天台智者大師發願文
Master Tiantai Zhiyi's Vow
夫欲念誦。滅罪障。助菩提。應須發願。
If you wish to recite and chant, to remove obstacles from past wrongdoings, and to support your path to awakening, you should first make a heartfelt wish.
先淨三業。十指合掌。面向諸佛。口陳辭句。作如是言。
First, purify the three actions of body, speech, and mind. Bring your palms together, face the Buddhas, and speak these words aloud:
弟子比丘某甲(餘眾各准此稱名)。稽首和南。一心歸命盡十方三世一切諸佛．尊法．般若．十二部經真淨妙法．諸大菩薩摩訶薩眾．諸賢聖僧．常住三寶。唯願神力。慈哀護念。願當證知。以此念誦。善根功德。專用莊嚴四恩三有．盡十方法界一切眾生。願共法界諸眾生等。從無始已來。至於今日。昏沈倒惑。六根．三業造一切鄣道之罪。若麤若細。齊佛所知。一時消滅。生生世世。永離地獄．餓鬼．畜生身。永離女人身。永離邊地．下賤．八難身。願共法界諸眾生等。若於此生。若於餘生。常值善知識。常聞無上大乘正法。即於此身。悟解常住佛性。大涅槃海。一切諸法。本來寂滅。具大菩提。了達根塵能所。一念起心。具一切法。百界三千。空．假．中。即法界印。不可思議。心．佛．眾生。三無差別。體權識實。發大菩提心。上求下化。拔生死苦。與究竟樂。修牢強精進。四種三昧。只不思議一觀三觀。觀不思議一諦三諦。觀諦冥一。即四魔三鄣。歷緣對境。以妙十法成圓乘。行解更資。心心明寂。發真中道。開佛知見。心心現前。所有慧身。不由佗悟。自然流入薩婆若海。住無生忍。具大智慧。成摩訶衍。通達漸頓諸教。破一微塵。出大千經卷。恒沙佛法。一心中曉。學佛慈悲。無諸慳恡。說於止觀。遍施一切。開門傾藏。捨如意珠。理即．名字．觀行．相似．分真．究竟。圓伊三點。不縱不橫。正法大城。金剛寶藏。一切佛法。自行化佗。一生有辦。設未明了。非因之因。從因感果。不果之果。獲勝果報。願共法界諸眾生等。臨命終時。七日之前。自知時節。心不顛倒。心不錯亂。心不共念。身心無諸苦痛。跏趺正念。身心安樂。入深三昧。見十方佛。願彌陀世尊．三世諸佛．觀音．勢至．諸大菩薩．一切聖眾。不捨本誓。悉現在前。同時放大光明。照觸身心。所有罪障。一時消滅。諸根豁然。深入知見。以大神力。攝受身心。授金色手。摩頂接引。歡喜踊躍。乘佛願力。坐金剛臺。隨從如來聖眾。於一念頃。上品上生西方阿彌陀佛極樂世界。金蓮化生。悟入無生寂滅諸忍。超登上地。獲六神通。住首楞嚴。不動法性。於一念頃。遊歷十方。奉事三世一切諸佛。一一佛前。悉有我身。修諸供養。聞法受記。一時普能受持三世如來甚深法海。即自明解。不由佗悟。大理。大願。大莊嚴。大智斷。大遍知。大道。大用。大權實。大利益。大無住。諸佛所有一切波羅蜜行。一時修習。與文殊．普賢等諸大士為伴侶。具足一切諸菩薩無量無邊廣大行願。得諸大陀羅尼門．諸三昧門。普知諸佛剎嚴淨佛國。於剎那頃。普於十方一切微塵道中。成等正覺。轉大法輪。度脫眾生。無緣慈悲。普覆法界。不動真際。普入三世。度脫一切眾生。或作佛身。施權實。或為九界像。對揚漸頓。請轉漸頓。弘通漸頓。三輪攝化。攝化無窮。同虗空遍界。而作佛事。從本垂迹。攝迹還本。本迹雖殊。不思議一。自佗行圓。常住秘藏。法界怨親。同斯願海。
Disciple Bhikshu [Name](All others should likewise use their own names). I bow with palms together in reverence. With single-minded devotion, I take refuge in all Buddhas of the ten directions and three times, the noble Dharma, Prajñā, the twelve divisions of scriptures—true, pure, and wondrous Dharma—all great Bodhisattva-Mahāsattvas, all venerable sages and saints, and the eternal Three Jewels. I humbly pray that your spiritual power, with compassion and loving protection, will witness and verify my intention.
Through this mindful recitation, I dedicate all roots of goodness and merit to adorn the four kindnesses and three realms, and all sentient beings throughout the ten directions in the Dharma realm. I vow, together with all beings in the Dharma realm, that from beginningless time until today, all offenses obstructing the path—created through confusion, delusion, inversion, the six sense faculties, and three kinds of action—whether coarse or subtle, to the full extent of what Buddhas know, may be eradicated at once.
