It can be recited any time and is also good when chanting
for the deceased.
The last verse is a brief form of
Samanatabhadra's Aspiration and can be recited
at the end
of prayers whenever you have not much time.
Aspiration for Rebirth into the Pure Realms of Great Bliss
Prostrations
to the holy lamas who possess great compassion!
Prostrations to the bliss
realm which was praised as the most
exalted of the Buddha's pure realms,
By the King of the Shakyas,
The perfectly enlightened Buddha of this world,
To his ocean-like assembly of disciples.
Prostrations
to Amitabha, the exalted teacher of gods and humans,
Seated in the center
of that pure realm under the precious royal tree,
Dignified as a red lotus
mountain,
Adorned by millions of light rays.
Prostrations
to him who transmits the exalted vehicle
To an assembly of disciples, through
the melodies of Brahma.
Even arhats, intoxicated by samadhi,
Discard
inferior motivation and apply their minds to excellent
enlightenment.
Prostrations
to him whose activities are inconceivable,
Who bestows immerasurable benefit
and happiness
to protectorless beings in numberless realms
Through a
multitude of actions,
And in infinite incarnations from moment to moment.
Prostrations
to him who is surrounded
By an assembly of Buddhas filling space,
Along
with Bodhisattvas Avalokiteshvara, Vajrapani, and the rest,
And a Shravaka
assembly equal in number to the atoms in the ocean.
Prostrations
to Mahasiddha, and to the great compassionate Sakyapa.
And to the oceans
of lineage lamas,
Who were born miraculously into that realm
Through
the power of pure aspiration and infinite virtue.
By
the power of the ocean-like resolve of Amitabha,
By the blessings and kindness
of the root and lineage lamas,
By the virtues accumulated by myself and others
throughout
the three times,
When this life's perception diminish, may
I and all sentient beings
wandering in the ocean of existence,
Take
birth in that pure realm which is praised by all the Buddhas.
As soon as
we behold the excellent face of Amitabha,
May we hear the teachings of the
great vehicle which are vast and
profound from the ocean-like melody of his
speech.
May our minds be filled with good qualities like faith, wisdom,
dharanyi, and samadhi.
By
emanating bodies as numberless as atoms,
And travelling to all the realms
of the ten directions in a single instant,
With vast clouds of offerings
like Samantabhadra,
May I worship all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas without
exception.
May
I venerate the protector of that pure realm
And the assembly of exalted lamas,
the rescuers.
Having obtained the profound Dharma of the Mahayana,
May
I accomplish all the deeds of enlightenment.
Through
compassion, may I satisfy all beings in impure realms
According to their
individual needs.
Demostrating the three vehicles as suited to each,
May I accomplish all the deeds of enlightenment.
At
the time of actualizing the supreme state,
May I gather them as an assembly
and manifest the exalted teaching.
Lead them to the stage of a Bodhisattva's
deeds,
And reveal the Buddha's exalted wisdom.
May
they attain the noble realm,
Which has the purity of container and contained,
According to the aspiration of the Bikkshu Dharmakara,
Who attends the
Buddha Lokeshvara.
May
I and all sentient beings
Swiftly accomplish the Aspiration to Noble Deeds,
And the aspirations of the Bodhisattvas,
Who dwell on the stage of complete
bliss.
This was written by the fully ordained Shakya monk, Sonam Senge, at Thubten Nampar
Gyalwa monastery, of the purpose of attaining that place to which we aspire.
Translated
into English by Lama Kalsang Gyaltsen and Victoria Huckenpahler at Sakya
Phuntsok Ling during the auspicious time of the Tibetan New Year, 1997.