Excerpts from The Vows of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra Sutra: The Aspiration of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, Part 1 of 2

Samantabhadra Bodhisattva is also known as the Universal Worthy Bodhisattva and is associated with practice and meditation in the Mahayana Buddhism. While Manjusri Bodhisattva is for prajñā (transcendent wisdom), Samantabhadra Bodhisattva is for action. Together with Gautama Buddha and Manjusri Bodhisattva, they are known as the Three Sages of the Avatamsaka World. Samantabhadra Bodhisattva is the patron of the Lotus Sutra and He made the Ten Great Vows in His path to full Buddhahood, according to the Avatamsaka Sutra (Flower Adornment Sutra). Thus, He is also being addressed as the Bodhisattva of Great Conduct. The Ten Great Vows of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva are: 1. To worship and respect all Buddhas. 2. To make praises to the Thus Come Ones. 3. To practice profoundly the giving of offerings. 4. To repent and reform all karmic hindrance. 5. To rejoice and follow in merit and virtue. 6. To request that the Dharma Wheel be turned. 7. To request that the Buddhas remain in the world. 8. To always follow the Buddha’s Teaching. 9. To constantly accord with all living beings. 10. To transfer all merit and virtue universally. We will now share with you, “Excerpts from The Vows of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra Sutra: The Aspiration of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra.”

“With purity of body, speech, and mind, I bow to all the heroic Buddhas of the past, present, and future, without exception in every world in all the ten directions. By the power of this Aspiration of Samantabhadra, I bow with as many bodies as there are atoms in the pure lands of all those victorious Buddhas manifest in my mind, and I pay homage to all of Them. I conceive the entire realm of truth to be completely filled with enlightened ones. On each atom I imagine there to be as many Buddhas as atoms in the pure lands, each Buddha surrounded by many Bodhisattvas. I honor all these blissful lords, praising their perfection with all the sounds of an ocean of varied melodies, an ocean of endless praise. I offer to those heroic Buddhas the finest flowers, garlands, music, and ointments, excellent canopies, choice lamps, and the best incense. I offer as well to those victorious ones, the finest array of all excellent things, the finest robes and fragrances, and heaps of sweet-smelling powders as high as Mt. Meru.

By the power of my faith in the deeds of Samantabhadra, I prostrate and present vast and unequalled offerings to each of the victorious Buddhas. I confess every type of wrong that I have done in thought, word, or deed, under the influence of desire, anger, or ignorance. I rejoice in the meritorious deeds of all Buddhas of the ten directions, the Bodhisattvas, Pratyeka-Buddhas, Arhats, practitioners, and all sentient beings. I request the Enlightened Protectors, who have attained the detachment of Buddhahood and illuminated the worlds of the ten directions, to turn the peerless wheel of Dharma. With folded hands, I beseech those who intend to manifest the final Nirvana, to remain for as many aeons as there are atoms in all the pure lands, for the benefit and happiness of all living beings. May whatever small amount of virtue I may have gained from prostrating, offering, confessing, rejoicing, requesting, and beseeching, be dedicated to attaining perfect enlightenment. May I worship the Buddhas of the past and those now present in the worlds of the ten directions; may those to come quickly to fulfill their aspiration and reach Buddhahood by traversing the stages of enlightenment.”