PRAISES

HOMAGE AND PRAISE TO SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA

To the Guru and Founder, the Endowed Transcendent Destroyer, the One Gone Beyond, the Foe Destroyer, The Completely Perfected, Fully Awakened Being, perfect in knowledge and in good conduct, Sugata, Knower of the World, Supreme Guide of human beings to be tamed, teacher of gods and human beings; to you, the Completely and Fully Awakened One, the Endowed Transcendent Destroyer, the Glorious Conqueror, the Subduer from the Shakya Clan, I prostrate, make offerings and go for refuge.

When, O supreme among humans, you were born on this earth,
You paced out seven strides,
Then said,"I am supreme in this world".
To you, who were wise then, I prostrate.

With pure bodies, form supremely pure;
Wisdom ocean,like a golden mountain;
Fame that blazes in the three worlds,
Winner of the best - Lord, to you I prostrate.

With the supreme signs, face like spotless moon,
Colour like gold - to you, I prostrate.
You are immaculate, the three worlds are not.
Incomparably Wise One - to you I prostrate.

The Saviour having great compassion,
The Founder having all understanding,
The Field of Merit with qualities like a vast ocean -
To you, the One Gone to Thusness, I prostrate.

The purity which makes one free from attachment,
The virtue which frees one from the lower realms,
The one path, the sublime pure reality -
To that Dharma which pacifies, I prostrate.

Those who are liberated and who also show the path to liberation,
The holy field qualified with realisations,
Who are devoted to the moral precepts -
To you, the sublime community intending virtue, I prostrate.

Homage to the supreme Buddha!
Homage to the Dharma refuge!
Homage to the great Sangha!
To all three, ever-devout homage!

To all worthy of respect,
Bowing with bodies as many as
All realms' atoms, in all aspects,
With supreme faith I pay homage.

Do not commit any non-virtuous actions,
Perform only perfect virtuous actions,
Subdue your mind thoroughly -
This is the teaching of the Buddha.

A star, a mirage, a flame of a lamp,
An illusion, a drop of dew, or a bubble,
A dream. a flash of lightning, a cloud -
See conditioned things as such!

Through these merits may sentient beings attain the rank of all-seeing,
Subdue the foe of faults,
And be delivered from samasara's ocean,
Perturbed by the waves of ageing, sickness and death.

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PRAISE TO 1000-ARM AVALOKITESHVARA (CHENREZIG)

OM, I prostrate to the Protector of the world, Guru of the world, praised by the three realms, Chief of gods, praised by Mara and Brahma, by praising You, the supreme King of sages, beings achieve your state.
I prostrate to the sublime Protector of the three worlds.
Your noble body is the bodies of countless Tathagatas,
You are crowned by the Sugata Infinite Light,
You dispel hunger and thirst of pretas with your supremely giving right hand,
And are perfectly adorned with a golden lotus in your left hand.
Your orange coloured garlands of scented hair are radiant,
Beautiful One with a face like a full moon,
You have supremely good and encompassing lotus eyes,
Fragrant One, white like a conch shell or snow.
Wearing clusters of flawless glittering pearls,
adorned by beautiful beams like the red of dawn,
with hands arranged like a lotus lake,
Youthful, You have the colour of autumn clouds.
Both shoulders are adorned by many jewels.
Your palms are soft and young like exquisite leaves.
Your left breast is covered with a deerskin.
You wear ornaments such as beautiful earrings and bracelets.
Standing on a supreme stainless lotus,
Your abdomen's surface is soft like lotus petals,
Your exquisite golden belt is adorned with jewels.
You wear a skirt of fine cloth around your hips.
Having Buddha's supreme knowledge,
You have gone beyond the great ocean.
You achieved the supreme state by collecting vast merit.
Source of continuous joy,
Dispeller of ageing and disease,
Having fully perfected compassion, wisdom and power,
You show enlightened deeds.
Supreme amongst embodied beings,
You won the battle against Mara's forces.
Your feet are attractive with the sound of golden anklets.
Avoiding Brahma's four abodes,
You move with a swan's gait and like a great proud elephant.
Collector of full perfect merit and Caretaker of the Dharma,
You liberate from the ocean of milk and the ocean of water.

