Gather the assembly of sages in a secluded place, a place that grants spiritual power: In dwellings, celestial chambers, empty houses, or caves; In remote trees, charnel grounds, forests, or mountain valleys, Achieve concentration or recite mantras, with the mind fixed on the chosen deity.

Purify what is impure, thoroughly cleanse what is unclean; Achieve through purity, using two methods to accomplish two kinds. This is called the practitioner, who fully cultivates all attainments.

Regarding food, one should be moderate, neither overfull nor hungry; Food and drink should be equal in measure. Sweetness and sour vinegar, One should abandon such greed. Beings bound by greed, Who become attached to flavors through craving, by craving perform the fire offering, Will not attain single-mindedness. In the early night, read the sacred texts; In the middle of the night, rest peacefully. On a clean grass mat, Perform the fire offering according to ritual, all in accord with the mudras.

Sleep like a lion, as brave as a lion. Face east or south, rest with hands as a pillow, Increasing the fire offering for growth. If facing southeast, Place the left over the right, similarly with feet and hands, Cross the feet and then sleep, making the posture somewhat dignified.

If the head faces west, the face should look south. When sleeping, one should protect the body, in accord with subjugation.

If one dreams of climbing a sandalwood tree, Aśoka, Udumbara, or similar trees, This is a sign of attainment. Geese, Kalaviṅka, Mandarin ducks, white cranes, peacocks, and other auspicious birds— Dreaming of riding such birds, if one sees such signs, Attainment will come soon. If one dreams of blood, This too is a sign of attainment. If in a dream one sees Banners and pennants intertwined, or climbing a high tower, Or walking and traveling, these are signs of attainment.

Or dreaming of riding a boat, or holding a zither or harp, Or seeing a stūpa, a monk—such good dreams Are all signs of attainment. If in a dream one sees Dogs, outcastes, leeches, or oil-smeared bodies, These are all inauspicious; camels, donkeys, carts, and such, If seen or touched, will surely ruin the attainment.

Such dream signs, both good and bad, One should know these two kinds of dreams; knowing them, seek attainment.

One should perform the fire offering, burning rice, oil, and sesame, To be freed from all demonic obstacles, and then see the chosen deity. Constantly remain alert; the sage may appear and say: "Go to a certain place, and there offer ghee and honey." Then reality will manifest; abandoning food entirely is real, And the path too is real. If doubting the chosen deity, One should sleep and in a dream say: "May the deity show me your form." And a masculine form will appear. If seeing a woman Arises lustful attachment, one should be diligent, And when about to sleep, perform empowerment.

While reciting, one should not think of past wealth, Nor of the future; carefully avoid such thoughts, Lest the recitation ritual fail. If the mind becomes scattered, Contemplate the meaning of the mantra, And recite while abiding in concentration. If the mind inclines to lust, Practice contemplation of impurity; if anger arises, Correspond with loving-kindness; if foolish thoughts of conditioned arising Repeatedly arise, and the mind dwells in delusion, Then focus single-mindedly on the visualization of the deity.

If one has not entered the mandala circle, And offers incense, flowers, and so forth, They will be consumed by demons. Due to not following ritual, And not fully understanding, being far from the guru, Demons will follow the practitioner like a shadow, And the merit of recitation will be stolen. Once demons consume the incense, The recitation and fire offering will not be received by the deity.

This mantra sovereign, the supreme attainment mantra, Should be used for empowerment; demons and obstacles Cannot hinder the supreme wheel-turning king. Therefore, perform protection; in all places of attainment, Recite the Invincible One, empowering oneself. The bodhisattva-seed mantras, the retinue of the wheel-turning king, Use them for protection. When practicing mantra attainment, Recitation, fire offering, and so on, first perform self-protection. If lacking the protection method, attainment will certainly not succeed; Flying yakṣas, attainment-seeking ghosts and rākṣasas, Roaming to cause destruction, will create doubt in the mind.