Life after life, may we forever depart from the bodies of hell beings, hungry ghosts, and animals; forever depart from women's bodies; forever depart from borderlands, lowly stations, and the eight difficult circumstances. I vow, together with all beings in the Dharma realm, whether in this life or in future lives, to always encounter good spiritual guides and always hear the supreme Mahāyāna true Dharma. May we in this very body awaken to and understand the eternal Buddha-nature and the great ocean of Nirvāṇa.
All dharmas are originally quiescent and extinct, complete with great Bodhi. Clearly penetrating the sense faculties, sense objects, subject and object—at the moment one thought arises, all dharmas are present: the hundred realms, three thousand suchnesses, emptiness, provisional existence, and the Middle—this is the seal of the Dharma realm, inconceivable. Mind, Buddha, and sentient beings—these three are without distinction.
Embodying the provisional and realizing the true, we awaken the great Bodhi mind: seeking enlightenment above and transforming sentient beings below. We transcend the suffering of birth and death and attain ultimate bliss. We cultivate firm and vigorous effort in the four kinds of samādhi. Practicing the inconceivable one contemplation that is three contemplations, contemplating the inconceivable one truth that is three truths, where contemplation and truth merge as one—this overcomes the four Māras and three obstructions.
Encountering conditions and facing circumstances, we perfect the wondrous ten dharmas to accomplish the complete vehicle. Practice and understanding mutually support each other; thought after thought becomes clearly quiescent. We awaken to the true Middle Way, opening the Buddha's knowledge and vision. Thought after thought manifests before us. All wisdom bodies arise not from another's enlightenment but naturally flow into the ocean of all-knowing wisdom.
Abiding in the patience of non-arising, endowed with great wisdom, accomplishing the Mahāyāna, penetrating all gradual and sudden teachings—breaking open one mote of dust reveals the great thousand-world sutra storehouse. The Dharma of countless sands of Buddhas is understood in one mind. We learn the Buddha's compassion without any stinginess, expounding calming and insight meditation, universally bestowing it on all. Opening the door and pouring out the treasury, giving away the wish-fulfilling jewel.
From principle-identity, name-identity, contemplative practice, resemblance, partial truth, to ultimate truth—the perfect en-circle three points, neither vertical nor horizontal, the great city of true Dharma, the vajra treasury, all Buddha Dharma. Self-cultivation and transforming others accomplished in one lifetime. Even if not yet fully clear, the cause that is not a cause, from cause comes fruit; the fruit that is not a fruit, attaining supreme fruition.
I vow, together with all beings in the Dharma realm, that at life's end, seven days before, we may know the time in advance. Our minds free from inversion, free from confusion, free from scattered thoughts—the body and mind without any pain or suffering. Sitting in full lotus with right mindfulness, body and mind peaceful and blissful, entering deep samādhi, seeing the Buddhas of the ten directions.
May the World-Honored Amitābha, Buddhas of the three times, Avalokiteśvara, Mahāsthāmaprāpta, all great Bodhisattvas, and all holy assemblies—without abandoning their original vows—all appear before us. Simultaneously emitting great light, illuminating and touching body and mind, all karmic obstructions vanish in that moment. The sense faculties suddenly open, deeply entering knowledge and insight.
With great spiritual power, they gather and receive body and mind, extending golden hands, touching our crowns and guiding us. With joy and elation, riding on the Buddha's vow power, we sit on the vajra terrace. Following the Thus Come One and the holy assembly, in a single moment of thought, we are reborn in the highest grade of the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss, the Pure Land of Amitābha Buddha. Born by transformation from a golden lotus, we awaken and enter the patient endurance of non-arising and quiescent extinction.
Surpassing to the upper stages, obtaining the six spiritual powers, abiding in the Śūraṅgama samādhi, unmoving in Dharma-nature—in a single moment of thought, we travel through the ten directions, serving all Buddhas of the three times. Before each Buddha, our bodies are present, making all offerings, hearing Dharma and receiving predictions. At once we can receive and uphold the profound Dharma ocean of Thus Come Ones of the three times, understanding it ourselves without relying on another's enlightenment.
The great principle, great vow, great adornment, great wisdom and severance, great universal knowledge, great path, great function, great provisional and true, great benefit, great non-abiding—all Pāramitā practices possessed by all Buddhas are cultivated at once. We become companions with Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra, and other great beings, perfecting all the immeasurable, boundless, vast practices and vows of all Bodhisattvas.
Attaining the great Dhāraṇī gates and samādhi gates, universally knowing Buddha lands and adorning pure Buddha countries—in a single instant, throughout all worlds within atoms in the ten directions, we accomplish unsurpassed enlightenment, turn the great Dharma wheel, and deliver sentient beings.
With unconditional compassion universally covering the Dharma realm, unmoving from true reality, universally entering the three times, delivering all sentient beings—whether manifesting as Buddha bodies to teach provisional and true, or appearing as forms of the nine realms to respond to gradual and sudden teachings, requesting the turning of gradual and sudden Dharma wheels, propagating gradual and sudden teachings. With the three wheels transforming and guiding, transformation and guidance without end, like space pervading all realms, performing Buddha work.
From the root manifesting traces, gathering traces back to the root—though root and trace differ, they are inconceivably one. Self and other perfected in practice, abiding in the eternal secret treasury. All enemies and loved ones in the Dharma realm, together enter this ocean of vows.