From the Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life

“Through these actions now performed and all the virtues I have gained,

May all the pain of every living being be completely scattered and dissolved!

For all those ailing in the world, Until their every sickness has been healed, May I myself become for them The doctor, nurse, the medicine itself.

Raining down a flood of food and drink, May I dispel the ills of thirst and famine. And in the aeons marked by scarcity and want, May I myself appear as drink and sustenance.

For sentient beings, poor and destitute, May I become a treasure ever-plentiful, And lie before them closely in their reach, a varied source of all that they might need.

My body, thus, and all my goods besides, and all my merits gained and to be gained, I give them all and do not count the cost, To bring about the benefit of beings.

May I be a guard for those who are protectorless, a guide for those who journey on the road. For those who wish to cross the water, May I be a boat, a raft, a bridge.

May I be an isle for those who yearn for land, a lamp for those who long for light; For all who need a resting place, may I be a bed.

May I be the wishing jewel, the vase of wealth, a word of power and the supreme healing, May I be the tree of miracles, For every being the wish-fulfilling cow.

Just like the earth and space itself And all the other mighty elements, For boundless multitudes of beings May I always be the ground of life, the source of varied sustenance.

Thus for everything that lives, As far as are the limits of the sky, May I be constantly their source of livelihood Until they pass beyond all sorrow.

Just as all the Buddhas of the past Have brought forth the awakened mind, Trained and abided in the precepts of the Bodhisattvas Step-by-step

Likewise, for the benefit of beings, I will bring to birth the awakened mind, And in those precepts, step-by-step, I will abide and train myself.

Those who thus with clear intelligence Take hold of the awakened mind with bright and lucid joy,

Today my life has given fruit. This human state has now been well assumed. Today I take my birth in Buddha’s line, And have become the Buddha’s child and heir.

In every way, then, I will undertake activities befitting such a rank. And I will do no act to mar or compromise this high and faultless lineage.

For I am like a blind person who has found A precious gem inside a heap of dust. For so it is, by some strange chance, That enlightened intent has been born in me.

It is the sovereign remedy That perfectly allays all maladies. It is the tree that gives relief To those who wander wearily the pathways of existence.

It is the universal bridge that saves All wandering beings from the states of loss, The rising moon of the enlightened mind That soothes the sorrows born of the afflictions.

It is the mighty sun that utterly dispels The misty ignorance of wandering beings, The creamy butter, rich and full, That’s churned from milk of holy teaching

Living beings! Wanderers upon life’s paths, Who wish to taste the riches of contentment, Here before you is the supreme bliss. O ceaseless travelers here is your fulfillment!

And so, today, within the sight of all protectors, I summon beings, calling them to Buddhahood.”

Excerpted and adapted from the English Translation of the Bodhicaryāvatāra
“The Way of the Bodhisattva” by Shantideva, Translation by Padmakara Translation Group , Shambhala 2011 pages, Section 3.7-34

Bodhichitta Prayer

བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་མཆོག་རིན་པོ་ཆེ།

མ་སྐྱེས་པ་རྣམས་སྐྱེ་གྱུར་ཅིག།

སྐྱེས་པ་ཉམས་པ་མེད་པ་དང།

གོང་ནས་གོང་དུ་འཕེལ་བར་ཤོག།

Chang chub sem chog rin po che

Ma kay pa nam kay gyur chig

Kay pa nyam pa may pa dang

Gong nay gong du pal war shog

Precious and Sublime Bodhichitta

Where it is unborn may it arise

Where it is born, may it not decline

But go on increasing further and further!