Flowers of Vilva, Ekadūtī, Should not be used at all. All Buddha-crown teachings Praise Jāti flowers, blue lotuses, Kumuda, Lotus flowers, Utpala, and other various flowers, Very fragrant land flowers. Know that Buddha-crown mantras Should be offered at all times. If the practitioner does not succeed, Perform the method two or three times, even up to seven times, Sequentially achieving attainment. Go to a river flowing to the sea, And perform the stūpa-making ritual, making one, two, three, or four, According to one's ability. Recite and make stūpas, Reverently and with praise, recite the wonderful scriptures. When repeatedly fatigued, after completing three hundred thousand stūpas, All previous offenses will be eliminated. Use very fragrant flowers, Incense, and perfumes to offer to the stūpas. Before each stūpa, empower with the mantra; For each stūpa, recite one thousand eight times. If the mantra does not succeed, due to offenses covering the mind, Make stūpas one cubit in size, one thousand stūpas. Even if one has committed the five heinous crimes, one will certainly attain attainment Through recitation eradicating offenses, how much more by making caityas?

Go to a river flowing to the sea, offer one hundred thousand lotuses. Offer that limited number, and quickly attain attainment. At that river flowing to the sea, how much more if exceeding this amount? The speed of attaining attainment all depends on oneself. Attaining mantra success depends on one's merit or lack of merit. If merit is strong, then in a short time, One will quickly attain siddhi; a person without merit Should make stūpas; the basis of attainment is recitation. Therefore, with diligence, attainment becomes firm.

Mantras in scriptures cannot remove all poisons; Seeing this principle, diligent recitation is superior. Always for parents, teachers, and suffering beings, Dedicate a portion of recitation, transferring merit to them all. To eliminate obstacles and difficulties, one should constantly pay homage to Buddhas. Through paying homage and reciting, one quickly attains attainment. Speaking of the fruit of paying homage to Buddhas, it is an immeasurable accumulation of merit. Know that paying homage, repeatedly and diligently revering, Constantly and always obtains siddhi; otherwise, in the Dharma-ending age, Mantras will not succeed. Therefore I, Śākyamuni, Speak of disciples of great virtue, attaining liberation in the末法. Therefore, free from doubt, arouse great diligence, Cultivate all attainments, and soon attain success.

A person with increasing merit quickly attains siddhi; Most people without merit attain slowly and late. If compassion and wisdom correspond, one gains superior siddhi. Not with false lapis lazuli or red crystal— This Buddha-crown mantra has inconceivable power.

Food obtained by alms should be purified and offered to the deity. Divide it into three portions, out of compassion for beings. First take one portion to offer to the deity; Then take another portion to give to outside guests; The remaining one should be eaten by oneself. The food offered to the deity, Redeem it and then consume it. If there are no outside guests, Give it to birds and animals; the portion for oneself Should not be given to others entirely, lest it harm the body. Reduce a portion to give, and eat facing south; This is the method of subjugation; one should not eat facing west. When performing subjugation, north and east allow for increase and pacification; Attaining Buddha-crown and so on, pacification differs with east.

One should arouse a compassionate mind, and at three times contemplate: "Who is in suffering? I will now completely rescue them." Corresponding with great compassion, whether renunciant or householder, Staff-bearer or Brahmin, all harbor compassionate intent. The reciter traveling without companions should always be careful, Therefore constantly pay homage to the temples of all Buddhas.

Difficult-to-achieve mantras, at all times maintain samādhi, Constantly cultivate concentration; such a person gains mastery. Various subduers manifest various forms; Therefore one should always perform recitation and fire offering.