Whatever man or woman daily rises at dawn, respectfully directs the mind to Avalokiteshvara, and recites purely and clearly these supreme praises, will have all their worldly and transworldly needs fulfilled, in this life and all future lives.

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PRAISE TO THE 21 TARAS

From the supreme abode of the Potala,
the One born from the green letter TAM,
the light of TAM that rescues all beings,
I request You, Tara, to come with your entourage.

The gods and demigods with their crowns
bow down to your lotus feet and are rescued from all miseries.
I request You Tara, to come with your entourage.

OM! Homage to the venerable Arya Tara!

Homage! Tara, swift, heroic / eyes like instant flash of lightning;
Born from tear in op'ning staments / of Lord Chenrezig's lotus face. Homage!

You whose face resembles / hundred shining autumn full moons;
Blazing with replendent light rays / as a thousand-star collection.

Homage! You who hold in your hand / golden-blue, water-born lotus;
Your field: giving, calm, ascetic, / patience, effort, meditation

Homage! Crown of Tathagatas, / You Triumphant over evil;
Honoured much by Bodhisattvas / having gained ev'ry perfection.

Homage! With TUTTARA HUM, You / fill the regions and space-quarters.
Trample seven worlds with your feet / powerful draw forth all beings.

Homage! Worshipped by the All-lords / Sakra, Agni, Brahma,
Marut; honoured by the hosts of spirits, / corpse-raisers, gandharvas, yakshas.

Homage! You whose TRAT and PHAT sounds / crush all of foes' magic drawings,
Beautiful in raging fire-blaze, / with your left leg out and right bent.

Homage! TURE, very dreadful / having conquered Mara's champion;
With a frowning lotus visage, / You are slayer of all enemies.

Homage! You who show the mudra / of the Triple Gem at your heart;
Wheels adorning your hands and feet / spread their light in all directions.

Homage! You possess the great joy, / diadem shining light-garlands,
Sparkling laughter of TUTTARE / overpowers maras, devas.

Homage! You able to summon / all earth-guardians assembly,
Frowning, shaking with your HUM-sign, / rescueing from all misfortunes.

Homage! In your crowning hair-locks / crescent-moon crown, brightly shining,
From Amitabha in your hair / radiate eternal light rays.

Homage! You in blazing circle, / like the eon-ending fire,
Right left out, left bent, destroying / enemies to the wheel-turners.

Homage! You whose palm smite the ground / and with your foot beat the surface,
With the HUM of wrathful wrinkles, / seven underworlds You shatter.

Homage! Happy, virt'ous, peaceful / You whose field is peace, Nirvana,
You endowed with OM and SVAHA, / nat'rally destroy all downfalls.

Homage! You joyful crush bodies / of enemies to the wheel-turners,
Luminous with the HUM-mantra / and the ten-syllable garland.

Homage! TURE, Swift One, HUM-seed, / Foot-stamper, You shake the mountains;
Meru, Mandhara and Kailash / and make all the three worlds tremble.

Homage! You who hold in your hand / deer-marked moon of deva-lake form,
With twice spoken TARA and PHAT / totally dispell all poison.

Homage! You are honoured by gods, / rulers of gods and kinnaras,
Joy-producing One, your fullness / clears away conflicts and bad dreams.

Homage! You whose eyes are bright with / radiance of sun and full moon,
With twice HARA and TUTTARE, / You dispell all chronic fevers.

Homage! Full of liberating / force by three Realities-set,
Crushing crowds of spirits, yakshas / and corpse-raisers. Supreme TURE!

OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SVAHA

With this, the praise to the root mantra and the 21 salutations is completed.
The intelligent one, who clearly recites the 21 praises, perfectly endowed with respect to the deity, on waking at dawn and in the evening, and remembering it, will grant all fearlessness by completely vanquishing all the non-virtues.
The very detruction of all the unfortunate realms will be obtained.
The seven million Tathagatas will soon give the empowerments.
By this, the Very Great One will be achieved and one will go to the ultimate state: Buddhahood.
By remembering this praise, complete cure will be obtained from the most dreadful poisons, long lasting or transient which one has either eaten or drunk.
If oneself or others are afflicted by evil spirits, epidemicsa and poisons, all sufferings will be completely overcome.
If one recites the praise twice, thrice or even seven times, one who wishes a son will obtain a son, one who wishes weath will obtain wealth.
All wishes will be fulfilled and all obscurations will be cleared when they arise.

Colophon: Slightly edited version (by webmaster) from Martin Wilson's translation. Note that this version can be chanted with the same tune as the traditional Tibetan version.

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PRAISE TO MANJUSHRI

Obeisance to my Guru and Protector, Manjushri.
You hold to your heart a scripture symbolic of seeing all things as they are.
Your sun-like understanding shines unclouded by defilements or traces of ignorance.
With the loving compassion of a father for his only son,
You teach in sixty ways all beings caught in the prison of samsara, who are confused in the darkness of their ignorance and overwhelmed by suffering.
Your dragon-thunder proclamation of the Dharma arouses us from the stupor of our delusions and frees us from the iron chains of our karma.
Your powerful sword of wisdom hews down suffering wherever its sprouts appear, clearing away the darkness of all ignorance.
Your princely body is adorned with the 112 marks of a Buddha.
You have completed the ten stages, achieving the highest perfection of a Bodhisattva.
You have been pure from the beginning. I prostrate to You, Manjushri.

OM A RA PA TSA NA DHIH

Compassionate One, with the brilliance of your wisdom, illuminate the darkness enclosing my mind.
Enlighten my intelligence and wisdom, so that I may gain insight into the Buddha's words and the texts that explain them.

OPENING THE DOOR OF THE PURE LAND (PRAISE TO AMITABHA)
By Lama Tsong Khapa

NAMO SHRI-GURU-MANJUGHOSAYA!

Ruler of Sukhavati Pure Land, praised by all the Sugatas - Bhagavan Lord Amitayus, Teacher of gods and humans, king of Conquerors - You grant long life to beings.
As the cloud-free moon is reflected in clear water in all infinite kinds of vessel, so to countless fortunate beings at once, in many aspects
You display your body.
In the same instant You cut every net of doubt besetting infinite disciples and open the eye of wisdom to reality with your speech, unceasingly proclaimed.
Spreading pervasive knowledge to all knowables, ruled by compassion for beings of the five streams, its' power of wisdom and love saves from fears of samsara and peace, as your mind is unstirred by signs or effort.
With your body, a heap of splendour that fills with endless masses of light all countless lands, as the sun's rays do the heaven's vault, provide a banquet for my fortunate eyes.
With your brahmic voice, of five members, just to hear which grants the highest bliss, like sweet thunder to the peacocks' heart, sprinkle drops of nectar in my ears.
With supreme calm mind, all fancy stilled by putting your awareness in emptiness, like a still cloud-mass in the sky's expanse, quell all mental focus (on) imagining.
Even if all Conquerors described for countless eons your (great) mass of virtues, to find the end would be no easy task; just so, they are more than I can tell.
Therefore, there's no other teacher like You, an inexhaustible store of qualities from whom all seeds of faults have gone forever.
You alone, then, are migrators' refuge.
Through your thousand million vows, Protector, You founded well the best of Supreme Lands where even the name of suffering is not found, hence called the Pure Land, Sukhavati.
There, as soon as the light of this life fades, let me be born in a thousand-petalled lotus, rise from within the lotus without hindrance, behold your form, and drink my fill of your speech.
When, Lord, I've heard your mahayanic speech, just as Avalokita behaves to free those sinking in samsara's mire, and mahasthama-prapta, let me too.

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