beings have happiness,
and the causes of happiness.
May all be free from sorrow,
and the causes of sorrow.
May all never be separated
from the sacred happiness which is sorrowless.
And may all live in equanimity,
without too much attachment
and too much aversion,
And live believing in the equality of all that lives.
May all beings be filled with joy and peace.
May all beings everywhere,
The strong and the weak,
The great and the small,
The mean and the powerful,
The short and the long,
the subtle and the gross:
May all beings everywhere,
Seen and unseen,
Dwelling far off or nearby,
Being or waiting to become:
May all be filled with lasting joy.
Let no one deceive another,
Let no one anywhere despise another,
Let no one out of anger or resentment
Wish suffering on anyone at all.
Just as a mother with her own life
Protects her child, her only child, from harm,
So within yourself let grow
A boundless love for all creatures.
Let your love flow outward through the universe,
To its height, its depth, its broad extent,
A limitless love, without hatred or enmity.
Then as you stand or walk,
Sit or lie down,
As long as you are awake,
Strive for this with a one-pointed mind;
Your life will bring heaven to earth.
Maha Prajna Paramita Heart (Hrdaya) Sutra
(The Heart of the Perfection of Great Wisdom Sutra)
Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva (The Awakened One of Compassion)
Doing deep Prajna Paramita,
Clearly saw emptiness of all the five conditions,
Thus completely relieving misfortune and pain.
O Shariputra (a disciple), form is no other than emptiness,
Emptiness no other than form;
Form is exactly emptiness,
Emptiness exactly form;
Sensation, conception, discrimination, awareness are likewise like this.
O Shariputra, all dharmas are forms of emptiness,
Not born, not destroyed;
Not stained, not pure,
Without loss, without gain:
So in emptiness there is no form,
No sensation, conception, discrimination, awareness;
No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind;
No color, sound, smell, taste, touch, phenomena;
No realm of sight,
No realm of consciousness;
No ignorance
And no end to ignorance …
No old age and death
And no end to old age and death;
No suffering,
No cause of suffering,
No extinguishing,
No path;
No wisdom and no gain.
No gain and thus the Bodhisattva lives Prajna Paramita
With no hindrance in the mind,
No hindrance, therefore no fear,
Far beyond deluded thoughts,
This is Nirvana.
All past, present and future Buddhas live Prajna Paramita,
And therefore attain anuttara-samyak-sambodhi (enlightenment)
Therefore know Prajna Paramita is the great mantra,
The vivid mantra,
The best mantra,
The unsurpassable mantra;
It completely clears all pain –
This is the truth, not a lie.
So set forth the Prajna Paramita mantra,
Set forth this mantra and say:
Gate! Gate! (Gone Gone)
Paragate! (Gone beyond)
Parasamgate! (Fully beyond)
Bodhi Svaha! (Awake, Rejoice)
Prajna Heart Sutra!
The Diamond Sutra
1. Though all the sentient beings to be delivered by me are innumerable and without limit, / in reality, / there are no sentient beings to be delivered. / Why?
1a. Because should there exist in the minds of Bodhisattvas / arbitrary conceptions of phenomena / such as the existence of one’s self / or the self of another / or selfness as divided into beings / or selfness as unified into one universal self existing eternally, / they would be unworthy to be called Bodhisattvas.
2. When the Buddha speaks of great universes / does he have in mind any definite idea?
2a. No, When the Buddha uses the words great universes / he does not assert any definite idea. / He merely uses the words as words.
3. Is this true for the words Buddha and Dharma?
3a. There are no Buddhas and there are no Dharmas.
4. Should a disciple strive to attain Buddhahood?
4a. No, that would mean the disciple is striving to attain something limited. / as in perfect-supreme-wisdom; / but true Buddhahood, whose essence is identical with the essence of all things, / is inconceivable / and beyond all striving.
5. How is it possible to explain this sutra without ideas of things and dharmas?
5a. This sutra can only be explained / by keeping the mind in perfect oneness and tranquility.
6. Should a Bodhisattva make an assertion / such as “I have entered the stream?”
6a. No. Because / he has not entered anything / nor has his mind entered any idea / such as form sound, taste. odor or touch.
7. Because of his virtue / will Buddha be reborn either in this world or any other world?
7a. No. / There will be no rebirth / either in this world / or in any other world. / It is because he knows this / the Buddha is called a Buddha.
8. Is there any one who is a fully enlightened one?
8a. No. Should a disciple cherish in his mind an idea such as / “I have become enlightened,” / he would soon be grasping after things / such as his own selfhood, / or other selves, / or a universal self.
9. If there is no distinction between one’s own self and the selfhood of others, / how do we practice kindness?
9a. We practice kindness / by giving not only objective gifts / but the selfless gifts of kindness and sympathy.
10. Is there any merit for acts of kindness?
10a. Bodhisattvas never seek merit / nor look upon kind acts as private possessions / but as the common possessions of all animate beings.
11. What does it mean to say there is no such thing as supreme-perfect-wisdom / and that the Buddha does not teach any fixed dharma?
11a. This means Bodhisattvas are not enlightened by an fixed teaching / but by an intuitive process / that is spontaneous and natural.
12. What does it mean to say the Buddha has come or has gone?
12a. This means the Buddha is never coming from anywhere / nor is he going anywhere. / The name Buddha is merely a word.
13. Why does the Buddha use words and ideas in his teachings?
13a. The Buddha uses words and ideas in his teaching / in resemblance to a raft, / of use only to cross a river. / As the raft is of no use after the river is crossed, / it should be discarded./ So too ideas about things should be given up as one attains enlightenment.
14. Has the Buddha given us any definite teaching in this sutra?
14a. No. The Buddha has not given us any definite teaching in this sutra.
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
“Like a meteor, like darkness,
as a flickering lamp, an illusion,
like hoar frost, or a bubble,
like clouds, a flash of lightning,
or a dream.
So all conditioned existence is to be seen.”
(The Sutra of Perfection of Wisdom of the Diamond that Cuts through Illusion: excerpts from this teaching dialogue in which the Buddha questions his disciple, Subhuti).