Wipe clean and sprinkle pure, purify as previously taught, Then perform self-protection, mark the directions with ash and mustard. With the action mantra, or with the Destroying Crown, Empower threads to wrap around pegs, and nail them at the four corners. After protection, make offerings; the wise then invite All the assembly of sages to the place of recitation and fire offering. Seated on the seat, create the cause of attainment; Mix with cow-dung earth; the wise use it to make the altar. In this altar circle, offering is taught as the ritual. First, for the supreme Tathāgata, offer according to ritual. Next, the Wheel-turning Crown, then all Buddha-crowns, Offer in sequence. Then Avalokiteśvara, One's own family and retinue, and Vajrapāṇi— The offerings are the same as for Buddha-crown; the offered incense, flowers, etc., Are also according to their classes. Thus for the three families, Perform the offering ritual, thereby constantly remaining alert. And all worldly gods, the foolish say: "All mantra practitioners are entirely false." If the ritual is not explained, one falls into slander.

Sesame oil and white mustard seeds used in fire offering Can accomplish rites of attraction; burning sesame oil and rice Gains increase; poison and Lohitā Mixed and used in fire offering—those who disrupt the Buddha's teaching Can all be eliminated; Vilva wood, Aśoka, white sandalwood, Pālaśa, Bodhi tree, And white resin wood—for increase fire offerings, Use such woods; Nyagrodha, Udumbara, Aśvattha, milkwood, Āmalaka, and such woods, If performing pacification rites, use as firewood for offerings; Khadira wood, rosary beads, Karaka wood, Kara-vīra wood, and such woods Are used for subjugation and rites of enmity. Sit facing south, Burn while uttering "Hūṃ," with intention and vocalization, Perform the subjugation method; facing north, In the mantra phrases, add "Svāhā" and recite, Then it becomes pacification; Buddha-crown practices should be cultivated. Sit facing east, perform fire offering for increase. Sit in full lotus for pacification, auspicious posture for increase, Squat for subjugation. Fire offering to remove harm Is called subjugation; to stop all obstacles Is called pacification; to accomplish as desired Is called increase. In all such matters, Think well and practice. Those who hate and envy the Buddha's teaching, To make them depart, is called the method of enmity.

Pure reciters should not grow long nails or hair; Household practitioners, long hair is not a fault. During fire offering and recitation, long hair causes hindrance, Greedy time spent on grooming wastes hours; When offering to the assembly of sages, dirt under nails, Lice in hair, can create offenses. Do not watch sunrise, do not watch solar eclipse, Nor watch lunar eclipse; do not disparage the teacher. When offering to the assembly of sages, do not watch entertainments, Nor watch fights; therefore practitioners Should always correspond with concentration. In famine-stricken lands, And in battlefields, where rulers are not harmonious, One should not seek attainment. Where sages are punished, Where yakṣas and ghosts dwell, where dragons and spirits are chaotic, Charnel grounds and filthy places, where Mlecchas reside, Places with many mosquitoes and flies, or places of severe drought— Such difficult places, one should not seek attainment. Places with unruly courtesans, places with much evil wind, Such places, one does not gain attainment. Where the place is auspicious, reciting and performing fire offering, The assembly of sages is pleased. As a person eating good food Finds the mind comfortable, here the fire offering is superior, Accomplishing all deeds. If a king lacks the marks, He cannot inherit the throne; according to ability, one should perform Recitation and fire offering. Inferior practitioners Gain inferior results. If begging for poison, weapons, One should not give them; except for rites of attraction, To protect from life danger, to remove sorrow— Apart from such reasons, one should not give them.

Pure practitioners, if accidentally touching impurity, Should then bathe, mentally reciting and forming mudras. Such lustful types should contemplate pure mantras, Recite mantras and form mudras, and all become pure.

Impure ghosts, vetālas, yakṣas, And rākṣasa attainments—in superior and middling practice places, The wise should not doubt. Immersed in a superior river, Bathing in the water of true Dharma, contemplate with wisdom, And perform all recitations. Do not break the cross-legged posture, For it contradicts the practice; if the cross-legged posture is broken, One should rise and bathe, or bathe mentally, And all will attain attainment.