Arya Maitreya's Aspiration
Prostrations to all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas!
Ananda, in previous times when the Bodhisattva, the great sattva Arya Maitreya, performed the deeds of a Bodhisattva, he placed his Dharma robe upon one shoulder, and three times each day and three times each night, bent his right knee to the ground, and folding his hands, made this aspiration prayer:
Prostrations to all the Buddhas. Prostrations to those rishis who possess the divine eye. And to all the Bodhisattvas, And also to the Shravakas.
Prostrations to bodhicitta, Which repels the action of the lower realms, Thoroughly demostrates the path of higher rebirth, And leads to deathlessness and agelessness.
Whatever unwholesome deeds I committed, Acting under the power of the mind, I confess all these In the presence of the Buddhas.
Through the accumulation of merit Which I developed from the three sources, Which are the seeds of my omniscience, May my enlightenment never be exhausted.
I, too, rejoice in the merit of Any offering made to the Buddhas In the pure realms of the ten directions And rejoiced by the Buddha's wisdom.
I confess all negative deeds And rejoice in all meritorious deeds. I prostrate to all the Buddhas. May I achieve exalted primordial wisdom.
To the exalted enlightened Bodhisattvas, Who abide on the tenth stage Throughout the ten directions, I request that they become fully enlightened.
Having attained the noble enlightenment of Buddhahood, And conquered maras and their hosts, May they turn the wheel of Dharma For the benefit of every sentient being.
May the sound of the great drum of Dharma End the suffering of sentient beings. May they remain, Teaching the holy Dharma for countless eons.
For those beings who are sunk in the quicksand of desire, And tightly bound by the fetters of attachment, And completely tied by every form of bondage, May the Supreme Among Men gaze upon them.
Beings of stained mind Are not scorned by the Buddhas, Who possess the mind of compassion toward sentient beings, May you liberate beings from the ocean of existence.
May I follow those fully enlightened beings who abide in the present, Those who have existed in the past, And those who are yet to appear, And perform enlightened conduct.
Having accomplished the six perfections, May I liberate all sentient beings of the six realms. And by actualizing the six types of clairvoyance, May I place them in unsurpassable enlightenment.
May I realize the Dharma of emptiness Which was unborn and will not arise, Has no nature and no place, No consciousness and no substance.
Like the great sage, the Buddha, May I realized the Dharma of selflessness, The non-existence of beings and the non-existence of their life, The non-existence of persons and the non-existence of things.
May I be able to give unstintingly For the benefit of every sentient being, Without ego or clinging Toward any material thing.
May I acquire all my wealth spontaneously Through realizing the non-material view of all matter, And may I accomplish the perfection of giving Through which clinging to material vanishes.
May I accomplish the perfection of morality Through ethics lacking pride, And by possessing pure moral conduct Without lapses in ethical rules.
May I accomplish the perfection of patience Which harbors no anger, And is non-abiding, like the elements of air, Earth, water, and fire.
May I accomplish the perfection of diligence Through possessing strength of body and mind By exerting diligence, Stable, blissful, and without laziness.
May I accomplish the perfection of concentration Through illusion-like concentration, Through heroic traveler-like concentration, And through diamond-like concentration.
May I accomplish the perfection of wisdom Through actualizing the three types, And equalizing the three times, And the three doors of liberation.
May I accomplish my aspiration Through a Bodhisattva's diligence, Which blazes with dignity and light And is praised by all the Buddhas.
Performing this conduct, Becoming renowned for kindness, And accomplishing the six types of paramitas, May I thoroughly abide on the peak of the tenth bhumi.
Soon after departing this life And having been born into the realm of joy, With blissful mind may I swiftly please the Lord Maitreya Bodhisattva, And may I obtain a prophecy to enlightenment.
*** Translated from Sanskrit to Tibetan by Bhante Yeshe De. Translated from Tibetan to English by Venerable Lama Kalsang Gyaltsen and Victoria Hunckenpahler.